Which are the best cameras for landscape photography?
DPRTV looks at three different price points and makes its recommendations.
There is also a Fujifilm camera among the winners, the Fujifilm GFX100S, in the “money is no object” category.
DPRTV says:
There is no disputing that the Fujifilm GFX medium format cameras are the best option for landscape. Our choice is the Fujifilm GFX100S. What is not to love: you get that amazing 100MP sensor clearly well suited for landscape photography. We also prefer the GFX100S body over the GFX100 because it is more compact. You get nice ergonomics. The Fuji style tilt screen is certainly nice for landscape when you are at awkward angles and it is just easier to travel with.
Fujifilm also has an excellent line of lenses, including the GF20-35mmF4, which is very rare in medium format to have an ultra wide range like that and it’s also a very sharp lens.
It has IBIS and it’s very effective.
If you need more megapixel, you can shoot in multi-shot and get 400MP images.
There is simply no better pick for landscape photography than the Fujifilm GFX100S, if money is no object.
Our one five-star review for this week goes to Fujifilm for its ground-breaking APC-S camera. It’s well-constructed, weatherproof and lightweight, with a fantastic articulated screen, and a large and bright OLED viewfinder plus a control layout that few will have problems getting to grips with. This is one of the best cameras around.
The Fujifilm X-H2S is a versatile camera with a speedy burst mode, updated subject detection algorithm and support for 6K video. However, it’s not as high-resolution as the X-H2 nor as visually appealing as the Fujifilm X-T5, both of which can be found for less money.
Score: 4.5/5
So that’s the thing with PSAM dial cameras. They tend to get more attention by huge review sites than more niche retro styled cameras. And good press never hurts.
Also CineD declared the Fujifilm X-H2 the best camera launched in 2022 for video work. As working professional videographers, their opinion matters and debunks the myth that the X-H2s is the video centric cameras and the X-H2 the stills centric one. As we always told you, both are perfect hybrid machines, and the difference is not video vs stills, but speed vs resolution.
But as Fujifilm has openly said, the Fujinon XF56mm f/1.2 R is not capable of taking full advantage of all the 40MP edge to edge also at maximum aperture. Fujifilm writes:
The list specifies our selection of lenses that have high resolution performance from edge to edge at maximum aperture, allowing you to fully experience all that the 40MP sensor has to offer. Lenses not listed will also allow you to experience the improved resolution performance of the 40MP sensor.”
To be clear: all Fujinon lenses will experience a sharpness boost. But not all will be able to resolve all the 40MP even wide open across the entire frame.
Many rightfully asked DPR to re-test the studio lab scene using the new Fujinon XF56mm f/1.2 R WR, and so they did. Their conclusion:
Our interpretation is that there is a slight contrast benefit to the use of the new 56mm F1.2R WR vs. the non-WR lens; in the widget above we’ve tried to highlight the area of greatest difference. In our judgment the difference is not sufficient, at the aperture value the test scene is shot at, to justify breaking consistency with previous Fujifilm models tested in our setup.
This isn’t a comment on the new lens: we’d expect to see greater differences at wider apertures, and we’ve found the autofocus performance to be improved over the older version. But neither of these are pertinent to the selection of our standard Fujifilm test lens, so we’ll stick with the original 56mm F1.2R for now, to maintain perfect continuity in the studio comparison feature our site provides.
I find it a pity that they won’t change the lens. At f/5.6 the performance might be similar in the center, but as you can see from the screenshots I have shared above (or here and here), in RAW I see an sensible advantage for the new Fujinon XF56mm f/1.2 R WR. I think they could just simply use the new lens for testing going forward.
But we appreciate DPR going the extra mile and testing it on the new XF56mmF1.2 R WR. If you don’t shoot wide open a lot and don’t mind slightly softer corners, then the original Fujinon XF56mmF1.2 R is still a great option (especially now that it is super discounted).
From the tests we could see so far, we can now say that the autofocus tracking is about at the same level of the very best (but much more expensive) full frame cameras out there. Not perfect, like nothing, so improve it further, Fuji!
The question I now get TONS of times via email is: will my Fujifilm camera “xy” also get the same firmware of the Fujifilm X-H2s?
So here is what I can say about it.
During the recent new years greetings, right after launching the new X-H2s firmware, Fujifilm also promised major firmware updates will come for other 5th generation cameras, too.
5th generation cameras are all those cameras featuring the new 5th generation processor, which at the moment are:
So, while Fujifilm did not specifically mention the new AF system, it is easy to assume that major firmware coming in 2023 for X-T5 and X-H2 might include also the vastly improved AF algorithm.
But again, that’s not a rumor, but an educated guess based on what managers officially said here.
