I’ve long held the opinion that camera brands are soulless. They are a body of people, managed by a group of executives, who answer to a board of directors who represent stockholders. And once you travel all the way up that totem pole you are met with a vast array of people, any one of whom may have the best intentions, be full of passion for their product, and be filled with love for mankind and the earth, but who, collectively do not all hold the same ideals. When you get a large group of people with different political leanings, cultural backgrounds and beliefs, motivations, and degrees of selfless vs selflessness, often the only lowest common denominator left among all those interested parties is one thing: turning a profit.
So I’ve always been suspicious of reviewers who get too emotionally tied or who are “loyal” to a single brand. I’ve always felt like loyalty amounted to little more than tribalism and that brands did not deserve our loyalty. That they should be accountable to us not us to them. And so whenever people in the comments section resort to emotional banter when it comes to brands, I always find it silly and backwards.
But for the last four and a half years I’ve shot with Fuji as my main system, all the while experimenting on the fringes of other brands. I’ve purchased several top end Sony, Canon and Panasonic cameras and have rented many impressive Nikon cameras. And all of these tools have been absolutely amazing and at any point I could have jumped ship and moved entirely to any of those systems and I’m sure I’d have been quite happy.
But during the last four years I’ve also felt this uncomfortable and slightly foreign notion begin growing in me about Fuji and that is something more akin to familial love. And I’m forced to admit that I do feel a little bit of sentiment to the Fuji as a camera platform, certainly more so than other systems.
I really want to share with you the reasons why that is. Why do some people feel drawn to Fuji when they don’t have a professional full frame offering, they can’t compete with Sony or Canon when it comes to autofocus, and they seem to always be just behind the innovation curve for most things? Why do I keep spending money on and making these silly posts about Fuji gear 90% of the time?
Well, there are 5 reasons.
1 - Digital art with an analog heart. This is the phrase Denae and I came up with to describe what this channel is all about. Whether you buy-in to the new wave of film photography, this film resurgence we’re seeing or not, I think most would agree that there is a type of photography a method of shooting which is more akin to analog photography than other styles or ways of thinking about photography.
For instance, for many photographers a camera is a tool that should get as much as possible out of your way. For these photographers the best user interface is no user interface. The camera is designed and setup in a way to make them as efficient and accurate as possible with the highest image quality possible without a lot of fuss and with little thought or concern to how the image is derived. These photographers do not respond at all to the way Fuji cameras are designed to appeal to the nostalgia of film cameras and the word “tactile experience” rates extremely low on their list of priorities for a camera purchase.
But for other photographers, photographers like me, the experience of shooting is absolutely just as important as the end result. It’s the anticipation of the capture and it’s the trappings of the experience that mean so much to us. For us, the gear becomes trusted and cherished companions on our photographic journey. And we don’t mind so much if occasionally that gear slows us down or leaves some things up to us to decide. The soul of the gear we love takes inspiration and advice from history. After all, the soul of photography is bound to its history.
And in that regard, there is a mindfulness that comes with shooting with a Fuji device. Being connected and asked to mentally check in with the tool that allows for the capture grounds us in the process, just as shooting film and being forced to be so connected with not only the photograph but every single step that went into the creation of that photography demands more awareness from us.
And the thing about it is that these cameras aren’t being designed by a team of marketers who think that they can sell more cameras if they make them look more like old school devices. They are being designed and created by people I can only describe as craftspeople who pour their passion and interest into these bodies, and in many cases make decisions that are true to their gut and personal interest in photography rather than what’s going to convince a Sony shooter to move over to Fuji. Now I’m sure that those considerations come into play, but I love that Fuji product designers are not afraid to play with their designs and be brave enough to follow their instincts.
2 - Fuji’s Filmic profiles. And this is another area where I’ve been known to get suspicious of people. I get really bothered when people claim that “color science” is the reason why they choose a certain platform over another when I’ve seen time and time again that it’s pretty doable to make any raw file from any system take on the style of color output from any other system, with a bit of work. Especially the newer the camera we’re talking about and the higher end.
But again, after years of shooting with Fuji, I’ve come to learn that, for me personally, no other system allows me to get as close to what I enjoy seeing straight out of camera with very little manipulation as Fuji can. And the reason for that is clear: the heart of Fuji’s very deliberate treatment of color is grounded in the history of film.
Whereas most every other brand’s “filmic” profiles are little more than Instagram filters in comparison, to anyone who has shot a lot of film, there is a quantifiable legitimacy to the filmic profiles coming out of a Fuji device. And for me it’s meant that my documentary style work needs very little if any post production manipulation to make me extremely pleased with the results. Now I realize that this is the very definition of subjective, but I can only tell you what I’ve experienced here.
But that’s not universal. Many of you know I’ve done many, many color comparison videos and with those blind tests I’ve learned that for some people, out of camera JPGs from Canon, Sony, or Leica are going to resonate more with you. And that’s ok. But for me, and many others, Fuji profiles resonate with us. And personally, whenever I shoot with another camera, even a camera I find extremely enjoyable to shoot with, it’s just not the same when I look at that raw output or JPG straight out of camera and I often find myself regretting that i didnt’ take it on a Fuji device.
There have been some exceptions to this. The color output from the Hasselblad XD II 50C for instance is pretty special as well as that glorious foveon sensor output from the Sigma Quattros. But by and large, it’s Asita, Provia, Classic Chrome and in the right light and circumastance, even Classic Negative that have my heart.
3 - Size. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you’re a documentary style photographer interested in capturing your journey and the journey of those around you, remember that the size of your camera is inversely proportional to how much of the time your camera will be with you. Or more simply put, small camera = more keepers.
And Fuji cameras and lenses are small. Are there smaller cameras, certainly? But for me, Fuji has found the perfect balance between image quality and size. If you’ve shot with these lenses like I have, you’ll know that Fuji has put a lot into those primes especially. I feel like you can kind of tell that these product designers are prime shooters. And so for me, having a small body and a small prime with me most of the time, or even the really special Fuji X100V, it’s totally doable and never really feels out of place at just about any event, travel, extended family get together, quick trip to the park or grocery store, or these days, just having it near me on the couch while my kids struggle with homeschool.
4 - A company with soul. I said earlier that I generally assume corporations only exist to make money. And I certainly don’t think that Fuji is an exception here. But, as I’ve learned more about the company, their history and the way that individual leaders within Fuji seem to make business decisions informed by more than just dollar signs, I’m continually impressed and there’s a certain part of me that is like, well if I’m going to give a company money in return for camera stuff, it might as well be a company that does good things. And Fuji certainly does good things.
For instance, in 2012 after Japan experienced a devastating tsunami and earthquake, Fuji sent a team of 259 employees to Ishinomaki to help digitize roughly 10,000 documents that were damaged by that disaster.
Fuji also sponsors photography workshops for underprivileged children throughout the world. And of course, more recently, Fuji is bringing a lot of hope in the fight against Covid 19 through their pharmaceutical arm in the form of prescription drug avigan. They’ve also sent medical equipment to hard-hit countries, and they are also developing a Covid 19 detection test that can return results in two hours as opposed to the six of the current tests, as I just read on Fujirumors. And when you look at what their CEO Shigitaka Komori talks about on a regular basis, it’s more than just lip service to affecting change. For him, it’s being in a position to drive change. And I think that’s a lot more than a lot of other companies can say.
#5 - every major issue I’ve had with the Fuji camera platform has been systematically resolved. Now I don’t know if Fuji knows who I am or cares what I think, or if it’s just the overall aggregate of what a lot of people have been saying for a long time, but every time I have an interesting nugget of issue to talk about in one of Fuji’s devices, Fuji improves it. Some important examples.
As a hybrid shooter, I’ve always really struggled with the fact that you can’t store settings separately, video from photo in an easy way. If you’re doing them both right, even in the exact same circumstances, your settings are often reversed. For photography, we shoot with high shutter speeds but with videography, we have to have a fixed shutter speed, usually 30 or 60th of a second. And this creates a domino problem where we have to change several settings to compensate each time we go back and forth. Well, the X-t4 finally resolves this issue and is probably the number one reason, even over the stabilized shutter, why I’m excited about it, again, as a Hybrid shooter. It’s been the most painful aspect of shooting with Fuji over the last four years, and I’ll be so excited to see that improvement.
But that’s just one small example. It’s the “smallest example, where not very many people were compalingin about it” but which was the most painful to me personally. But there dozens of other improvements that they continue to make to make life better for users, all the while trying to keep the balance between inovation and, like I said earlier, remembering their past.
So those are five reasons why I’m a satisfied Fuji user and don’t feel any particular urgency to use any other brand as my primary daily camera.
But, as much as I think Fuji is a great company with some excellent products, there are just a few things I would like to see them change. But I’m gonna put that in a part 2 of this article, because this one is getting long. In the meantime, remember to do some good with your camera. And I’ll talk to you again real soon.
Should I Buy an Expensive Camera or Lens?
Hey friends. If you’re here because you’re on the fence about upgrading to a “nice” expensive maybe dare I say, professional camera, but you’re not sure if it’s a good idea or the right time for you, then you’re in the right place. In this post, I want to try to make that decision easier for you and really give you the advice I wish that I had received when I was making that same decision.
I’m guessing that a lot of you are working with a smartphone currently, or maybe a sort of entry-level camera like a canon Rebel or your parent’s DSLR. You’ve probably begun discovering how much fun it can be to create with these tools, but you see what others are able to do with a bit more monetary investment in some higher-end equipment and you probably think, man if I can just get the gear they are using, then nothing would hold me back from really shining creatively. That’s not necessarily true, by the way, but having the right tools for the right job can certainly be helpful.
But it’s scary. Photo and video equipment is expensive. But if you never take that risk, maybe you’ll never know what you could have created. But on the other hand, you know yourself and sometimes it’s hard to stick with a hobby or with something you thought you’d be passionate about. Will this huge expense just end up in your closet or back on eBay in a few months?
But good news. I think I can help you with that decision. And by the way, shameless plug, I do offer memberships on this channel at varying levels, all of which can allow me to really help you in a more hands-on way, both with what to buy, but also what to do with it afterwards. So click on the Join button below to learn a bit more about that.
But in the meantime, let’s talk about this conundrum.
For me, when I was looking at my dream camera and lens kit back five years ago and seeing that five thousand dollar total price tag for the camera and two lenses that I wanted, it was a bit scary. And we were in a much different financial position back then. We didn’t really have that sort of expendable income. If I was going to get this gear, I needed to make it make us money to pay for itself. It was a big commitment.
But my other worry was that I just know myself. And there have been so many hobbies I thought for sure I was going to get into that ended up just sort of fizzling out. Would photography and videography just be another failed expensive experiment?
Fortunately, for me it wasn’t. Not only did my wife Denae and I stick with it, we dove deep with it. And we were able to eventually turn a profit with it, also. At first the hobby paid for itself. But over the last couple years, it’s started to supplement the income. And that’s been really exciting.
But, that doesn’t happen with everyone. There are plenty of people that I have watched pick up the hobby, invest thousands in it, and later just sorta fizzle out.
But it’s not just the gear. Some people have big dreams of becoming YouTube or Instagram creatives, or even just wedding or corporate videographer or photographers, so they create these big plans along with these big purchases. They might hire a designer to create a logo for them. They may invest in a website. Business cards. They make intro videos announcing sincere plans to create videos every Friday of every week, or maybe they schedule trips to begin capturing Instagram stories and photos they know will get them that influencer status they want within a year. Or maybe they invest in expensive marketing plans to market their newly minted photo businesses.
I’ve seen it time and time again though, where someone will start down that road in any one of these endeavors, realize the sheer amount of work it is to realize the success they want, not see the success they wanted or hoped for and quit, or just lose interest.
Now, to be clear, I’m not trying to talk you out of it. On the contrary, I think being a creator is incredible, amazing and wonderful. Creating photography and videography content has filled a hole in my heart I didn’t even know was there five years ago, and I can’t imagine setting it aside. And I know many of you will catch fire with it also, even if you don’t become an instant successes, even if you don’t become instant rich and famous off of it, if you’re anything like me, you’ll be okay with that because you experienced joy in the journey. Some, not all, some of you have that in you.
But how do you know if that’s you or not? I have for you a litmus test, of sort. Some introspection questions I would like for you to answer for yourself that will help determine the likelihood of you sticking with the sport, as it were. I’d really like to cut to the heart of the matter and for that to happen you’ll need to be very honest with yourself. You’ll need to muscle aside those” impulse buy” emotions you’re feeling, telling you to ignore logic and just buy that new toy. Set aside the shiny object syndrome, for a moment and really ponder these questions.
First question: If you knew that investing in that gear and those plans that you have will lead to nothing more than creative satisfaction for yourself and nothing else, is that enough? Can you find joy in the creation process in and of itself, for its own sake. Or does your metric for success rely on views, subscribers, likes, dollar signs, or regularly occurring professional paid shoots?
If you can’t say yes to that. If you can’t say that even if none of those other things happened, you’d still be just thrilled to be able to create for the love of creating and for no other reason, then maybe that expensive purchase will end up being less of a vehicle for creative fulfillment, and more of a constant bitter reminder of the lack of success you thought you might get. If shattered dreams become the reality, will that camera just become a physical manifestation of the failure? If so, you’ll be quick to want to hide that tool away or sell it off. I’m not saying you will for sure fail. But if you did, is okay? Is the creation process itself enough?
And that leads to the second question in my litmus test. Is photography, videography, content creation what you think about when you don’t have anything else to think about? Do you find yourself at your day job with your mind constantly drifting back to your weekend or evening plans to head out and shoot? Do creative ideas keep you up at night or cause you to wake up scrambling for a your phone or pen and pad of paper so you can write down an idea you had?
If not, if photography is something more of a side interest that you think you might enjoy doing, it’s an indication that the camera will likely remain hidden away most of the time, only to show up on birthdays or special occasions, vacations, and even then, just as a reminder that you never really did take the time to master it, and that maybe you’d just be better off just taking these shots with your phone.
But, if creating content is a preoccupation or even obsession, that’s a really good argument for making the plunge.
My last litmus test question is probably the hardest because it’s the one that takes patience. But it’s now the most important question I ask people who say they want to create YT channels or go to photography school. What often happens is someone will tell me they want to create a channel, as an example. And they are totally gung ho about it, and even when they have answered my first two questions in the affirmative, “Oh yes, I know it could fail, but yes I think it will be fulfilling, and yes, I can’t stop thinking about this big idea I have.” What I say to them is how long have you been preoccupied with this idea? How long have felt this driving urge to create more and in a higher caliber way? Has it only been a few days? A week? Or has it been months?
What I’ve learned about creatives who stick with it, who aren’t just these flash in the pan types, and what I’ve learned about myself, is that if I’m still having the dream, still obsessing over the idea months and weeks after I first had it, it’s a really good indication that I’ll have the drive to see it through.
Let me give you an example. A couple years ago I had a startup business idea. One that I felt destined to succeed. And to be clear, I still think this is a killer idea that someone, not me, but someone else could do and it could be really successful. But at the time I had this idea it was like a bolt of inspiration and I was so impressed with my own Idea I ran and told Denae, I told my parents and friends. I was ready to quit everything to stop everything and just dedicate myself to making this idea a reality.
And within a few days I had invested some money, created a plan, reached out to some potential partners. I was making a big deal out of this idea. But then a week went by. Nothing had changed with the idea. Like, I still knew it was a good idea. And I even had some people come back interested in exploring the idea more. There’s only one thing, one critical component that had changed. It was in my heart. I just didn’t care. A week after I had this brilliant idea, I had lost all drive and all interest, because it started to get hard. And the weight of what I was signing myself up for was larger than the escape velocity of the initial idea or dream. I just wasn’t passionate enough.
Where was my head at instead? It was deciding on my next YouTube video. You know, the non-smart business decision. But that’s where my heart was and I’ve just found that it’s hard to force those things. I know people who can do it. Who have the discipline to have their head lead their heart. But for creative types like you and me, it’s harder for us.
We have to have that passion and it has to sustain us through the challenges.
So to reiterate, the third and last litmus test question, if you have that passion and you feel it, that urge to create, sit on it. Start down the path and do everything else that doesn’t require a huge monetary investment, and see if you’re still interested, if you’re still passionate when all that work starts to add up and you realize all the things you have to do to make that a reality.
Do you still have that drive after a week of planning and pondering? Are you still making plans? I think you’ll find either one of two things will have happened. Your drive will have diminished. You may still really want the camera, but don’t confuse the shiny toy syndrome with the creative drive. If the urge to create, the big plans, the ideas, if they have diminished, that’s a strong indication that maybe this isn’t such a good idea.
On the other hand, with ideas I’ve had that have grown that have succeeded, like this youtube channel, which, granted, is a modest channel as far as channels go. But I consider it absolutely a success in many ways. But it’s been hard, hard work. It’s been a slog at times. But when I sat and waited on this idea, the urge and urgency, the creative drive it grew it built. It was like a dam that exploded at every point I had to bring forth expense or great effort to unlock the next level of creativity.
Is that you? If so my friend, then jump on it. Dive in. It’s worth the expense to have creative tools that allow you to capture your vision and that don’t get in your way.
For us who are driven to create, I’ve never met a single one who has regretted buying expensive gear which has helped them in their craft. I don’t regret a single lens, a single memory card a single camera body purchase. Amd i’ve spent a lot of money on gear. But the only problem with doing that, is if you don’t use it.
I sincerely hope these tips help you. If you like what you heard, I’d encourage you to checkout my workshops and membership community in the links below. But either way, remember to do good with your cameras and we’ll talk to you again real soon.
Best Value For Dollar Camera in 2020: Fuji X-T3
As of the posting of this review, we will have owned the Fuji X-T3 for exactly 700 days. We have fired the shutter 82624 times. And we have produced over 120 short videos with its help. And during that time we have come to rely on the X-T3 as our primary tool for content creation.
And that’s why, to us, it is so pleasing to say to you that with the currently-reduced cost of the X-T3, never, in the history of hybrid video cameras have we ever had a camera of this capability at the price point that it’s at now. And in this video we’re going to talk about why, after two years of shooting with it, and even in 2020 with newer cameras popping up left and right, Denae and I still name the X-T3 our most-reached-for camera that we now currently or have in the past, ever shot with.
We’ll be talking about the camera from both a prosumer photographer and videographer standpoint, as we ourselves are hybrid shooters and this camera absolutely slays as a hybrid device. Let’s start with it’s photographic capabilities.
As photographers who appreciate and enjoy the act of taking a photo nearly as much as the final result, we appreciate the styling and usability of the Fuji X-T3. We find the classic styling attractive, the placement of the dials and buttons intuitive, and perhaps most important, we find it an absolute pleasure to use.
As travelers, multitasking parents, event and portrait photographers, and generally just the sort of people who take our cameras with us everywhere we go, we love how well the X-T3 balances a more than capable 26mp APS-C sensor size with a compact body size.
Coupled with tiny lenses, which are beautiful in both form and function, with this system, we find less reason to leave the house without a camera. And in public places, the inconspicuous design of the X-T3 attracts less attention than a massive full frame camera might.
Many people will claim that you must shoot with a full frame to shoot professionally, to have legitimacy, or to be taken seriously, but the X-T3 accompanies us to all our professional jobs and has performed without any major issues. And more importantly, the images we are able to capture are every bit as good for these purposes as any high-end full frame camera which might be two or even three times as expensive. After all, a camera does not a professional make.
And since we’re on the topic of shooting professionally, we might as well mention some of the incredible features the X-T3 has that puts it squarely in the professional camera market, but at a price point, again, which is just mind-blowlingly low.
To mention just a few, dual UHS-II V90 memory slots to ensure your backing up those paid shoots. 11 frames per second continuous burst in mechanical shutter, a back side illuminated sensor allowing it to drop its base ISO to 160. Phase-detect autofocus spanning across the entire frame, meaning you’ll grab focus quickly regardless of where you place the focus point, and with a total of 425 selectable AF points, which is more than enough precision for just about any professional setting.
But for those looking for more personal fulfillment, maybe looking for less of a utilitarian tool and something more of a companion, there’s a lot to love about the X-T3. With incredible color profiles that only Fuji has mastered in-camera, if your goal is to live more in the moment and capture things the way you want to in-camera, rather than spending your time grading on a computer, Fuji is most certainly your system. The X-T3 offers you some beautiful color profiles that will help your images shine directly out of camera.
For us, we have absolutely loved shooting with classic chrome and Acros film simulations for our documentary work. These profiles allow us to focus more on form and and composition and de-emphasize or desaturate color information where color could distract from form, or where the forms and the stories they tell matter more.
And for our portrait work Provia has always served as an excellent foundational starting point for our own color and curves tweaking. For our landscape work we enjoy using Astia.
One thing that has always concerned us about Fuji mirrorless cameras is their durability. They have a history and us using their cameras have a history of durability problems. We can’t really sugar coat it, Fuji just doesn’t seem to have the same level of reliability as some other camera brands.
However, to date the X-T3 has been the most reliable and durable Fuji camera we’ve shot with. After two years of heavy use, several hard drops and lots of content creation in our dusty/sandy wasteland where we live and shoot, it’s still plugging right along. The only issue we’ve experienced is a green flickering on the LCD and EVF occasionally, which is only a minor annoyance and has not interfered with our ability to shoot.
So those are our biggest reasons for loving this camera for photography. And for me personally, it’s also been my favorite camera to shoot with of all time. I personally give the Fuji X-T3 the award for my desert island camera of choice.
On the videography side there is also a lot to love. With the X-T2, Fuji surprised the videography market with some impressive specs and for the time and beautiful Fuji tones that appealed to many. With the X-T3 Fuji continued improving things for video providing the ability to shoot up to 4k 60p at uncompressed 4:2:0 and with that extraordinary Eterna film profile with those beautiful tones and gobs of latitude for those who want an excellent head start when it comes to color correction, without going all the way to a log profile.
Another thing I love about the X-T3, and it might seem like a silly small thing, but for someone who shoot hybrid video and photo constantly, it’s actually a really nice touch, is the removable port cover, which makes plugging in all the things, much easier, but when we go back to photo mode, we still get that weather sealing.
The last thing worth mentioning that we have appreciated about the X-T3 is the continued R&D and support that Fuji gave it even long after the initial release. WIth subsequent firmware releases we saw many improvements including bug fixes, autofocus improvements, the face selection feature, and gimbal support,
So those are a few of the things that we love most about the X-T3. Now let’s talk about a few things that have frustrated us about the X-T3 so you can go into it with realistic expectations. And to be clear, most of our frustrations are small. For instance, the shorter battery life can be a slight inconvenience, especially when we forget to charge a bunch of batteries or misplace our spares. But in general, we’re willing to trade shorter battery life for a smaller camera body profile.
A bigger frustration is one that I have experienced at a regular basis as someone who switches between photo and video at a regular cadence, and that is the lack of stored settings separately between video and photo. The X-T4 solves this issue with a dedicated dial for witching modes and the ability to store settings separately in memory. But the X-T3 has no such ability, unless you consider the Video Silent Mode setting a solution. This feature allows you to change the video settings digitally so that there aren’t any loud clicking of dials if you’re needing stealth and silence when doing videography. But I don’t consider this a viable solution to the problem as it’s extremely frustrating to try to adjust settings in this mode. So, as it is, when I need to switch back and forth between video and photo, I end up having to turn a bunch of dials every time and it does, on occasion, cause me to miss shots or have to compromise on optimal settings.
Going back to photo mode, another frustration is the eye detection, which, while is miles better than what Fuji used to have and also miles better than Panasonic or other systems which rely on contrast detection for auto focus, the eye detection in the X-T3 is imperfect and for portrait photography, we find that on occasion, we will miss focus on that eye, even though the back of the camera lead us to believe we had nailed it. This just never happens with Canon and Sony and to protect ourselves from this in portrait settings, we usually end up taking mutliples of each pose to ensure we don’t miss focus on that eye. But the good news here is that the eye misfocus here is rare, and certainly the exception rather than the norm.
The last what I would call “big” issue is actually a controversial one and maybe one that a lot of you won’t care about. But for me personally, I’ve just come to have a distaste for the XTrans sensor in Fuji X devices like the X-T3. There’s a lot goes into this. Some if it is personal taste, but some of it is that I don’t feel that the XTrans technology offers anything special to consumers in 2020 and certainly not the benefits it provided back when it was created in 2012. For more info on that follow the link in the description.
Finally, if we’re getting really really nitpicky, I’ve never been a fan of the nubby joystick on the X-T cameras. Other brands, like Nikon, seem to know how to design a pleasant to use joystick which allows some decent surface area and precision. While Fuji’s has always felt like an afterthought. It seems placed on the back of the camera almost like an apology rather than an asset. It’s something I’ve long wished Fuji would improve.
But that’s it. Everything we love and don’t love as much about this really superb camera.
And hopefully we’ve shown that the things to love far outnumber the things not to. In our opinion there really is no better value for dollar in the mirrorless camera market currently anywhere. If you’ve been thinking now might be the time to upgrade, do it. You really can’t go wrong here.
But whatever you shoot with, we wish you best in all your creative endeavors. Remember to do good with your camera and we’ll talk to you again real soon.
-Denae and Andrew
The Best Ultra Wide Angle Lenses for Fuji: Zeiss 12mm 2.8
In this post I want to summarize the quest I’ve been on for the past year to find the perfect wide angle lens for the Fuji X system. This has been a longer road than I thought it would be at the outset. It hasn’t been as simple as I thought it would be. But in the process I was able to dive really deep and gain experience with the most common ultra wide lenses either made by Fuji for the Fuji X system, or third party lenses made for the Fuji X system.
So I feel like I have a pretty good handle on the strengths and weaknesses of the eight or so lenses that fit into this category.
When we talk about ultra wides, of course we’re talking about lenses of 24mm full frame equivalent or wider. And what we aren’t talking about is fisheye. Basically as wide as we can go on Fuji X without introducing a lot of distortion.
I know a lot of you do not shoot the same way I do, so before I give you my personal favorite wide angle solutions, I want to provide some general recommendations for you guys, depending on what is important to you and what your budget is.
Fujinon 8-16mm f2.8
So let’s start out with those of you who want the absolute best image quality and for whom budget is not a concern, who are not concerned with size/weight, who aren’t concerned with close focus, and who are not landscape photographers, videographers, or otherwise might have occasion to mount filters. Now that was a lot of conditions and I actually think this recommendation fits a fairly small demographic mongst Fuji shooters, and that’s mostly wedding or documentary photographers. And, of course the lens we’re talking about is the Fujinon 8-16mm 2.8.
This lens is a beast, it’s expensive, it can take a beating, it has really great image quality, but it has some limits. It’s not great for landscape situations because the lens curves outward, making it difficult to mount filters. And even if it was great for those situations, it’s so large that I don’t know that I’d want to be packing it around, personally. But aside from those factors, the thing I don’t like about this lens from a documentary photographer’s perspective is that it does not focus close. But we’ll come back to that.
Fujinon 10-24mm f4
For those of you, again, for whom budget is less of a concern, who do shoot a lot of landscape, or video and may require the use of filters on occasion… for those of you who like the flexibility of a zoom lens but in a smaller factor, and for who like the idea of optical image stabilization, the lens for you might just be the 10-24mm f4.
But don’t let the f4 scare you away too much. Michael the Maven did some light testing and found that this lens actually allows for nearly the same amount of light as the 8-16mm 2.8 lens.
This lens really is the perfect lens for landscape photographers since it balances smaller size/weight with great image quality and flexibility. On the other hand, I struggled with this lens mostly because, you guessed it, lack of close focus. But again, we’ll come back to this.
So that covers the ultra-wide zoom lenses. Of course, there are a whole ton of Fuji zooms that go to 16mm at the widest, but I generally don’t consider zoom lenses that terminate at 16mm to be ultra-wides, personally, so we won’t be discussing those.
But this is where we get into prime territory.
Fujinon 16mm 1.4
If you’re anything like me you are drawn to using Fuji primes over the zooms for most situations. And for me, this even extends to landscape situations. For me, I have come to trust lenses like the 16mm 1.4. I have used it so much to me it’s become a trusted friend or partner, though that might sound cheesy. Among many things, I like that when I put this lens on and bring the camera up to my eye I know exactly what I’m going to be able to see in the scene in front of me and I’ve learned that the 24mm focal length is typically the look I want to get out of many of the documentary and landscape situations I find myself in.
On the other hand, when I have a zoom lens, I’m tempted to, well, zoom, as it’s much easier to get that reach to a subject. But then I’m often disappointed with the results when they don’t have that ultra wide angle feel to them.
So for me and many of you, the primes really resonate. It’s not hard for me to recommend either of these 16mm Fuji lenses. Both of them get you the modest end of the “ultra” wide angle. Both are manageably small, depending on what you need to do, though obviously the 2.8 is the winner here. Both have weather resistance. And both focus closely, with the 16mm 1.4 being slightly better than the 2.8. For prime shooters who want to shoot wide, it’s a no-brainer. Depending on your budget, I can easily recommend one of these two lenses.
But unfortunately, there are times where 16mm doesn’t quite get you there. And I’ve felt that from time to time. And this is where we come to some of the alternatives. Now the 14mm 2.8 is an extremely excellent Fuji lens. This is an older Fuji lens, but in my opinion, the first lens Fuji created of superb optics.
The problem for me with this lens, is that it doesn’t quite differentiate itself enough from the 16mm focal length. It’s wider, but not quite wide enough. But the bigger issue for me is the same issue I had with the ultra wide zoom lenses. The lack of close focus, which I’ll demonstrate, again, in a bit.
But at this point we’ve exhausted Fuji’s ultra wide angle options. Those are the five ultrawides and I don’t even know that there are any others on Fuij’s roadmap.
So feeling discouraged I turned next to third party solutions. For those who followed me on that journey, you’ll know I next purchased two third-party manual focus lenses, the one from Venus Optics, the Laowa 9mm 2.8 and the Rokinon 12mm 2.8. And those lenses are fine, in fact, a lot of people swear by them.
Laowa 9mm 2.8
Rokinon 12mm 2.8
But of the two, the Rokinon was a lot sharper and is the one I would, in fact recommend to those of you looking for an ultra wide angle prime, if you don’t mind manually focusing for landscape, architecture, or astrophotography etc, and who want good image quality. This lens did well. Sharp at apertures you’d expect it to be. Decent build quality. And excellent value for the money. For me there were three main issues with this lens, one of which was a deal breaker. First, I didn’t love the experience of shooting manual focus with a plasticky feeling lens. If I’m going to manual focus I want a smooth aperture and focus throw on a vintage feeling lens with that tactile feel that I’ve come to appreciate in those settings. I think Rokinon has some work to do to make that manual focus experience a pleasant one. I also don’t like the color rendering from Rokinon. They’ve always had this sort of tangerine color cast, especially when shooting wide open on all their cameras, and just an overall decrease in contrast. Now, all of that can be fixed in post relatively easily. But the third issue, the deal breaker, is, and you’re going to get tired of me saying this, but it’s the lack of close focus ability.
So before we go any further, let’s talk about this close focus issue. And actually, I hate the term “close focus” but I end up using it because this is the term most people think of first. A better way to describe photographing the tiny details is in terms of reproduction ratio. Reproduction ratio just means how large an sensor-size object will be in the frame when photographed at the lens’s minimum focus. So if we were photographing a postage stamp exactly the size of the Fuji APS-C sensor, a lens with a 1:1 reproduction ratio like the 80mm 2.8 lens would be able to show that whole postage stamp filling the frame and in focus.
The 16mm 1.4 as a 1:4.7 reproduction ratio, which is the best of all the lenses we’ve discussed so far, which is one of the reasons I really love that lens. For me, yes, I need ultrawide lens for a landscape situation. But what about on the way to the location? I love taking photos of all the little details on the hike, or really wherever I am, and this lens does that so well.
Here’s a quick summary of how all the other lenses we’ve talked about so far do, when it comes to close focus, side by side.
To me, this is a non-negotiable. So this is why I got so excited about the Laowa 9mm 2.8 which has an acceptably good reproduction ratio of 7.5 which is about where the 16mm 2.8 lens is. Not only that, but it’s a small lens, it’s nice in the hand and pleasant to use. So I really wanted that lens to work, but again, spoiler alert for anyone who hasn’t watched the two videos I did relating to that lens, even after trying two copies and even after getting an email from Venus Optics assuring me that I did something wrong and that there is no possible way this lens could struggle, both copies I tried were horribly soft in situations they should have excelled in. But there are many who swear they have sharp copies, and maybe you can get a sharp copy. But after two attempts, I was done trying.
Zeiss 12mm 2.8 Touit
So, at last, we come to my final test subject. I begrudgingly emptied my wallet to purchase the overly-priced 12mm 2.8 Zeiss Touit lens. But with its 1:7.5 magnification ratio, with it’s crisp sharpness, with its reliable autofocus, and extremely pleasant color and contrast rendering, even wide open, I feel that this is, currently, the best ultra wide angle companion to the 16mm Fuji lenses we have available to us as Fuji X shooters on the market currently. And I have no regrets with this purchase.
Is it a perfect lens? No. Perhaps the thing I like least about this lens is the aperture ring, which Zeiss does not usually include on any of their lenses and which looks and feels more like an afterthought. It’s far too easy to bump it and accidentally change it, and I honestly wish they would have just left it off if they weren’t going to take some pride in its craftsmanship, especially at this price range. It’s not premium at all.
But although over-priced, this lens does the job. And even though it’s an old lens, it still fills a gap no one else has quite managed to fill so far.
Fuji X100V: 5 reasons I have to eat my words
With the release of the Fuji X100V, I now have five reasons I’ve changed my tune when it comes to the x100 series. I’ll show you some samples, but also see if I can come up with something critical to say about it so I don’t get accused of being a fanboy.
I want to start out by saying that I have shot with and/or reviewed hundreds of cameras on this channel and there are only maybe four that when they came out and when I started shooting with them, I felt just giddy. Like Christmas morning, red rider BB gun sort of giddy. For me personally, this little guy provided an emotional response when I first got my hands on it, so much so that I just didn’t want to put it down. I’ve had it on my person nearly constantly since it came to us.
And for those of you who have been watching the channel for awhile, you’ll know that I’ve always had a sort of love/hate relationship with the X100 series. I’ve loved the idea of them. A compact camera you can take anywhere, that looks and feels great, that takes superb photos, with extraordinary color, detail, responsiveness, durability and flexibility? Heck yeah. Take my money.
And while that was the promise, back a couple x100 generations ago I was sorely disappointed. We owned the x100s, the T, and had the F on loan for a month and while each time they got better, it was never quite there. And while it is a short list of things that bothered me about the series, they were significant enough reasons to me that we decided to part ways with the system. Really there were five things:
#1: The image quality. The lens was just never all that sharp closeup and I shoot closeup all the time. I really hated that halation or glow the lens would create.
#2: Flaring. The flare on this lens was horrible, and that’s not great when I shoot outside in the sun constantly, and on a camera that doesn’t even come with a lens hood and isn’t really built with a decent lens hood in mind.
#3: And maybe this should have been number 1, durability. Our x100s and x100t both had to be in the shop with d-pad directional buttons that had ceased working, and in both cases, they were not old cameras and they weren't even used all that often as we were still shooting Canon for our portrait work at the time.
#4: Lack of weather sealing. For a doc/street photographer’s camera this always felt unacceptable to me. I understand why it’s never had weather sealing a little more now. It’s difficult to have a tiny low profile lens like this and keep it completely self-contained. To do that, Fuji would have had to increase its profile and I now appreciate the compromise they made to keep it small.
#5: Lack of articulating screen. This one I just never understood. As a documentary photographer I use the articulating screen all the time. I get that not everyone has the same style of shooting, but when I have to shoot any camera without an articulating screen it’s really painful. This is actually the number one reason why I don’t shoot film as often as I used to. When I can’t shoot low with accuracy, it’s painful.
So those are the five reasons why, for me, it was a deal breaker and I had stated I’d never own an x100 series camera again. But then Fuji sent us this guy to play with and I’m overjoyed to be able to eat my words. But before we get into how this camera addresses past issues I’ve had with the x100 platform, I do want to take minute to thank this video’s sponsor.
#1: image quality. Not only can I shoot near macro with this camera without manually switching into macro mode (an improvement that Fuji made with the F that has carried over to the V), but the lens has been totally reworked. Up close I have none of that bothersome hallation. Close up images look crystal clear, sharp, and possess plenty of microcontrast.
#2: The flaring issue we saw with the previous version of this lens is a thing of the past. Images with a narrow light source or sun in the background don’t get that smearing flaring that we saw before. They look clean and flaring is well controlled.
#3: Durability. Only time will completely tell here. But there’s a lot to be encouraged by. With the X-T series we had similar issues with the X-T2 having major issues and with Fujifilm meticulously addressing every single one of those common issues people had with the newer X-T3. So far, we’ve not had any issues with the X-t3. I understand, though cannot speak through personal experience, that those reliability/durability issues we saw with earlier x100 series cameras have similarly been addressed here. I am cautiously optimistic. But only time will tell. And, on the other hand, it’s important to remember that this camera is actually more than a little different than the F. Certainly the delta between the F and the V is greater than between the F and the T. So it’s conceivable that we might see the introduction of newer reliability problems. But again, only time will tell.
#4: Weather sealing. While it’s still not possible to make this front element water tight, I appreciate that with adapters or an external cover, I can feel more secure with the thought of heading out into the elements. And for me, who shoots with this guy a lot, the WCL adapter anyway, this really is no problem. I prefer shooting wider than 35mm so I’d say half the time, this adapter is on this Fuji X100v anyway. So bring on the bad weather. That’s not going to bother me at all.
But for those of you who don’t have interest in using either the WCL or TCL adapters, there is still an option for weather resistance in the form of the PRF-49 filter coupled with the AR-X100 filter adapter. Now, I personally think having these as separate purchases is less than ideal. I think they should come in a kit at perhaps a discount. But hey, at least it’s an option, and if you plan on using this camera as your primary street and travel camera and you aren’t interested in the lens adapters, I’d definitely recommend those addons.
#5: The articulating screen. Not only has Fuji addressed this, they have done so with the thinnest articulating screen design on the market anywhere. I realize this is slightly wider than the x100f, but I would not have known that if someone hadn’t told me. The footprint here is so small, and it’s wonderful to have that now. And now I nearly always reach for the x100v over our x-t3 or x-pro 3 when I’m just doing family photo stuff, whereas before, without that articulating screen, I avoided our x100 series cameras in the very situation they should have excelled in.
So from what I can see so far, Fuji has effectively addressed all my major concerns. I have absolutely no qualms about recommending this camera. But more than that, I am just completely in love with it. It’s an absolute pleasure to shoot with. The attention to detail is incredible, even down to the way the ISO dial works, which makes me very sad they didn’t make this in time for the X-Pro 3 as this action is just so much better.
It looks incredible. It is quite possibly the best looking camera anywhere including any Leica I’ve shot with and, maybe even more than, again, my X-Pro 3, which already had set a very high bar. It’s a camera I’m not ashamed to take with me anywhere to anything. At events or outings where normally I’d hesitate to bring a larger or bulkier camera, this camera just seems more at home to me.
And at those same events, having a near silent leaf shutter, I mean just listen to this. You won’t hear anything unless I put it right up next to the mic. It’s so quiet.
For the first time, Fuji has a camera that perfectly matches the needs of a compact enthusiast, documentary photographer, and/or street photographer.
But this would be a pretty horrible review if I couldn’t come up with at least a couple critical things to say, so let’s try to dig a little deeper.
And firstly, while I do absolutely love that it now comes equipped with an articulating screen, it bums me out that you can only bring out the screen from the bottom. There have been several times I wanted to articulate the screen with the camera above me and it required a little more work. Boo hoo poor me. But I think it would have been cool to have this same groove they have on the bottom, on the top as well.
Secondly, this camera can get a little warm. I honestly can’t remember if the same thing happened with previous versions, as it’s been awhile since I shot with those. But I do get a bit concerned when I notice a camera getting warm, maybe even hot. I wonder if this has the same heat dispersal that previous versions have and if that will be a problem. Keep in mind that I live in an extremely hot climate here in southern Utah where temperatures above 100F are commonplace during the summer months. Will overheating be an issue for me? We will certainly find out.
Thirdly, and this has always been an issue, but it’s hard to one-hand this camera. There’s not a ton of grip. And with a compact camera and the way I use it, it seems like I’ve always got a kid hanging off me or my left hand being occupied in some way when I want to shoot something interesting with my family. For me, this camera absolutely must have a thumb grib in that hot shoe, but as of today, third party manufacturers have not yet produced one that will match this new body type where the back of the camera bevels up toward the top, due to the articulating screen design. So it’s not easy to hold. But personally, I’d prefer a rounder grip in the front so I didn’t feel a need for an external thumb grip. If they could get just a bit more girth to grab hold of, and, who knows, maybe enough room for that new higher capacity x-t4 battery (one can dream)? But I realize that questions of ergonomics are wildly subjective and once we get that hotshoe thumbgrip, I think my issues here will be largely addressed.
Fourth, and this is something I hope to see for the future. Fuji, if you’re out of ideas on how to innovate or what to work on next, I’d say that one thing you can do to close the gap between the shooting experience of the x100 series and say like a “proper” digital rangefinder like the Lieca m10, is to find a way to completely simulate a true manual focus experience. Focus by wire lenses are not the funnest to shoot with, and as someone who loves shooting with manual focus vintage lenses, I’d love to have an x100 with a linear focus feel with hard stops and maybe even an optional focus tab.
My last complaint is totally just me, but it’s something I share in common with Chris from DPReview. I just don’t like the 35mm full frame or 23mm aps-c focal length. I consider it the absolutely most boring focal length ever. Which is why I have this WCL adapter on this thing most of the time. Guys, this is totally subjective and I recognize that I’m an extreme minority here. But I would be willing to trade my beloved Fuji X-Pro 3 if it meant I could get this exact camera but with a 16mm lens on it. Or even a 35mm f2 lens on it. That would be acceptable as well.
But that’s what I have for you so far. Fuji’s been loaning me this guy for a few weeks and I get to keep it for one more and I have thoroughly enjoyed using it. I don’t think I’ve picked up my x-pro 3 once in the time that I’ve had it. It has seriously made me feel re-enthused to shoot day to day life again. What a great camera.
I do have one more video planned before it goes back though. I’m going to be comparing the new lens, the WCL, and the TCL adapters to equivalent lenses on the X-Pro 3 and see what kind of image quality differences we can find. So be sure to subscribe if you’re interested in seeing that. Or if I’ve already released that video, look for it up yonder.
But that’s all I’ve got for you for now. Remember to do good with your camera and I’ll talk to you again real soon.
There already is a digital Hasselblad XPan
Hey guys. Today I want to talk to you about what I consider to be the modern digital X-Pan.
The modern digital X-Pan, is the Fuji GFX 50R. Since this camera is probably the best modern-day alternative to the X-Pan, I thought it would be fun to shoot with an actual X-Pan lens.
So I reached out to my friends at KEH camera and asked if they would be willing to let me shoot with the extremely rare, and extremely expensive, Hasselblad X-Pan 30mm F5.6 lens which was created specifically for the Hasselblad X-Pan.
This camera has reached legendary status in the world of film photography. It has the rare distinction of selling used for at least three times its original price 20 years later. A mint copy of this now coveted body is valued as high as $8,000 USD.
The reason is obvious. This is the only rangefinder style camera ever designed specifically to shoot in 65:24 panoramic format on 35mm film. It brings true portability to the panoramic documentary and landscape film photographer. I regret not purchasing an X-Pan back when they were affordable.
I regret that so much, in fact, that I conducted a project for over a year trying to catalog other options for shooting film in a panoramic format. My conclusion: nothing could adequately match the experience and quality that the Hasselblad X-pan system could deliver.
While some of us hope and wish for a re-release of that classic film camera, it’s helpful to realize that we do have a modern day equivalent for digital photography: the Fuji GFX 50R.
1st Reason
Of course, any digital photo can be cropped to a 65:24 ratio. And even at that crop, many cameras will give you as much if not more resolution than an X-Pan 35mm film scan would have given you when you consider typical scanning methods. But for many of us, the experience of shooting with that panoramic crop in camera and with a rangefinder device is almost as important as that final result.
The X-Pan and X-Pan II (also known as the Fuji TX-1 and TX-2) were designed and built by Fuji, not Hasselblad. So the design of this brick isn't too far off from the design of that brick. They both have the aesthetic style of a Fuji rangefinder.
This similarity in design is probably the biggest reason that I give the prestigious title of ‘modern-day X-Pan’ to the GFX 50R over the exceptional Hasselblad X1D 50C. Both cameras utilize the same 50mp medium format sensor and both give you that 65:24 in camera crop (Hasselblad is really clever and puts X-Pan in parentheses in their image aspect ratio menu).
Hasselblad also makes an adapter specifically for mounting the original X-Pan lenses to the X1D series. With Fuji, you’re limited to cheaper, third-party options like the Fotodiox adapter.
2nd Reason
The other reason that the GFX 50R is a closer match to the X-Pan than the X1D is the built-in filmic profiles, in particular ACROS, which does such a great job of imparting that same feeling that shooting with black and white film on the original X-Pan does.
The photos I’m now showing you are from this last weekend. Some of you know I’ve recently had a month off to focus nearly entirely on content creation, and I decided to spend my last few days of that month with two of my kids. It was their turn for their yearly adventure that we do one on one or one on two with our children.
For that adventure I limited myself entirely to shooting with the GFX 50r with an in-camera crop of65:24 and with only the Hasselblad X-Pan 30mm 5.6 lens. And I have to tell you, of all the shooting experiences I’ve had so far in 2020, and if you’ve been watching the videos I’ve been pumping out, you should know I’ve been having a lot of really fun shooting experiences, but of all of them, I think this was the funnest I had.
I absolutely LOVE shooting in a panoramic resolution. It gives such a unique compositional challenge that makes you think harder about how to compose a scene and also which lends itself very well to the type of rundown small-town photography I love to capture.
And even at theme parks, it can work to get above the heads of the milieu and capture interesting skylines. But when you force yourself to utilize all that width and figure out how to compose out or in elements, and also when you take into consideration that if your horizon line is off even a little bit it will be magnified far more than it is in a regular 35mm format crop, it presents an exciting challenge which can bring new life and inspiration to your photography.
But sometimes things just don’t work in that format. And this is why this modern setup beats the traditional X-pan setup. While I love having Fuji Acros and the 65:24 aspect ratio plugged in to the camera for JPGs, I also shoot backup to RAW.
That way, in those rare occasions where I know the panoramic crop is not going to work for a shot, I can back up, shoot it wider than I need to, and then just have tons of megapixels to work with for dialing in the crop later in post. It’s also helpful to know you’ve got that much latitude to work with for times where you know you’ve got a shot that will work well for Instagram, where the panoramic crop does not work so well, you can go in and create imagery specifically for different platforms later.
And of course, occasionally you just have a photo that will work better in color. See my “how I choose color vs black and white” video linked above for more insights here.
3rd Reason
The last reason I think the GFX 50R is a great modern day alternative to the X-Pan is that a used GFX 50r is actually lower in price than an original X-Pan or Fuji TX. I watched KEH for months until I found this like new condition GFX come up and was able to get it for around 3k.
The 30mm 5.6 Aespherical lens
So that brings us to this lens. The 30mm 5.6 Aespherical lens was a later release for Hasselblad / Fuji and even when it was released it was quite expensive and not many were made. And part of the reason was that it required an external viewfinder to get those wide angle framelines. Of course, attached to the mirrorless GFX 50r, the viewfinder becomes superfluous. But an excellent condition version of this lens will set you back as much as an X-Pan or a GFX 50r.
But it’s a cool lens. The 5.6 aperture isn’t going to make it popular in this day and age where everyone seems obsessed with fast aperture lenses. But with a 24mm equivalent focal length in full frame terms, this is my favorite focal length and Fuji, disappointingly, does not have a 24mm equivalent lens for the GFX system yet.
And beyond that, this is just a beautiful lens. It has 10 elements, (2 surfaces aspherical), all surfaces multi coated and a close focus range of .7meters or 3’. And while it definitely has that 90’s style design, it’s pleasant to use as a manual focus, and with that lens hood it looks super stylish. Though, this lens hood will give you a bit of vignetting if you’re shooting at the full 4:3 aspect ratio. I still chose to use it, even when I wasn’t sure if I would be uncropping in post, but that’s mostly because I don’t tend to like the 4:3 crop anyway, and will usually move to a 3:2 crop more typical of a full frame aspect ratio, and doing that eliminates the vignetting.
Sometimes these older lenses don’t work so well on modern medium format cameras where the distance to the sensor plane is actually slightly different than it would be to the film plane, when you take into account the IR filter and the filter array of digital sensors. But when you can’t shoot less than with a 5.6 aperture, I haven’t noticed any issues. I think if there were issues you’d see them with lenses with lower apertures and with tighter focal distances.
But photos with this lens were fabulously sharp all across the frame.
When it was produced the 30mm 5.6 also shipped with a center filter which is will reduce the vignetting that this wide angle lens will produce on the Hasselblad X-Pan. But on the 50r, I don’t find vignetting to be particularly bothersome, keeping in mind that we do have a little bit of a crop with this lens over the angle of view it’s capable of, since the GFX medium format sensor is actually only 45mm wide, whereas the X-Pan gives a 65mm width negative. So some of that vignetting is reduced due to that crop on the sides, and obviously the top when shooting panoramic.
Conclusion
But man, what a fun setup. I’m really sad I have to send this back to KEH. But this set probably needs to go to a loving Hasselblad X-Pan user for whom it was built. And I’ll have to continue to look forward to that GFX 30mm 3.5 lens due out some time in 2020.
In the mean time, help me out guys. Are there any wide angle medium format prime alternatives, preferably around that 30mm range, that can be adapted to the GFX 50r that you know about? I’m not sure I’m ready to put a pause on this style of photography.
But that’s all for now guys. Remember to do good with your camera and we’ll talk to you again real soon.