Interestingly...

Fringer has come out with an adapter, which allows you to use Pentax 645 lenses on a Fujifilm GFX camera. With full AF (autofocus) when used with AF Pentax 645 lenses. I actually have 3 lenses with AF - and one of them, i find almost impossible to focus manually with my dumb Pentax-GFX adapter.

Not only is this a great way to re-enable Pentax 645 lenses to be used again (since Ricoh doesn't seem to develop the digital Pentax 645 mediumformat camera any further - and hasn't updated it for almost a decade). The adapter simply allows you to use full AF with AF lenses.

Very positive reviews

The reviews from people APPEAR to be very positive !!

Even with cameras like the older Fujifilm GFX 50s II like I use, are working fine with AF. The autofocus is as least in the same ballpark like that of the native digital Pentax 645Z camera !

Well that's really wonderful. EXIF data is transfered. Apparently also Pentax 645 A lenses work, but of course only with manual focus. Here the EXIF data transfer is partial (I am not sure if i understood that correctly). But it seems to work all very well.

The adapter is $499 including shipping.

For a Swede, this should correspond to a price somewhere around 5800-6000 SEK with 25% tax included.

On my list...

I already put it on my list of things i find useful for the future. As of now I am paying off my two Fujifilm GF lenses, which cost around 5600 € (60.000 SEK) together. However, one of the lenses I bought early summer the Fujifilm GF 55/1.7 - I have already paid off by 57% !!

The other lens I bought recently, the Fujifilm GF 110/2 i paid off by 19%. So, it is moving very fast downwards. SO, there is no room for other extravaganzas like a Star-tracker and that Pentax 645-GFX AF adapter. *grin*

In theory...

Oh I forgot to mention that the Fringer adapter also works for the only digital D-FA and D version of Pentax 645 lenses the company developed especially and only for the digital Pentax 645Z. (All others are working for both film and digital cameras, covering also a larger area than the sensor). The digital-only lenses however usually haven't worked with normal Pentax-GFX adapters.

I wonder if focus bracketing works with the adapter ?

Now, if the adapter is so awesome, i wonder if it is possible that it works with the Fujifilm GFX body focus bracketing. It should in theory works - because I do get it to work with the Sigma ART 70mm ƒ2.8 Macro lens with Canon EF mount (via Finger Pro adapter).

The image above was made in exactly that way with the Sigma 70mm: 80 images focus bracketed, and then stacked in Zerene Stacker software.

Now since I recently bought the Pentax FA 120mm ƒ4 Macro lens - which is an AF lens - it would in theory work as a true macro lens with autofocus focus bracketing... It would be very cool ! No vignetting.

Well, the Sigma doesn't vignette either, until you go very, very close to 1:1 macro, then the corners get darker. The Sigma ART 70mm Macro however does not vignette at infinity and in the closer range. Notice that the Sigma 70mm lens turns into a 55mm lens on the Fujifilm GFX.

While the Pentax 645 FA 120mm ƒ4 Macro turns into a 95mm Macro lens.

Focus bracketing/stacking is so fun !

If there is something i truly love to experiment with, especially when I am bored, or it is one of those endless long winter nights - which we got plenty of in Scandinavia... it is to do closeups and macro, via focus bracketing and then stacking. The very small details, the sharpness - is just incredible. Here a tiny section enlarged to 100% from the main photo above (or below): To be able to cover small things with a much deeper depth of sharpness, is simply an amazing photo journey.

However...

I tend to overdo it with focus bracketing (using many images to stack) - and the final photo has a harsh, clinical kind of "electron microscope" look.

Sometimes I only made focus bracketing/stacking with a FEW images, so that only a few details turn out razor sharp, while the rest remains blurry and soft in the background.

Also when i use old mediumformat lenses, doing manual focus bracketing... with let's say 6-10 images; then the combo turns out absolutely lovely: A sharper detail in the center (compared to just a single photo), and the rest still remains blurry and soft, like we are used to in old classic mediumformat images á lá Hasselblad and Mamiya.

Focus bracketing with a few images - especially when you do more close-up like images - the technique of stacking a few bracketed images. Stacking those few photos then overcomes the older lens designs disadvantage in a digital age - then still looking sharper than what it normally would do.