Fuji GF 30mm f3.5

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    Topic: Fuji GF 30mm f3.5 Read 629 Times
  • Paul Sokal
    Paul Sokal
    Silver Member
    Posts: 607
    Medium Format
    on: May 22, 2021 at 10:11 am

    I was playing around with my new GF 30mm yesterday on the 100s. More vignetting than I expected at 3.5, though it saved me from having to add one. The detail, as expected is insane. The Internet doesn’t really do it justice.

    DSF1161
    DSF1161-1

    • This topic was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Paul Sokal.
    • This topic was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Paul Sokal.
    Kevin Raber
    Kevin Raber
    Silver Member
    Posts: 1284
    Re: Fuji GF 30mm f3.5
    Reply #1 on: May 22, 2021 at 1:21 pm

    As a silver or gold member, you can zoom in on images in the forum to various levels and appreciate the details more.

    screen shot as it appears in forum

    If you are a silver or gold member you can click on the image and see it bigger

    zoom in to the width for the screen / window

    Click again to zoom in either further.  Results vary on monitor resolution.  It’s really cool to see on an iPad or smaller monitors.

    The bottom line is you enjoy more detail of images.

    Kevin Raber
    Owner and Publisher of photoPXL

    Rand Scott Adams
    Rand Scott Adams
    Silver Member
    Posts: 287
    Re: Fuji GF 30mm f3.5
    Reply #2 on: May 24, 2021 at 9:23 am

    Paul,

    My GF 30mm is one of my go-to lenses for panoramas.  Here’s a recent example.  Six frames, vertical orientation, on Arca Swiss C1 + RRS nodal rail to eliminate parallax.  This image is made from the jpegs as a “test” of the quality of the stitch.  Pretty amazing, IMO.

    Rand

    Rand Scott Adams Rand47

    Paul Sokal
    Paul Sokal
    Silver Member
    Posts: 607
    Re: Fuji GF 30mm f3.5
    Reply #3 on: May 24, 2021 at 9:29 am

    Yowza! That’s beautiful. Did you have any vignette issues to deal with?

    Rand Scott Adams
    Rand Scott Adams
    Silver Member
    Posts: 287
    Re: Fuji GF 30mm f3.5
    Reply #4 on: May 24, 2021 at 9:40 am

    Paul,

    No vignette at all. I vary rarely shoot the lens wide open so it has not been an issue. To be honest, I don’t recall seeing any vignetting – so I’ll have to shoot some stuff wide open to see. When I shoot this kind of pano I manually focus on the closest foreground element I need sharp, set aperture accordingly for needed depth of field, use AE-Lock to have consistent exposure across the images. I use a consistent 30% overlap of the frames. The files were “merged to panorama” in Lightroom Classic.

    Thanks for the kind word. I’ve been trying to capture the “feel” of being in a redwood grove for years – with zero results that satisfy. The GFX 100 “got me there” with this one. Early morning overcast didn’t hurt! The contrast range in a redwood grove is usually about a zillion to one and impossible to tame.

    Rand

    Rand Scott Adams Rand47

    Paul Sokal
    Paul Sokal
    Silver Member
    Posts: 607
    Re: Fuji GF 30mm f3.5
    Reply #5 on: May 24, 2021 at 11:41 am

    Rand,

    Here’s a link to a guy I met at a Santa Fe workshop a couple of years ago. I got my GFX 100 the day it came out, a day before leaving for Santa Fe and he actually had his delivered to the Santa Fe facility while we were there. He does some interesting hi-res forest work that you might find interesting: http://jimbaileyphotographs.com/

    I loved the GFX 100 images but the camera not so much. When the 100s was announced I knew I was going to make the switch and I couldn’t be happier.

    Paul

    Rand Scott Adams
    Rand Scott Adams
    Silver Member
    Posts: 287
    Re: Fuji GF 30mm f3.5
    Reply #6 on: May 31, 2021 at 9:39 am

    Paul,

    It’s so interesting, I find, that we’re all so different in our sense of “what makes a camera good” ergonomically. When the GFX 100 was released, and I held it in my hands for the first time at a Fuji event, I thought “Hey, they designed a camera just for me.” I have large hands and the size, button placement, etc., just fell-to-hand so perfectly that I was delighted. The tilt-adaptor was a revelation as well. I even liked the odd color of the body – I call mine “Babe the Blue Ox” – LOL

    My GFX 100 is a delight to use in the field in terms of actual operational characteristics. It may be the only camera I own that I don’t have to think about how it works. Once configured the way I work, it’s just instinctive in use.

    The only oddity was the appearance of the vertical grip, which in practice made little difference. But Joe Johnson at Really Right Stuff did an absolutely brilliant job with the design of their L-plate (including the two point attachment) that it just stays on the camera and the vertical grip profile now matches the horizontal one. Literally a match made in heaven.

    I liked the idea of the GFX 100s a lot but found the body too small for my large hands (especially with some of the larger GF lenses mounted) and the button placement feels odd. The lack of vertical grip (or even the opportunity to attach one) ended up being a deal breaker for me (large hands again playing into this). Ain’t it great that we have so many options these days? An embarrassment of riches, as they say.

    Rand

    Rand Scott Adams Rand47

    Paul Sokal
    Paul Sokal
    Silver Member
    Posts: 607
    Re: Fuji GF 30mm f3.5
    Reply #7 on: May 31, 2021 at 9:58 am

    “Babe, the Blue Ox?” You’re dating yourself, Rand. I suspect your larger than I am. I have shrunk down to 67 inches and my hands are medium at best with small, thoroughbred wrists so the 100s is my dream machine. I went to a Phase One demo once to check out the 150 back and I swear the lenses looked like artillery shells. Can’t image taking that beast into the field.

    Rand Scott Adams
    Rand Scott Adams
    Silver Member
    Posts: 287
    Re: Fuji GF 30mm f3.5
    Reply #8 on: May 31, 2021 at 10:11 am

    Paul,

    LOL, yup…. I just turned 74. My photo travel friend, and founding member of “The Landscape Mafia,” has a Phase XF kit. IMO, it’s a studio camera. He’s good with it in the field, but it’s awkward to watch him use it! I agree with you re the size-plus-configuration.

    Glad you’re finding the 100s to your liking. I’m amazed at what Fuji has accomplished with being able to make it so compact. The image quality from the 102 sensor is just magic… we’re blessed!

    Rand

    Rand Scott Adams Rand47

    Paul Sokal
    Paul Sokal
    Silver Member
    Posts: 607
    Re: Fuji GF 30mm f3.5
    Reply #9 on: May 31, 2021 at 11:13 am

    Indeed we are. I turn 68 this week. Do you have a web site?

    Rand Scott Adams
    Rand Scott Adams
    Silver Member
    Posts: 287
    Re: Fuji GF 30mm f3.5
    Reply #10 on: May 31, 2021 at 11:27 am

    Paul,

    Not really. I have a SmugMug site that I use more for “storage” than as an online presence.

    Rand

    Rand Scott Adams Rand47

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