Fujifilm GFX Hands On Impressions :: “A Compact Workhorse, That Will Find A Place in My Bag… and In My Heart”

Fujifilm GFX Hands On Review

Fujifilm GFX facebook member Florian shared his Fujifilm GFX Hands On Review at the Fujiiflm GFX Facebook group here. It’s in German, but you can use the Facebook translation tool to get the English version. He also shares 3 images of the GFX.

I’ll highlight in short some of his findings:

  • BODY: Boxy, very pleasing handling, great ergonomics. Not too big. He loves the joystick. Great build quality, but if you look at the size of body, the camera feels almost too light. It’s like something is missing in the inside, since it’s so light.
  • MENU: It’s still in Beta, so it didn’t run flawlessly
  • EVF: Still in Beta Firmware, but already much better than on the Hasselblad X1D. Information was displayed in white, which he considered not ideal
  • AUTOFOCUS: (Consider it’s an early Beta-Firmware) Absolutely OK. Felt so fast like the AF on the Sony A7, or a bit slower. Definitely faster than the Hasselblad X1D. There was not much light, when he tested the camera, so he expects it to work faster in good light.
  • DISPLAY: On the GFX he handled, there was no touch screen (ADMIN NOTE: or maybe it was not working due to the preliminary Beta-FW? At photokina Fujifilm indicated that it will have a touch.)
  • LENSES: The 63mm is compact. It contributed to the overall lightness of the camera. The zoom lens was quite big.
  • IMAGE QUALITY: No comment. The test condition at the photography fair were not good (bad light) and the Firmware was still a Beta.
  • PRICE: Body: €6,999. 63mm: €1,500 (ADMIN NOTE: This confirms this rumor)
  • CONCLUSION: Awesome. It arouse emotions. Overall very good first impression. A compact workhorse he could use for portrait work, that will find a place in Florian’s bag and heart :) .

For any other questions, just join 4,500+ members at the Fujifilm GFX facebook, and drop your questions in the comments of Florian’s facebook post.

Travel Photography – Fujifilm X-Pro 2 vs. Canon 5D Mark III

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Travel photography demands high technical performances of a camera. A suitable camera should be able to reliably deal with constantly changing lighting conditions (dynamic range, ISO-performance, white balance) and react as fast as possible to spontaneous moments and movements (autofocus), just to mention the most important requirements. Among the “must have” of such an all-rounder camera are anyway colour-balanced and sharp photos.

Since the market launch back in 2012, I have been shooting with the Canon 5D Mark III and numerous prime lenses from Canon. The 5D delivers excellent picture quality, is fast-paced, and has a very good ISO performance for most situations. It comes quite close to such all-rounder. However, throughout the past four years I often met and exceeded the limitations of the 5D, which drove me crazy at times and brought me somewhat to the point of despair. These weaknesses include in particular its size, its crazy high weight (12kg in total with all lenses) and its poor dynamic range.

For my trip through Morocco in October, I got the opportunity to photograph with the Fujifilm X-Pro 2 to test the camera thoroughly. I have been wanting to try a mirrorless-system for a long time. Nonetheless, a full frame mirrorless camera would be no option for me. Full-frame mirrorless offers zero advantages compared to full-frame DSLRs in lens size and weight (only the 70-200f.2.8 weights 1,5kg!). So if you have a bag full of gear, the only area where you can save space and weight is the camera body alone which isn’t a big benefit. Initially I was very sceptical towards the idea of changing from a full frame to a supposedly weaker APS-C system. Given my high expectations regarding picture quality, I could hardly imagine that an APS-C camera could nearly keep up with a full frame camera.

My resume after travelling for two weeks with the X-Pro2? I’m just about to sell my entire Canon gear and switch to Fujifilm. Here are the reasons.

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Fujifilm X-T2 vs Nikon D500 Epic Shootout :: Fujifilm X-T2 Wins Overall… and The Fuji Colors Rock Again (at Least For Me)

Fujifilm X-T2 or Nikon D500: which one should you buy? That’s the question Michael The Maven tried to answer in this video (30 Minutes)

As usual, a summary for fellow FR-readers, who have no time to go through the entire video right now:

SPORTS
(AF + Buffer)

FOCUS:

  • Side to side action: Fujifilm X-T2 99% hit rate / Nikon D500 87% hit rate
  • Forward action: Fujifilm X-T2 78% / Nikon D500 89%
  • Backlight action: Fujfilm X-T2 91% / Nikon D500 77%
  • TOTAL: X-T2 89% hit rate Vs. Nikon D500 84% hit rate

CONCLUSION: In terms of accuracy only, the X-T2 is one of the best sports cameras ever tested.

BUFFER:

  • D500 = 200 RAW’s at 10fps Vs. X-T2 = 27 RAW’s at 11 fps (but tested with UHS-I card, and not the faster UHS-II cards)
  • D500 = 202 JPEG’s’s at 10fps Vs. X-T2 = 121 RAW’s at 11 fps (but tested with UHS-I card, and not the faster UHS-II cards)

WINNER: X-T2 is lighter and slightly more accurate AF, but the Nikon D500 is the winner, because of the incredible buffer, the ergonomics and the edge to edge cross type focussing squares.

LIVE TRACKING – VIDEO

  • Nikon D500 has a touch screen. The X-T2 has eye detection, but in video it does not really work, and in stills just half the time (this calls for a Kaizen update, Fuji ;) ).
  • Much smoother continuous focussing during video for the X-T2

WINNER: Fujfilm X-T2

LOW LIGHT FOCUSSING

  • Average score for Nikon D500 = 49 seconds / Fujiflm X-T2 = 36 seconds (measured at 2 targets, one at 6.0EV and one at -2.0EV, focussing back and forth 30 times)

WINNER: For low light focussing without AF assist lamp, the winner is the Fujfilm X-T2

ISO TEST

WINNER: X-T2 images are consistently sharper across the entire ISO range.

VIDEO FEATURES

  • Less crop for the X-T2 in 4K
  • better clarity and sharpness on X-T2
  • better low light performance on X-T2
  • Rolling Shutter: very impressive performance for the X-T2
  • Moire: D500 is the winner

WINNER: Fujifilm X-T2

DYNAMIC RANGE

WINNER: Both super-impressive high ISO, similar to the brand new Full Frame Canon 5DM4!

PORTRAITS – COLORS
(Note: the Fuji slightly underexposes, so the exposure was adjusted to give closer comparison)

Take pencil and paper! The reviewer will show you 13 images and you can pick up the one you prefer.

I did the test and noted everything on a word document, and it turns out that in 70% of the cases I prefered the colors & look of the Fujiflm X-T2. But wasn’t Nikon supposed to be better for portraits? ;) I guess it all comes down to personal preferences, or I’m simply used to the amazing X-Trans look. All I can tell you is that I genuinely made the test, and these are my honest results. Let me know your results in the comments.

Anyway, I think also the tester prefered the X-T2, since at the end of the video he says: “if you prefered the X-T2 in the portrait test, this might be due to the X-Trans sensor”.

WINNER (in my case): Fujiflm X-T2

ULTIMATE CONCLUSION

  • X-Trans: more film like look. Delivers different and special images! But the RAW conversion results depend on the RAW processor you use.
  • Sharpness: if you are sharpness freak, get the X-T2
  • If you haven’t tried the Fuji X-T2, I would strongly recommend it. I think Sony is going to have its hands full competing with Fuji!

The reviewer says that, if he only could pick up one, he would take…. the Fujifilm X-T2 :)

Fujifilm X-T2: USA: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / CANADA: AmazonCA / EUROPE: AmazonDE / Calumentphoto DE / AmazonUK / AmazonITA / AmazonFR / AmazonESP / PCHstore / WexUK / AUSTRALIA: CameraPro

Fujifilm EF-X500 Shoe Mount Flash Review – Part One

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Boxing is typical Fujifilm X Series fashion, big black elegant boxes, white letters and graphics

The brand new Fujifilm EF-X500 flashgun arrived yesterday straight from Fujifilm Portugal – actually I received a pair of these units.This the first part of a detailed review that I started straight away, after all Fujifilm was missing a proper, professional grade flash system and the EF-X500 promises to deliver.

The first part of this review will focus on the design and perceived quality, first impressions to put it simply and I have to say that straight out of the box the EF-X500 is impressive. Build quality is second to none, Canon and Nikon are clearly overshadowed: touch, materials, dials and buttons are top notch, but flaps and hinges are a step further and there is no sense of fragility whatsoever. These units seem to be build to last forever. They are made in China, not in Japan, but that doesn’t seem to make any difference regarding build quality.

Enjoy the first set of pictures, part two will cover essential features and functions of the EF-X500, soon.

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Fujinon XF23mmF2 WR Review at Lenstip: “Can you ask for more? A Joy to Use and Completely Recommendable.”

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Lensip posted its full Fujinon XF 23mmF2 WR review here. Their conclusions:

“Small, shapely, weather-resistant, optically good, with interesting optical parameters – can you ask for more? Of course grumblers might carp about high vignetting or coma levels but fighting those aberrations would also mean bigger physical dimensions of the tested lens so removing one of its more important assets. I guess such a price is worth paying in order to enjoy the Fujinon XF 23 mm f/2 R WR as it is. After all the instrument is a joy to use and completely recommendable.”

Pros:

  • handy but solid and weather-resistant casing,
  • excellent image quality in the frame centre,
  • sensible image quality on the edge of the frame,
  • negligible longitudinal chromatic aberration,
  • low lateral chromatic aberration,
  • lack of distinct problems connected to spherical aberration,
  • practically zero distortion,
  • slight astigmatism,
  • silent, reasonably quick and accurate autofocus.

Cons:

  • noticeable coma,
  • very high vignetting for RAW files.

Fujinon XF23mmF2 WR: USA: BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / CAN: AmazonCA / EUROPE: AmazonDE / AmazonUK / AmazonITA / AmazonFR / AmazonESP / PCHstore / WexUK / AUSTRALIA: CameraPro