DannyBurkPhoto
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 p.1 #5 · GFX 23mm lens vs adapted Canon 24/3.5 ii tilt-shift | |
OK, I'll condense as much as possible to avoid writing a book! It was a somewhat difficult transition, as you might expect. I shot primarily 4x5 (Ebony) and 617 (Linhof and Fuji), but also medium format, mostly a Fuji GX680iii. I did have a DSLR (original Canon 1Ds), but I couldn't bring myself to take it seriously and only used it for casual shooting. I didn't expect to quit film, but closure of my local lab combined with ongoing back problems (not helped by all the equipment weight, no doubt) led me to look into a Canon 5DSR in 2015. After doing comparison testing for a couple of weeks, I decided to make the switch, sold all the film equipment, and bought a 5DSR plus a load of Zeiss lenses with the hope of getting as close to drum scanned 4x5 quality as I could.
After a few months, the Sony A7RII came out, and I decided to get one as a backup to the Canon; I thought that a backup that could do different things was a good idea, and since it could use my Canon mount lenses, why not? Well, I immediately discovered that I preferred mirrorless by a huge margin, and the Canon went into the closet as the backup until I finally sold it early this year. Later I added an A7R and had it converted to b&w infrared, and early this year, I got an A7RIII as the primary camera and made the A7RII into the backup when I sold the Canon. As of last week, I now have the GFX50S as primary camera; I'll use the A7RIII for those lenses and occasions that don't work well with the Fuji, and the A7RII is up for sale.
Probably like many large format shooters, I have a huge dislike of 3:2 aspect ratio; the Sony's lack of varied ratios has been a major thorn in my side, even though I like it otherwise. That's the main reason for getting the Fuji, although overall I'm loving it already. It's brilliantly designed and great in use, and needless to say I love the built-in aspect ratios, especially panoramic (I do miss my 617 cameras) and the native 4:3 ratio.
Hmm, what else?... Moving to a tiny viewfinder from a large ground glass has been difficult for composition, although I'm fairly well used to it now. Another negative is the lack of movements, although that's been less problematic than I expected. Positives include a whole new way of seeing many things, especially the largely out-of-focus and wild-bokeh flowers that I never did with film. And instant feedback, no film cost, no need to drum scan film, and other things are nice too. Not to mention the astounding dynamic range that one has nowadays, compared to 4-5 stops with transparency film and 8-10 with neg! Overall I'm happy I made the switch to digital; I think the only thing I've really missed has been the ease of single-frame panoramic composition and shooting, and now the Fuji solves that problem.
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