NEWSFLASH april 2017: new adapter to use Canon lenses on GFX-50s camera

[gk fotografie]

Based on technology used in other adapters for Canon lenses, Dutch manufacturer Cambo has designed a new adapter in order to use Canon lenses on the newly introduced FujiFilm GFX-50s camera.
https://www.cambo.com/en/actus-mini/cambo-actus-gfx-view-camera/ca-gfx/

 

[Derrel]

Check out the Fuji GFX 50 Facebook group for other adapters and many,many sample photos made with adapted lenses on this new 44x33 camera. Log into Facebook | Facebook

 

[Gary A.]

Man, the GFX 50 is soooooo tempting. But I just keep thinking that it's a lot of monies just for a slightly larger sensor beyond the XP2/XT2.

 

[Derrel]

I had anticipated that it would be a major advancement over FX Nikon and Canon, but the fact is in real-life, real-world people photography at normal distances and normal f/stops, there's a lack of DOF on many shots that would make this a less-than-ideal camera for many social photography situations or commerical-type illustrations. I'm not talking about blowing out backgrounds like a 300/2.8 will, but simply the problems of not having enough DOF to do a group shot two-deep, or to do a small-product shot from 6,7,8,9 feet on a tabletop. At closer, social photography and commercial people type ranges, the DOF per picture angle is so far from the hyperfocal distance that getting even a 1-foot DOF band seems impossible.

I've seen so many GFX portraits of half-body people where there's only one eye in-focus...bridal floral arrangements where only four inches are in-focus at f/8...unlike APS-C format where the lenses used approach the hyperfocal distance at normal ranges, this is a bigger format, so the inside-15-foot range means there's NOT much DOF to position. I saw a single men's shoe shot done at f/16...like the pro who shot is said, "Insufficient DOF...demands a tilt/shift adapter for product work". SAME image with APS-C, no sweat, boom! With an iPhone, same image, huge DOF available.

I honestly see this as the wrong format for many types of social/people work in daylight. The APS-C size sensor and its various lens lengths make a lot of sense for documentary/social/close-up/reportage types of work. There is a range of distances where the APS-C rapidly format builds usable depth of field beyond 10 feet or so: this 44x33 format does not do that until much farther distances. DOF has the macro range properties (weird and unusual), close-up range properties, intermediate-distance properties, and long-distance shooting properties. The problem that I see is that this format size, and the lenses used for each picture angle of view, are long enough that the close-up and intermediate DOF behaviors are just not quite right for "social/reportage" and are also bad for "close-in" or table-top commerical product work, unless a tilt lens is available to get sufficient DOF... Focus-stacking everything inside of 5 feet is gonna be a huge PITA.

Put it this way: inside of 12 feet, APS-C is a great format, FX less so, and 44x33 is even less ideal. Unless you like that one-eye in-focus, the other out of focus look. The problem I see is that the young, 20-something reviewers want to focus on how SHALLOW a DOF they can get, in that uselsss 300/2.8 blown-out way, but other people are concerned that this format size makes even f/16 insufficient to pull focus for a simple product shot done inside of 10 feet.

Thank goodnes the $1,900 Canon tilt/shift lens exists. Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II Tilt-Shift Lens 3552B002 B&H Photo And the 45mm tilt/shift as well! And the 90mm TS too!

 

[cgw]

I'm no Fuji hater but can't help thinking the fanboy furor has gone a bit far with the GFX. Face it, this system will never sell outside a small market comprised of pros and very flush amateurs. Breathless reports from Fuji Rumors about how fast the first run sold out said more about how few were made. I'm seeing similar hype surrounding the supposed leap in IQ delivered by the new 24mp X-Trans sensors. Whether it's the fanboys braun-nosing Fuji or Fuji beginning to oversell their model updates, the company's marketing via social media is starting to strain credibility.

Whatever the case, lens adapters are many orders of magnitude cheaper and easier to crank out than Fujinon lenses and GFX bodies.

 

[Derrel]

Yeah, the fanboy furor on the GFX Facebook group is almost comical. Last night a guy facetiously asked for more photos of cinderblock walls and half a tree. Hilarious stuff.