(Part 4)

Mediumformat film / cameras / lenses

When it comes to mediumformat lenses, used on analog film - the rule always was and should be; stop the lenses down 2-3 stops - and you get almost always highest optical performance and sharpness ! Naturally: using a tripod and mirror up / shutter pre-release, maximizes sharpness showing the very best performance in your negatives and slides.

Things where somehow "more simple" back then. I never realized that when I lived in the past - which "the Now" back then. *LOL*

Today, there seem to be millions of options, combinations, adapters and god knows what else. Few really add something special to the final photography... It made things more complex, complicated - and in many ways. leading people astray, less focused and more "wow" and "kick" oriented.

Or so it seems.

I can see the potential on both. In how we used cameras in the past - but also how we used cameras today. Using it in a more professional, strict matter - or being all out and about with thousands of experiments and combinations.

Maybe I should see it like that ?

The Vertex Method, is a way, to make adapted vintage mediumformat lenses WIDER ! When you mounted them via a straight adapter onto a Fujifilm GFX camera, the angle is much more narrow (Longer focal length) due to that the GFX sensor is smaller.

It gets even longer, when you adapt mediumformat lenses on a fullframe camera, because here the fullframe sensor is smaller then that of the Fujifilm GFX camera.

• If you use a Pentax 75 mm lens on a Pentax 67 camera, you get a light wide angle (= 35mm) when using film with the 6x7 cm negative format.

• If you use a Pentax 75 mm lens on a Fujifilm GFX camera, you get something of a long-ish normal lens equivalent to 60mm.

• If you use a Pentax 75mm lens on a fullframe camera, you get a light telephoto / portrait lens of 75 mm.

So, one way to see it...

looking at the Rotating Vertex Method, is that it is simply a way - a possibility - to make vintage mediumformat lenses like Pentax 6x7 - become a lot wider again ! They return to the same focal length they originally were designed for !

I like that simple thought. It creates rather excitement instead of disappointment.

And in the end, I think i do a pretty good job in transforming the raw material (4 Vertex images), into a final, good looking, and sharp photo with fine details visible. So, I shouldn't be so... disgruntled.

The original images / part of images, might not be perfect when comparing the output you get from native Fujifilm GF lenses... but you can still do a lot of magic with those older Pentax 6x7 lenses. Even if they are optically not perfect. Outdoor photography is a bit more tricky, as you encounter more optical flaws.

At the same time, we do have digital tool to counteract most of them...

Requires more effort

Yes of course. Going out with the Vertex adapter, rotating the camera on a tripod etc - does require more effort. You fiddle around a lot more, compared to having your Fujifilm GF zoom lens... and shooting away "on-the-fly". But the slowness also marks an opportunity, to slow down your sight, mind and photography as such.

Naturally the Vertex method does not support moving objects, really. Portraits CAN be done, but i doubt there is a true advantage. I actually prefer to mount Pentax 6x7 lenses directly onto the Fujifilm GFX "as it is", e.g. where the focal length becomes narrower. It works very well !

Portraits with vintage medium format lenses

If you use the Vertex method for portraits - it means your subjects needs to stand still about 10 seconds, and not move a single millimeter.... Then it works.

But to me it seems a bit over the top. Even a directly mounted Pentax 6x7 lens on the GFX, with a 50 MP sensor, gives more than plenty of fine details. And if you are on a Fujifilm GFX 100 camera, you have 100 MP to play with.

Without having to shoot 4 images, stitching them together.

When stopping down Pentax 6x7 lenses on the Fujifilm GFX camera, used in the studio, directly mounted via adapter - it all works very well - and the output shows very high quality, with finest details visible in portraits, down to the faint hairs that cover the skin.

The Mamiya RZ67 lenses also are top-notch in that regard, with and edge over the Pentax 6x7 lenses. It is just that the Mamiya RZ67 lenses do not have any focus helicoid, so you can't really use them "on-the-fly" via a single adapter.