My first impressions of the Fujifilm GFX 50s

I met Fujifilm X series about 3 years ago and published my impressions, long usage test here. Since then I have taken many pictures on different occasions at this time. This machine accompanied me in dusty, foggy, rainy environments and on difficult roads. In these ways, I saw the boundaries of the machine, and the machine saw my boundaries. In  time we got a good sync between us. I recently met with the exciting new model X-T2. When I was to move to roads with this well designed video performance and many improvements machine, Fujifilm has sent me a completely different machine for my review.GFX 50s.

•43,8 x 32,9mm 51,4MP CMOS mid format sonsor

•X-Processor Pro processor

•Attachable 3,69M dot electronic viewfinder

•2.36M dot touch LCD display

•Compact and light body

•Weather resistant body

•FUJINON GF lens connection

I guessed from little whisper sites what machine looked like. But there is a lot of difference between showing you on paper and holding it in your hand. With the size and the speed, I was worried about what would happen to my senses. Would I be able to integrate with it?

I used the machine for about a week. The machine came at an unfortunate time. There was a seasonal change that was not exactly what I wanted. The atmosphere I wanted was not forming. In such cases, I will not take photos, I will take care of other things. But this time I did not. I’m interested in GFX. I did several experiments inside, not outside. By the end of the week I had a chance and lived on a four-season day. So I could have tested the machine on the conditions I really wanted.

AF-C Performance

First, I’m going to talk a little bit about the machine sensor. The machine is in the medium format class. There is a sensor bigger than the fullframe sensor 1.7. And here is the crucial point of the GFX. Extremely high detail and resolution’s consideration was weight, size and speed untilll today. I have been using the medium format models of the Hasselblad, Sinar brand for years in the studio environment. But I’ve been using these machines in computer-based stabilization. Thanks to these sensors we can see the magnificent details that we can not see in FF machines. Nearly all of the advertising photos we know are being filmed on these machines. Both high resolution and high detail, they are expensive, and their use as a hobby due to cumbersome work is minimal. The “medium format”  machines are a routine product for advertisement and fashion photographers, while it is a very unknown and unfamiliar format for amateur photographers. Fujifilm wants to break this understanding with the GFX 50s model. It may be related to the fact that they have not produced a FF machine for years. Fujifilm emphasizes that a medium format with fullframe dimensions and functionality is produced not only for commercial photographers but also for all photographers who want detail. This is not the only criterion here. In order to reach this large mass, the price had to be close to the full frame class. I can say that the price for other brands’s medium format users is quite reasonable. Wishers can make comparisons over the internet. As these machines become more widely used, I think prices will be lowered and medium format sensors will take over the FF sensors. Of course, all of this is due to the advantages of mirrorless systems.

I am enjoying medium format in a week without using computers, tripods, external apparatuses and without much attention. It is getting the best machine title I have used in this state. The limitations in details is known from full frame and ASP-C sensors. On a medium format machine, for example, if you take a portrait photograph, you can see all the pores in the face, each of the eyelashes and the hairpin in much more detail. Moreover, Photoshop has a lot more flexibility against interventions. If you do a lot of work, it will not deform easily.

The machine seems to have been prepared in general from the X-T2 design. If you have used X-T1 or X-T2 before, you can go straight ahead without ever having to learn the machine. That’s what I did. There is almost no term you will hear on the machine and on your menu for the first time. The photo terms you know. That is, it can be assumed that there are more complex settings or some terms in the medium format. There are no settings to surprise the user other than the settings we are familiar with. As with the X series machines, you can shoot every setting by the body, without entering the menu. You can assign the desired settings to the shortcut keys. After shooting the first few days, the machine makes itself forget. It has to be like that anyway. The resistance of the machine gives you confidence that you do not have worries like hiding the machine that is raining, it is dusting so I should stop shooting, try not running in this cold etc. Not a sensitive machine, shortly. I also experienced all the conditions that I had with the machine. Nothing happened. I stayed in a little dust storm in particular. I was quite comfortable when the large sandbags with cut-outs on the machine were making noise. Likewise, when I was in the snow storm at -10 degrees, I was in the same comfort.

As far as it is understood from my writing, this machine is most interested in me, it can be ‘’used outside”. I already know the quality. I have even seen it in my own comparisons that it works better than the current medium format machines. The real beauty is to be able to use it just like the X-T1 and also like the X-T2.

Does this design provide speed the same as outside usage of ergonomi?  This was the second subject I was curious about. The machine offers 1/4000 mechanical shutter and 1/16000 electronic shutter. You can shoot 3 fps RAW in a second. There are 425 AF points. There is an SD card slot that supports UHS 2 speed and offers dual card support. I was able to test all this on the field. The shutter speed generally reminds me of the X-T1. This is a very good value for a medium format machine. I’ve looked at a few random photos now. RAW photos take up an average of 116 MB. 10 photos are making 1 GB. So much data is required to write a very fast processor in a very short time.

Unlike many users, ISO is not a very important criterion for me. I do not apply too much to the ISO for the topics and times I like. But I still wanted to wonder and see the boundaries. Conclusion: In the low light conditions, you can shoot up to 6400 ISO in peace.

There is also a bi-directional LCD like X-T2 on this one. It also has a touch screen. What’s odd is I never used touch screen during this time. I just used it to see what I shot and to enlarge it. I am curious as to what advantages it will give me in focusing by touch. I will share my experiences in the days ahead.

These are my first impressions for a week. I will update this post occasionally. I am planning to share sample video edits, shooting comparisons and other topics again for DR (contrast area) performance here again.

Please write down your questions and opinions on the comment part.

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