The GFX lens line (or the parts of it that I’ve personally experienced)

As I wrote the reviews of the GFX 100SII and the 500mm f5.6, I realized that I’ve now used enough of the GFX lens line to share some useful experiences. I’m not close to having used every lens, and my experiences are those of a landscape photographer who has occasionally done a few portraits and weddings for friends, and who has had some fun with wildlife using the 500mm f5.6 (and, oddly enough, the 120mm macro, which is a great focal length for flocks of birds and the like). I tend to have used lenses that intrigue my fascination with nature, and I haven’t used any of the fast portrait lenses.

The two lenses I own are the 20-35mm f4 (my favorite lens in any format) and the 32-64mm f4 – all others have been review loaners from Fujifilm. Barring any new lens introductions, my next two lens purchases are likely to be the 500mm f5.6 and the 120mm macro.  Apart from the 500mm f5.6, all impressions are on my GFX 100S body – I mounted the 500mm f5.6 to a Fujifilm loaner GFX 100SII body, and the improved autofocus certainly altered my impression of a 500mm lens whose forte is wildlife.

In order of focal length:

20-35mm f4: This is an INCREDIBLE lens. I now live on the Redwood Coast of far northern California, and in a world of mist and surf and 300-foot trees, this lens lives on my camera every day. It is a remarkably small and light lens for its focal length and constant aperture, and it is an optically superlative lens. If you enjoy wide angle photography and/or live in a place that is conducive to a wide view, you need one of these. Of course there are places where another lens would be more appropriate – if I lived in a world of distant mountains instead of intimate trees (yes, they’re 300 feet tall, but they practically ask you to come in and meet them, I might choose a different primary lens; but I’d still have a 20-35mm in my bag for when a wide angle is needed.

30mm f5.6 Tilt/Shift: Sharp, but frustrating. An optically superb lens held back by three interface quirks, all related to focus. One, it’s hard to tilt it the right amount (the right amount is tiny). Two, it’s just about impossible to judge critical focus and the effect of tilt using the GFX 100S viewfinder. I’d love to try this lens on a GFX 100 II, with the 9.44 MP finder.  Three, it has no distance scale, either on the lens or in the finder (distance scales are tricky on tilt/shift lenses because the plane of focus is not always vertical, but others have them). It would take a ton of practice to get good with this lens, and it might take a GFX 100 II. It may be more interesting as a pure shift lens than as a tilt/shift.

32-64mm f4: One of Fujifilm’s three “standard zoom” lenses – and almost every GFX photographer needs one of the three. It’s an excellent lens – as good as any pro-grade 24-70mm f2.8, and it handles well. Of the other options, I have had little interest in the 45-100mm f4, because it doesn’t go wide enough (I bought my 32-64mm a couple of years before the 20-35mm was released – the 45-100mm might pair well with the very wide lens). I haven’t tried the extremely compact 35-70mm f4.5-5.6 – the tiny size and light weight intrigue me as a way of carrying a normal zoom when another lens or lenses are the focus of the day. Both the 32-64mm and 45-100mm are older lenses – from before the era of the smaller and lighter GF lenses (the 32-64mm is an original lens released alongside the GFX 50S). Given what Fujifilm has been able to do with lenses like the 20-35mm and the 500mm, something like a 32-90mm f4 or f4-5 should be possible now. I’d love to see it.

100-200mm f5.6: Yet another optically excellent lens – every GFX lens I’ve used is optically excellent. This one is farther down the list as far as handling goes. It’s bigger and heavier than it feels like it should have to be, given the slowish maximum aperture – it’s as heavy as some 70-200mm f2.8 lenses for full frame (and considerably heavier than most 70-200mm f4 optics), although longer lenses are often similar in size regardless of format. It’s by no means a horrible lens to handle, and it has a couple of pleasant surprises (it looks like it should be a trombone zoom, but it actually zooms internally). I wonder what Fujifilm could do with their latest Super ED magic glass? A similarly sized 100-300mm (or better yet, a 150-350mm) f 4.5-6.3? A 100-250mm f4?

120mm f4 Macro: This one takes optical excellence to the next level. Perhaps unsurprising, because modest aperture, portrait-length lenses are often the sharpest lens in any manufacturer’s lineup, but this is a world-class lens. It’s also an especially intriguing lens for the landscape or nature photographer, because it makes you think of things in a new way – you can pull so much detail in with this lens and put it out in a big print. In addition to its obvious uses as a macro lens, it’s a surprisingly effective focal length for wildlife in groups (and it’s a fantastic, if slightly slow portrait lens). Given the choice between this lens and the 100-200mm zoom for the upper midrange position in my bag, I’ll take the macro every time.

500mm f5.6: A completely new capability for the GFX System (mostly the newest 100 II and 100SII bodies – you’re going to want the latest focus tracking). This is a real wildlife lens, capable of animal portraits and birds in flight. It has an unusual market, because it’s an expensive lens (although very reasonably priced for what it is), but the GFX System isn’t going to be the first choice of wildlife-only photographers, much less pro sports photographers. The fastest GFX body shoots 8 FPS in near-maximum quality mode – but goes down to 2 fps with the useful electronic front-curtain shutter on. Fortunately, you don’t need electronic front-curtain shutter at the high shutter speeds used for wildlife or sports! Turn on 16-bit recording (an absolute-max quality feature that only barely makes a difference at low ISO and none at all as ISO rises) and you’re single-shot only, while sports and wildlife photographers consider the 20 FPS raw capability on recent Nikon and Sony bodies barely adequate. Even the mighty GFX 100 II has a ~100 image buffer shooting RAW (other GFXs are around 15-20 images) – the speed demons have 1000-image or unlimited buffers!

GFX wildlife is a different game from wildlife with the fastest cameras, but it is potentially a VERY rewarding game, and the 500mm f5.6 is a great lens for it. There are considerable image-quality differences between GFX and anything else (well, there’s Phase One, but if you thought GFX wildlife was restricted, try using a Phase One with single shots and semi-functional AF…). GFX also has a style of its own, and I suspect GFX-style wildlife will be very interesting. I didn’t have the lens long enough to really figure that out – but I want to own one…

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