I've been slowly getting into the ecosystem of the Fuji X systems such as XT-2, X-Pro 2 and whatnot and wanted to upgrade. is a Fujifilm GFX 50s II a good camera to splurge money on if i want to buy a medium format camera?
That's a tough question to answer not knowing what you want it to do. I had a 50S and now have a 100S. The SII is kind of between the two with the newer battery design and IBIS over the 50S, but not with phase detect AF of the 100S. I love the Gfx cameras but would not choose one as my only camera just for the size and speed. I also shoot Fuji X and use it as my daily workhorse. Something to keep in mind is that while the cost of entry into the Gfx world is now pretty low with the 50 and 100's on the used market, lenses are still going to add up in expense, there really aren't much for cheap lens options. And with something as optically excellent as a Gfx, you are going to want the great lenses to go with it. So you may want to consider that before you leap. The good news is that purchased on the used market, the values are not rapidly declining and could be re-sold easily if desired. What else do you want to know?
thanks for the thorough reply, I do love the photos that come out of my X-Pro 2 and just wished that Fuji would release a full frame camera. I've been using the D810 also for the past 12 years since it came out, and just recently sold it as a friend wanted to get into photography. I guess the reason for choosing the GFX line is because there just isnt a full frame Fuji out there yet. It may seem a bit silly of a reason have but I do shoot land/cityscape and fashion photography so I do see a difference when shooting the X-Pro 2 and the D810.
As you mentioned, I do worry how the 50s II does not have phase detection and only contrast. This also goes the same for the Leica SL2-S i've been looking into in addition to the GFX. But seeing how I dont shoot fast moving subjects much, would phase detection be enough to not get annoyed by as for the AF?
I've owned the 50R and the 50SII. The image quality on both was wonderful, and the 50SII was a huge upgrade from a handling perspective. I sold the 50SII because I was wanting to experiment with something else (buy and sell too much) at the time. I keep thinking about buying another one because I miss the amazing files it produces compared to my Canon R6II (which is no slouch either).
If you buy one and can only get a single lens to start, I'd go with the 45-100 as it's versatile for landscape and all-around shooting. It's sharp from edge to edge and has a bit more reach than the 32-64, which is also nice. For portraits, the 110mm will blow your mind.
It's a great camera if you are not in a hurry when shooting. And you want GF lenses to get the most out of it. With adapted lenses, FF makes much, much more sense.
The only drawbacks I will never be able to learn to ignore, is that AF is _always_ locking on the most remote part of the focusing area. I've never tried any other camera that does this, and it makes you have to MF very often with AF lenses. The camera is also kind of unresponsive with certain lenses. Mainly the GF 80 and I have no idea of why. Other lenses work fine.
I had the 50S and 100S overlapping and did some back and forth. Not a controlled test but real world use. Most of what I shoot is landscape with bright natural light stopped down for deep DOF. In that situation, the differences between the contrast detect AF 50S and phase detect AF 100S were pretty small. Its an easy to focus situation. In low light, I switched the 50S over to MF which is fine for me, especially on a tripod. But if you plan to shoot low light often or wide open with the 55/1.7 (which is a beautiful piece lens engineering) and razor thin focal plane, I suspect you would find it frustrating.
If you want to splurge on medium format, go with the GFX100S II. Or better yet, just get a full-frame camera from another brand. The only real reason to go for the GFX is its ergonomics. Not many cameras have an aperture ring on most lenses, ISO on the front dial, and shutter speed on the rear dial. The GFX50S II is a great camera with some limitations, and it’ll remind you of those every time you try to capture anything in motion.
Had a GFX50SII in 2023, upgraded to a GFX100S, then sold all my GFX gear.
Got a GFX50R again last year. The biggest knock against the GFX50SII and GFX100S for me is the PASM handling. Same reason I strongly dislike the X-H2 and X-H2S: I bought into Fuji for the dials, as did many of the earliest adopters. I find it strange that the flagship models have completely abandoned a key factor behind Fuji's initial success.
Rant aside, the GFX50SII is a good deal at today's used prices. The IBIS is really very useful and it is the feature I miss the most. It helps a lot with manual focus, and getting sharp shots at lower shutter speeds (which is much harder on GFX than on the X mount cameras). But if you're used to the X-T2 and X-Pro2, the GFX50SII handles more like someone slapped Fuji's firmware inside a generic camera body that approximates the median of every pro Canon, Nikon and Sony body over the past 10 years.
I'll share a bit of a counterpoint to some of the other opinions here. I actually prefer the PASM dial style compared to the dials of the XT series. So that was a big selling point of the 50sII for me.
Compared to FF, the images are simply stunning. As others have mentioned, as long as you don't need AF for quick subjects, it'll work great. It's worth it for the 55mm alone if you can financially swing the indulgence!
