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So. She is on her way to Stockholm. The Fujifilm GFX 50s II camera + GF 35-70mm f 4.5-5.6 lens. It is getting shipped from the autumn area of Northern Sweden (Umeå), and it is the time for me, that I'll work with a sensor lager than 24x36 mm fullframe. I didn't see that coming, to be honest. I never flirted with the GFX, because I had no need for it (compared to what I can and do today). Until i stumbled across the Rotating Vertex method...
You could the camera is a "baby Medium format" sensor based camera, albeit in digital terms everything is pretty relative, because even a fullframe 24x36mm sensor already outperforms film-based medium negatives á lá 6x6 or 6x7.
The goal and desire
My main drive for wanting to use the Fujifilm GFX 50s II camera, is together with the Vertex rotating adapter, to create real medium format based Photography á lá the old days. Tripod. Medium format lenses mounted on a studio camera. Stillness. Slowness. Thinking. Being present.
Not a replacement for fullframe cameras
The Fujifilm GFX 50s II for me not a replacement camera to do the main work with it. The snappy Canon EOS R6 camera, or the Olympus OM-1 camera system, are better in that regard, together with fantastic lenses and fast AF, as well very good IBIS. Not to mention the good quality with bright, sharp lenses.
I don't need to "replace" all that again... to do everything the same, just with Fuji GFX.
I mainly intend to use the GFX as a real medium format camera - which for me is a slower, often tripod based photography. Less flexible in that regard - but also more... present, through thought. It is not about to snap away handheld images with the Fuji GFX 50s II. (I can do that of course too, with the native Fuji GF 35-70mm f 4.5-5.6 lens that is part of the package. I thought I should at least have one Fuji native based lens for this camera).
Using the Vertex method
requires always a tripod - there is no other way to do it - when you for each image have to rotate the camera by 90 degrees. After 4 images, you stich them together in Lightroom - and get one RAW file which you can work on in Photoshop.
Adapted Pentax 6x7 lenses usally need to be stopped down in order to render sharp. (The same goes when you use film, of course) Classic Medium format lenses, are always always weak in performance, when you use them at wide open aperture. We always stopped them down 2-3 stops for critial work - and that is when those lenses shine.
We are talking about ƒ 8 and ƒ11 to at the most ƒ16 on a digital sensor (as diffraction starts to kick in making sharpness start to drop). Albeit the latter likely can be counteracted with Topaz Sharpen AI or Photo AI - crispen up the fine details in (mostly) wonderful ways, if done carefully.
Hello Memphis, TN. What the heck ?!
I already got the Rhinocam Vertex adapter GFX adapter - which i bought second hand for a much more humane price - after it was accidentally sent from Paris to Memphis, TN, USA - and then days later returned to Paris again, and finally landed next day in Stockholm *LOL*
The physical size of the Vertex GFX adapter, is clearly larger than its Canon EOS R equivalent. So, with that adapter I'll go out and about in Stockholm, together with 6x7 lenses, making medium format images... If things get heavy... i take my shopping wagon with me - instead of carrying things on my back. However, usually I only take with me 1-2 Pentax 6x7 lenses, so it isn't really that heavy and I can take a backpack with me, instead.
Now - from this time on - all Pentax 6x7 lenses will get quite a lot wider. (compared to when using them with a Vertex + Canon EOS R camera). The Pentax 6x7 Fisheye lens will likely be too much, too wide, and with a border performance that likely will be messy. (But I'll test that too - and see what I could do with such an extreme wide lens (after i de-fished it).
I feel I need the slow photography...
in order to exercise senses for beauty, composition and ideas (seen through the eyes of a "6x7" camera, so to speak) To get into that feeling I had back in the days, when working with real medium format cameras in the 90s in particular. When I need snappy images - well, that's all the other cameras for.
No problem.
Medium format has always (generally) been a much slower type of photography.
Of course, can the latest Fuji GF lenses and GFX cameras utilize to be used at wide open aperture (GF 55/1.7, GF 80/1.7, GF 110/2.0 up to 8 stops IBIS - without the need of a tripod - allowing relatively slow shutter speeds - and you still get sharp images. Practically almost as flexible like using a fullframe camera.
But - I don't need that.
I don't need a Fujifilm GFX to replace camera systems that are much better in fast, snappy, handheld photography at wide open aperture with super bright lenses. I have that already covered.
It is not about replacing any present camera, with the new Fujifilm GFX 50s II
Tranquility...
It is about the slow, methodical and quirky-fun work with the Vertex method, in order to utilize the old classic 6x7 lenses in the same way, as if used them on a studio camera, with color negative & black & white film.
Using a tripod with a medium format camera has something... tranquil about it, the way you work.
You see different, you think different, you work different, you even feel differently as your feelings have time to take a seat in you. And with me, i sometimes get a special connection from within... when the aforementioned things together come into play. Kind of like an inner guide - but I am not totally sure about the dynamics. Perhaps it is the "muse" whose presence I only can (sometimes) feel, when i slow down. I mean, really slow down !
You are in charge, and you become/are aware of why you take a certain image; the feeling that connects you to the motive - as the motive connects to you. Sometimes you get a silent "guide" from within... as you wander in nature... as your eyes become aware of something special; whether the motive, or the light situation, the colors... the composition, or clouds forming shapes in unusual ways.
In a world of endless iPhone photos... the slow way feels being such a relief. Kind of like "coming home" again. And yes, while i can put a normal camera on a tripod - i see myself rarely doing that. The Vertex method however, only works with a tripod. There is no other way.
It is just that other, earlier methods didn't convince me really to "slow down". (Or I simply avoided them) and instead I would rather fall into the trap of using sloppy methods, or go for the easiest way. It kind of sucks now. I've gotten tired of it. (Also one of the reasons i am not buying a new iPhone).
So, now that's been said. |
