p.12 #1Utility of dynamic range beyond a certain point
gdanmitchell wrote: guidostow wroteruthenium wroteI added this camera (GFX100S II) with the GF20-35MM F4 lens last December. What helped that decision was the opportunity to have the system for a week, on loan from Fuji Canada. You may want to explore this option, if you are not sure whether you should like the GFX. Later on, I similarly had a chance to spend time with the GF500MM F5.6 lens, also loaned by Fuji Canada. I now have my own copy of this lens together with the GF55MM F1.7 prime. I don't have the feeling that there are lenses that , for my uses, are not available for the GFX. I am perfectly happy with the three GF lenses I purchased.
In the last seven months, I really bonded strongly with the GFX. There is something about the camera and about the experience of processing the raw files that I find enjoyable. My Sony A1 and some of the excellent lenses (35mm F1.4 GM, 70-200mm F2.8 GMII, 200-600mm G, Tamron 35-150mm F2-2.8 etc) are, unfairly(!), "collecting dust".
It is true that the GFX100S II is not a fast system, yet it is not as slow as to be a problem. I like the 4 x 3 sensor better than the 3 x 2, and (unexpectedly) I really like having the 100MP. The body design and layout of the buttons and dials on the GFX100S II are very different from the Sony bodies. Thus, it would make sense to try this system before committing to purchasing.Thanks for this... I'd certainly do a "try before I buy" before making the change.
I'm not the average sony user. My practice is very much shaped by my time using large format (mostly 4x10 and 8x20). I work slowly and carefully, entirely on a tripod. I would use my adapted canon TS-E lenses manual focus lenses 24,50,90 and 135 (maybe adding the 17...) I'm excited by the Fringer adapter with the physical aperture ring. I work entirely from the LCD. I'm skeptical about the 4x3, but excited by the 65x24 crop option.
I would keep my sony bodies and sigma zooms for wet/dusty conditions and IR.
I'll keep pondering, I don't want to jump before I'm sure.My point above was not that the GFX system is right or wrong or that it is good or bad — just that working with it is a very different thing than working with high-end FF systems.
Like you, I also work (with my larger camera systems) almost* exclusively from the tripod, and I rely heavily on the LCD for framing and manual focus. (Basically I run the camera in a fully manual mode for this.) However, I moved away from using prime lenses (for my landscape photography) and for a decade or so have used only zooms, with the exception of occasionally using a macro prime. (I use a Pentax medium format zoom lens on a Mirex tilt/shift adapter at times, too.)
My personal issue with GFX — and I acknowledge that it is personal to my style of landscape photography, which often relies on long lenses — is that there is no Fujifilm zoom longer than 200mm (the 100-200). And, of course, that’s a wider angle of view than 200mm on FF. I rely a great deal on 70-200mm and 100-400mm zoom lenses, with the latter occasionally using a 1.4x TC.
I know that Fujifilm makes excellent 250mm and 500mm primes for the GFX cameras, along with a 1.4x TC. But I want (expect, need…) the precise compositional control provided by zoom lenses… and I do not’ want to deal with two big primes and a TC where one lens does the job on FF with greater control.
As I often add, though, YMMV. :-)
I see that you rely on a set of four prime lenses between 24mm and 135mm, and you can certainly find lenses that will work with that approach. Your T/S (Canon EF I presume) lenses should give you sufficient coverage for the somewhat larger miniMF sensor area, though your ability to to T and S will be a bit more limited, if that matters. You will, obviously, be getting larger angles of view, but some photographers are willing to crop to FF size occasionally.
If I had been in your situation — owning a set of lenses that should work well with an adapter — I probably would have moved to GFX several years ago.
- - -
* my “almost” qualifier is that I do sometimes photograph wildlife with my current FF system, and I most often do that handheld. For me — but probably not for you — that is another negative on the miniMF system on several counts: speed, reach, and lenses. When I contemplated GFX while waiting to see if Fujifilm would ever come up with better long lens options, I assumed that I’d need a second system for this photography.
Well you sure are due for an upgrade you've been using that 5Dsr almost as long as I've been posting here. I'm sure you'll enjoy the Sony these modern sensors/cameras have had many generations of improvements now.