Cinema5d shared a 16:00 minutes long interview with Fujifilm Manager Takeshi Ueno. It is mainly focussed on video. You can see the full interview at cinema5d. A few excerpts:
Fujifilm thinks that their APS-C cameras satisfy 80% of its customers. But landscape photographers requested higher resolution. So they developed the GFX.
Target User: Professional photographers, mainly fashion or commercial, portrait photographer in photo studios or landscape and architecture stills photographers.
Due to the performance of the sensor (sensor readout not fast enough), it can’t shoot 4K, but Full HD. […] The camera is ment 80-90% for shooting stills. […] But with the next generation of sensor (with 100+MP), Fujifilm would like to improve video functionality, including 4K.
Lens linup: “The MF sensor is large, the image circle of the lenses should be big. Light need to hit the sensor in a uniform manner, so accuracy is required for the manufacturing process. They need a higher degree of design and assembly accuracy than on current lenses. We will be trying to produce this kind of lenses. […] We will mainly be developing bright prime lenses for the line-up. Special considerations are resolution and smoothness. […] Lenses are the key to bringing out the performance of the sensor, otherwise the potential of the sensor is wasted.”
Fujifilm is designing lenses with enough resolution for a sensor withj 100+ megapixel.
“Currently, Medium Format is very expensive. We would like to expand the use of medium format to more people, such as full-frame users interested in medium format. For users like these, we would like to introduce it at the most affordable price possible.”
Pål Laukli is working with a pre-production Fujifilm GFX, and in his video shared at Fujifilm Global here, he says:
If you are used to the X-system, then you will get used soon with the GFX.
Shooting tethered is possible
JPEG with amazing color depth, very sharp, the skin tones, and X-System feel.
Having worked with many different Medium Format System, it was a pleasure to see that the focussing system on the GFX is almost like working with the X-system [NOTE: he does not specify if the AF speed is similar to the one of the X-E1/Pro1, X-E2/T1 or X-T2/Pro2. But it’s safe to assume it could eventually match the speed of X-series cameras with only contrast detection AF, hence X-E1/Pro1… and franky, that alone would already be quite awesome for a MF camera].
X-T1 Photo Essay: Storming a Beach with US Marines in a Massive Training Exercise at kulturmagazine / Making a Makeblock mBot – X100T at f16.click / Why I Love Cameras with Non-Interchangeable Lenses at erickimphotography / X100T: The Misty Pier at macleancomms /
Lenses
Landscape Photography with the XF100-400mm at macleancomms / 100-400 Ben Cherry, Photographer: Isle of Skye at vimeo /
X-Trans / Converters
Battle of the Film Simulations: VSCO B5 vs Fujifilm Arcos vs Fujifilm Monochome at keenanrivals
Editing Fuji .jpg files in Lightroom 6 at gallerylefey / Adobe Lightroom or Iridient Developer for Fuji X-T2 Raw? at Zed ProMedia youtube /
A bit of Everything
Rhodes at jonasraskphotography / Fujifilm Instax Share SP-2 Review at photographyblog / Fujifilm STUDIO SG finally open at ivanjoshualoh / X-T1 Photo Essay: Storming a Beach with US Marines in a Massive Training Exercise at petapixel / How to Use New Fuji Instax Film in Old Kodak Instant Cameras at petapixel / Go right ahead and love your gear at ianmacdonaldphotography /
dpreview just pubished the full interview with well known Fujifilm Manager Toshihisa Iida. They talked about the Fujifilm GFX. Among the others T. Iida says here:
APS-C is more speed, more portability – that’s our X-series. And our medium-format is for ultimate image quality.
Fujifilm GFX: The challenge is how to get the light hit the sensor evenly – in the center and also at the corners. In order to achieve that we customized the microlenses . […] Also we optimized the silicon process. We spent a lot of time and resources on this kind of customization.
The challenges [of recording 4K Video] for every manufacturer are power and heat. And there are two ways minimize their impact. One way is to make the camera bigger. The second way is to make the video file smaller, by recording video from a cropped area of the frame. We think that it’s important to pursue the ultimate in quality, so on the X-T2 for example we tried to minimize the crop factor. Some manufacturers are offering crops of 1.5 X or 1.7X. This doesn’t help photographers at all.
We designed these new lenses to be future-proof. The potential resolution of these new lenses is much higher than 50MP. Our benchmark is 4700 line pairs. So the lenses can resolve at least 100MP.
Probably, in 2 years time, the size of the mirrorless market will exceed the market for DSLRs, globally.
The smartphone is not the enemy, it’s a complement to a camera. And how to enable connectivity between a smart device and our cameras is very important. We will focus on making it faster, smoother.
You can read this and much more in the dpreview interview here. They also gave us a more precise idea of when the GFX will hit the market. According to dpreview it will be spring (so late March/April at earliest)
Special deal for FR-readers
Save 20% on Damiens Books “Portraits” and/or “The Fujifilm X-series guide”. Use code “ilex” at checkout
Go to lovegroveportraits.com
shared by paulcory X-T2 Freezes [NOTE: This appears to be an issue of the SD-cards. This should not occur if you use Toshiba UHS II cards, but for technical reasons could occur with Lexar SD-cards. Fujifilm apparently recommends to use Toshiba]
A FR-reader send me these two Fujifilm GFX Vs. Hasselblad X1D Size Comparisons. Feel free to make some more of these ;)
Fujifilm GFX Vs. Hasselblad X1D
Commenting a video of Matt Granger, my buddy at mirrorlessrumors listed a few points, where he thinks the Hasselblad X1C 50c beats the Fujifilm GFX 50S
It’s available now while the GFX will be available in no less than six months
The X1D-50c is a bit more compact than the Fuji
The Hasselblad lenses do have leaf shutter
The Hasselblad goes up to 25,600 ISO (1 stop more than the Fuji)
That’s personal: Without having used the respective menus it looks like the Hasselblad menu is…nicer
…. and let me add…
Not limited to 125x Synch Speed thanks to leaf shutter.
It’s quite early for any real comparison, since just a bunch of people could actually hold the GFX for a few minutes only. But there are a few things we can clearly list as advantages for the Fujifilm GFX, or where it can keep up with the X1D. Some of the points have been shared in this X1D Vs GFX post on the Fujifilm GFX facebook group.
Of course we appreciate any addition or corrections.
The Fujifilm GFX will be cheaper (body+lens+viewfinder “way under” $10,000 – that’s Fuji’s word) – that’s quite a bit cheaper than the Hasselblad X1D
The Fujifilm GFX has a higher resolution viewfinder (2.36M-dot Vs. 3.69 M-dot) and maybe also a bigger one. For sure the one of the GFX is massive (0.85x magnification compared to 0.77x of X-T2), but I couldn’t find any data regarding the Hasselblad magnification at their official Specs page here.
The GFX viewfinder can be articulted thanks to an adapter.
The GFX has a 3 way tilting screen (Hasselblad fixed screen)
The GFX shoots Full-HD at 30fps (the Hasselblad at 25 fps)
The GFX has an electronic shutter (Hasselblad currently not. We don’t know if they will provide it with a future firmware. Hasselblad didn’t make any statements about this)
Controls: The GFX has Shutter, ISO and Aperture dials… and a little Top LCD panel
The new G mount has twelve electronic lens contacts, which will be very useful when it comes to adapting third-party lenses
There will be several adapters that will allow you to connect also leaf shutter lenses for flash work, including a Hasselblad HC adapter with leaf shutter, electronic aperture and AF-support.
Having a focal plane shutter, allows you to use also third party lenses that have no leaf shutter
The focal plane shutter allows Fuji to produce more affordable lenses with less complexity. And always keep in mind… Global Shutter is the future anyway… ;)
The max. shutter speed of the X1D is 1/2000 only (1/4000 for the Fuji GFX)
Hasselblad is still trying to survive as a company, whereas Fujifilm on the other hand is healthier… so more guarantee that the system will survive in the long-term.
The battery slides into the body from the left side rather than into the grip (like on the X1D)…which is the reason for the thickness…and more useful when the battery grip is attached or when it’s on a tripod
Fujifilm Film Simulations ;)
We can’t coment on speed now, since the GFX is still an early prototype, nor on other things that strongly depend on your personal taste (like the look or the menu layout). And we also don’t know about things like overheating etc. So to me what remains are 2 advantages for the X1D
size & weight (725g Vs. 800g – that’s at least what Kai said in his GFX first look)
leaf shutter lenses for flash work
However consider this:
Regarding the size & weight, the compactness has its price: no tilting screen, probably smaller EVF, no top LCD panel, no shutter/Iso dial, no focal plane shutter…
Regarding leaf shutter, as said above, Fujifilm will release a Hasselblad HC adapter with leaf shutter, electronic aperture and AF-support – Rico’s word. So advantage number 2 is just temporary and will be solved in future.
Overall, my very personal impression is that the Fujifilm GFX looks more like a flexible workhorse compared to the Hasselblad, whereas the X1D is definitely a modern and stylish alternative.
Both cameras are innovative products, both companies took a nice risk… and I wish both success in their Medium Format adventure.
We can’t take images out of the camera, but I can just tell you from looking through the viewfinder… it’s awesome!
well balanced and easier than some high end DSLR’s
Full Frame Video is dead ;)
Ok, before I share the next bunch of GFX tidbits, I really recommend you to check back this article by Rico Pfirstinger. Once you’ve read it, I will promise you will know everything that is possible to know about the Fujifilm GFX… and also about its future development. It’s a 360° overview, with really nothing left behind. You’ll basically know everything after reading it.
The Japanese site dc.watch (translation) shared its hands-on article with a lot of images, for example:
GFX is equipped to support leaf shutter lenses. Fuji has no current plans to release leaf shutter lenses or adapters, but will release the specs to support other manufacturers to do so.
image of the little LCD on the Top (that never turns off) here
Adorama had a short interview with Fuji Guy Billy here:
It’s called GFX. G (our MF heritage) F (heritage in film and film simulations) X (X-DNA – dials, design etc.)
Traditionally, X-series cameras use X-Trans sensors without low-pass filter. So you can achieve very sharp images reducing moiree. But the big GFX 50MP Medium Format Bayer sensor allows Fuji do get rid of the low-pass filter without having moiree.
It is a customized sensor by Fujifilm
Newsshooter had a talk with Theo, from Fujifilm UK. Amongst the others, he says here:
We went Medium Format, because with Full Frame we would have cannibalized our APS-C line
We think the GFX will appeal more to Full Frame DSLR user rather than just traditional Medium Format users
