Last Updated on 01/25/2018 by Mark Beckenbach
Medium format has always been a Creator’s tool; so too is the FUJIFILM GFX 50S.
While medium format can surely be used well for capturing a scene, it’s often best used in a more traditional fashion. The FUJFILM GFX is a larger than full frame option that lends itself and its qualities best to the idea of creating vs capturing. The idea of capturing a photo means there is very little or no outside interference by you at all. You’re essentially capturing life as it goes on and you have little to no influence on how events unfold–and that’s why you’re often called a “fly on the wall.” But creating means that you’re creating a universe or a scene when you shoot photos. Images like this are either carefully put together by adjusting element after element in the scene or with things like photo manipulation in post-production.
Editor’s Note: This is a sponsored post from Fujifilm. And if you’ve been thinking about the FUJIFILM GFX system, here’s your crash course.
To understand the FUJIFILM GFX system, one needs to first understand higher end clientele. I’m not talking about a magazine like Cigar Aficionado or Instagram necessarily, but think Cosmopolitan, NASA, Mercedes-Benz, etc. The high end clients that all of us aspire to one day have or would really love to work with. The GFX makes those aspirations just a bit easier to reach due to its more affordable price point while empowering photographers with its ability to do those high end jobs.
Photographers who typically tend to create (vs capture) are those who often need a studio or something of the sort. Editorial, commercial, and portrait photographers are those who tend to create. In addition to that, landscape photographers tend to create too. These photographers not only need solid lighting systems that can work with their cameras, but they also often need a whole lot of pixels. If that sounds crazy, it really isn’t–it’s something I tend to realize every few years. More megapixels mean a whole lot of things:
- More details can be utilized when printing at large sizes, like for a gallery, advertisement, or billboard. When you combine this with effective use of an off-camera flash system, a camera like the FUJIFILM GFX 50S has the capability to render images that appear to pop off of a building.
- More pixel density results in greater color capture and therefore the ability to really manipulate the photo in post. If you’ve ever watched your favorite cinematic masterpieces, you’ll be incredibly shocked at how important coloring can be to the creation of your images.
- More pixel density and overall more pixels means that retouching (within ethical standards, of course) is easier because of more surface area to work with. Whether that’s making someone look great for a magazine cover, or because you’re getting compensated accordingly for the extra work you’re going to do, more pixels can really help you out when working with a scene.
All of these are big benefits of having a larger sensor with more pixels. But then there are the lens benefits that come into play with creation. For starters, at a given focal length you get less distortion in a scene. But you also get better control over your wider angles due to having a shallower depth of field at a given focal length. So if you’re shooting an environmental portrait of some sort, medium format and wide angle lenses can play a critical role in your creation of the scene and direction of the subject.
Click here to learn more about the FUJIFILM GFX 50S’s bigger sensor and depth of field.