Lens suggestions and tips

Hi folks. I have questions around Fuji GFX body and lenses. Hope to get some inputs to help my decision.

I am planning for an affordable body and two lenses for next year. One lens is for landscapes and the other for portraits (both indoor and outdoor), definitely not for fast moving subjects/sports/etc.

My primary purpose is portraits. I am looking for good background separation and pleasingly soft rendering of out-of-focus areas. The lens choice is obviously important.

For landscapes, I keep reading that MF camera will give better tonal quality. Honestly, I don't know what that means, and any tips are appreciated. I have not seen any samples of the same landscape shot with MF and smaller sensor. That would probably help explain the differences. The lens for this purpose can be a slower, even manual focus lens.

The 100 MP resolution of the top model is not required for my portraits. So, I am thinking of 50S II.

As for lenses, the 110/F2 would be ideal but requires a lot of budget :) What are some affordable portrait lens choices for Fuji MF cameras? Are the manual focus lenses easy to use?

After using GH6/GH5II for a while, I can get by with manual focusing using focus-peaking. However, I am afraid of wider apertures with larger sensors. I have results from FF camera using 50/F1.4 where one part of the face is in focus but the other is not. The eyes are out of focus in most of those, which is my fear.

I see affordable third-party lenses. My two concerns are: (1) manual focusing; (2) rendering of out-of-focus areas.

Please share your suggestions/experiences.

Thanks a lot!

Unfortunately, I don't have a Fuji GFX

But I own an MF, the Pentax 645D, and also an APS-C Fujifilm X-T5.

Pentax 645D (2010) / Fujifilm X-T5 (2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/maoby/albums/72177720304341711
40 MP !!

And several others, if you're interested I've made several comparisons for my own pleasure.

MF / FF

Pentax 645D (2010) / Nikon D810 (2014)
www.flickr.com/photos/maoby/albums/72157720176320620
40/36 MP

Canon EOS-5D (2005) / Pentax 645D (2010)
www.flickr.com/photos/maoby/albums/72157716937306083
FF 12 MP / MF 40 MP

Nikon D3s (2009) / Pentax 645D (2010)
www.flickr.com/photos/maoby/albums/72157716852325631
FF/MF 2009-2010

MF / APS-C

Pentax 645D (2010) / Nikon D500 (2016)
www.flickr.com/photos/maoby/albums/72157716705417432
20 MP / 40 MP

Pentax 645D (2010) / Pentax K-01 (2012)
www.flickr.com/photos/maoby/albums/72157717589728133
Pentax / Pentax

Pentax 645D (2010) / Pentax K-5 (2010)
www.flickr.com/photos/maoby/albums/72157719507229848
Pentax 2010

MF / APS-H

Pentax 645D (2010) / Sigma sd Quattro H (2016-17)
www.flickr.com/photos/maoby/albums/72157717212477666
25 MP / 40 MP

MF / µ4/3

Pentax 645D (2010) / Olympus OM-D E-M1 MkII (2016)
www.flickr.com/photos/maoby/albums/72157719989890974
20-40-50 MP

etc …

Hi,

If it's 50 MP MF you desire, take a look at used Pentax 645z or the first gen Fuji 50s and 50r. They are into the $2k range now. And the Pentax 645 lenses, for the most part are so low in price to be practically free. And you can make use of them on the Fuji bodies with a shift adapter to boot.

Stan

Thanks, Alan and Stan. Definitely good ideas to explore.

@Maoby, thank you for the link to your galleries. I find some of the comparisons helpful. I'll explore more.

I also can't help with the Fuji because I don't think the brand is important. For portraits, I place my subject before a background of my choice - anything else is a snapshot. Flannel sheets draped over a clothesline in the garage, backyard, or fence in a park are fine - avoid distinct patterns or highlights. I favor full-frame equivalent focal lengths of about 70 - 120mm (though I've used from 50 to 250), and whatever minimum aperture it takes to ensure the entire subject is in focus.
I don't have time now to comment on landscapes.

Good luck with your procedures 😎

I own the 50sII (and a g9 so similar worlds here). Now with the price drops, I'd go for the 100s - much better AF system and 4k video.

Anyways, given what you say about slow shooting, I think you could get away with the even older 50 models and be perfectly happy, along with some extra cash in your pocket. If you're gonna be stuck with a crappy AF system, no reason to pay extra for it. PS I think the AF on the 50s II is super bad. Critical focus, nah, it doesn't like to hit that in broad daylight sometimes. It's hella frustrating to see a phenomenal looking image on the LCD to only see later in post, nope, not actually sharp. (Cue you know who disagreeing vehemently with me on this.)

I only own one gfx lens because, yeah, they are expensive. What I ended up getting a heck of a bargain on was adapting old Hassey lenses. Just had to get a good deal on that adapter first. I have found the Hassey lenses with peaking to be a breeze to manually focus with. Other adapted lenses, not so much. Could just be the size factor and these giant claws I call hands.

TT Artisian makes 3rd party GFX lenses. They are all manual but significantly less costly. I think the 90smm has been getting some good reviews, but I forget. Another thing I did was get an EF adapter. No cap, some EF lenses do cover the sensor. I don't have the list, but it's out there. Even some older glass will cover the sensor. The out of focus rending...well see for yourself. These are either f.095 images of f1.8. I forget. 99% sure the apple is a Mikaton 50mm. 50/50 on the blade being the Mikaton or Meike 85mm.

[]

Coming from the lumix system you're missing your biggest concern - storage space. These medium formats eat HD space like Cookie Monster in a cookie factory. I've kinda had to stop shooting with the 50s II because it has eaten up my hard drive space. The images are lovely, but I just can't support the data they take up. It has really fallen into a "special" category for me. It's not something I walk around with much anymore. I use it strictly for purpose driven shooting, which is such a shame, but that's the reality of those gorgeous files, they eat space.

To add to this, my G9 does that super shot dealio where it makes 80MB pictures. They don't hold a candle to that 50sII sensor. The quality difference you read of is absolutely real to my eyes.