So it looks like the consensus is that I should try the Fuji GFX 50R with the 50mm ƒ/3.5 or 45mm ƒ/2.8 lens. I'll request one for review. (It doesn't cost me anything to borrow equipment, but thanks to those who expressed concern about that.)
A couple of readers suggested that I should review all of them. All the medium format digital cameras. That actually would be oddly appropriate. The first involved, long-term brief I was given as a Contributing Editor to a photography magazine (Darkroom Photography) was to systematically review the options among medium format cameras. Before I was done I had reviewed the Bronica SQ-Ai, Rolleiflex 6002 and 6008 Integral, Fuji GS645S, Fuji GX680, Exacta 66, Mamiya 6, Bronica ETRSi, Bronica RF645, Mamiya RZ67, and probably a few more that aren't coming to mind at the moment. (Favorites: the SQ-Ai and Mamiya 6.) I used some TLRs too, just not sure if I actually wrote about any of them.
I doubt I'll do the same thing with digital "medium format" cameras, but it would be nicely symmetrical in terms of my photo-writing career, duplicating in the digital realm that earlier survey.
—Mike
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Book of interest this week:
Picture This: How Pictures Work, By Molly Bang
(clicking on the link above takes you to Amazon from TOP)
(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:
I have never tried a medium format digital camera for the same reason I have never driven a Porche 911. I’m afraid I’ll fall in love with something I could never afford!
Posted by: Dan | Thursday, 14 January 2021 at 08:10 AM
Why not just compare 2; the 50R as well as the GFX100? That way you can evaluate sensor output and compare/contrast camera form factor. They take the same lenses thus it would not complicate your review much and, since you will have two lenses...it should be quite feasible.
Posted by: schralp | Thursday, 14 January 2021 at 08:44 AM
Not for nothing, but the internet is crammed with reviews and videos of the Fujis. Do we need another? Of course, your personal take, Mike, is always welcome (and enjoyable), but a comparison of several makes more sense to me. I'm biased toward the Hassy, as I have it, but there really hasn't been that many hands-on reviews worth reading.
I'm less interested in spec charts than in how each camera shapes what, and the way, you shoot.
Posted by: bruce polin | Thursday, 14 January 2021 at 12:32 PM
I'm happy you're focusing on the Fuji. If I did try 'medium format', that would be my choice as well.
On the other hand, having had a lot of years' experience with 645, 6x6, 6x etc., 4x5 and 8x10 I have so far failed to see the point of this smallest of formats larger than FF 35mm. On a monitor at 100% I can see the difference, but otherwise??? I shoot cameras from iPhone to 61mp, and when I printed the last calendars I used images from both of these as well as others in between, and there was no problem. Certainly, no one who got a calendar called me on it. Kirk Tuck explains the issue with medium format digital in his Jan.13 column quite well, but of course more from a photography business point of view. When I had my business, that was my viewpoint also, but now that I'm retired I and only take photos to satisfy myself, my position has barely budged. The picture matters, and FF vs. mini medium format matters very, very little.
Posted by: Henning Wulff | Thursday, 14 January 2021 at 02:17 PM
Depends if you want to test/sample the medium format sensor or the camera as a whole. If the former then why choose a 50MP sensor which in megapixel count is already smaller or about the same to full frame options already available? Surely a 100MP would be preferred? If the 'whole camera' experience is the aim then the 50R sounds like a good choice.
Posted by: Phil Aynsley | Thursday, 14 January 2021 at 03:32 PM
Yes you should. Since Micheal dip into that water not much I trust has done the medium format. And it is good to see.
Fuji has ibis ? And mechanical shutter fir adoption of lens. Good for you.
Just hope they also have a good mobile solution which work like Hasselblad. I do not share photo with my nikon digital since 1990s and still nit. But I did from day one of my Hasselblad 907x. Even with my 203fe. It just worked.
Waiting for your result. Would not be in that pool. Do not like the colour or the UI. But each has its poison.
Best wish for you and America as well.
Posted by: Dennis Ng | Thursday, 14 January 2021 at 06:59 PM
Mike
Good choice.
I recommend trying to get hold of the Small Rig bracket. This makes a huge difference in the handling. The cost is trivial when compared to the investment in the camera - different of course if you only have that on loan - but it better represents the long-term user experience.
Best wishes
Nigel
Posted by: Nigel Ladkin | Friday, 15 January 2021 at 03:06 AM
An MF survey on TOP would be an interesting turn of events, and I would certainly tune in out of just plain curiosity and for vicarious nerd thrills. But looking at the overlap (or gap) between today's FF and MF might be even more interesting.
Posted by: robert e | Friday, 15 January 2021 at 02:10 PM
Good choice I would guess. I do like the looks of the Hassie 907, which looks so much like my favorite Hassie, the SWC. But for me, and I think most serious photographers, not having a decent viewfinder closes the discussion. I so liked holding the SWC in the palm of my hand that I didn't mind scale focus, and I didn't mind an optical VF that was like having the pointy end of a golf tee pressed to my eye.
But the 907? with a screen like a smartphone. Nope. The more sane Hassie seems OK but more expensive than I like so that leaves the Fuji. But then I have a Fuji G690 and three lenses that I never really used, so I am pretty crummy at picking cameras.
Posted by: Doug C | Saturday, 16 January 2021 at 08:06 PM