"Do you want to come over tomorrow, Nathan is popping in on his way up North, and he's got the Fuji GFX-50S with him?" Asked Clint. What could I possibly say, but "OH YES".
Image ©2017 Fujifilm
To elaborate a little, Clint is a jobbing photographer specialising in sport, Black & White fine Art and is an excellent exponent of traditional black and white printing, Nathan works for Fujifilm UK, and at present is tasked with bringing the Fuji GFX-50S to the attention of photographers, professional and enthusiasts alike. Nathan and Clint go way back, I've known Clint for about 17-18 years, and Nathan for about 4 years.
In advance we set up two Elinchrom Quadra heads on separate packs, one with a Quadra 18 cm Grid Reflector and 30° grid for lighting the background, the main light being over head with a Rotalux 100cm Octabox attached, and a reflector below it to pop some fill back into the shadows of the face, that simple 'Clamshell' effect.
Once Nathan arrived and had powered up again after his long arduous motorway journey, with a few cups of tea and a packet of chocolate biscuits, we were off!
The GFX-50S was fitted with the GF120mm F4 Macro R LM OIS WR lens, test shots were taken, lights were adjusted, Clint was forced to sit for some shots, as the model we ordered, an Airfix 1/600 scale Ark Royal, hadn't turned up.
I have to say the Fuji GFX is very easy to handle and find your way around, once you've been shown once, err or twice. I like this Fuji camera, I own an X100, which is a joy to use, but I've never jumped ship from Canon for my professional work, but the build and image quality that this camera presents is giving me itchy feet, I'd like to take that jump. You can't really go wrong with a Fuji built lens, I was using them way back in the days of film on 5x4 and 10x8 cameras, excellent lenses, and the 120mm lens is no different, it produces images so sharp you'd be worried they'd cut you, the detail in the images are stunning, the colours spot on. I really enjoyed the session, hand holding the camera was easy, not like film medium format cameras I used to use, like the Mamiya RZ, that had to be clamped onto a big tripod to avoid camera shake. The large rear screen is great for viewing and zooming in to check sharpness, though you soon to trust the camera and save the picture peaking for Photoshop on the computer.
The detail is truly stunning, I sat for a while in awe as I processed a few of the images the following day, and despite the image size, which is enormous, my iMac handle it with ease, which is nice to know.
100% crop
Once we'd prized the tea cup out of Nathan's hands, no mean feat I can tell you, I was able to take a few more likenesses of him.
Real time tea effect, minus Fuji mug, amazing.
The riggers of an arduous journey really do wash away after a few cups tea.
Can't stand the stuff myself, give me a coffee any day.
All images ©2017 Alistair Kerr Photography
