More Fujifilm GFX 50s

GF32-64 f/4

23mm f/4 1/4 ISO 100

 

GF32-64 f/4

63mm f/5 0.3 ISO 100

 

GF120 f/4

 f/6.4 0.3 ISO 100

 

I had the opportunity to shoot inside Colonel Ward Pump Station while in Buffalo NY.  I had no idea of how massive these old steam pumps were until I entered the building. The pumps are housed in a 1900s colossal five-story high building and are 60-feet tall.  The steam pumps are quite now having been replaced by smaller more efficient electric pumps.

 

GF63 f/2.8

f/6.4 0.3 ISO 100

 

Anyone who follows us knows that we do not write reviews of cameras or lenses.  What we do instead is show examples of what the camera and lenses are capable of producing.  I believe any camera and most lenses are more than capable to producing great images so long as the person who is operating the camera doesn’t slip up.  There are 2-brains behind any image.  The camera has a brain that needs to interact with the person operating it.  While I attempt to achieve as much as possible “in-camera” that isn’t always the case.  When that happens you need software to help it along.  In rare cases no amount of software processing will correct the deficiencies while in other cases just a slight nudge is all it takes to make a mediocre image stunning. 

The simplistic way of describing our processing workflow is that we “listen” to the image.  It will either tell us we screwed up and no matter what we do it’ll always be like putting lipstick on a pig as it remains a pig.  Thankfully that doesn’t occur often.  There are times we open the file and find it’s perfect and nothing else is needed.  There are times we open the image and “listening” understand it would look better if processed a different way. Shooting inside Colonel Ward Pump Station presented a set of unique options.  Do we show it as it was in color which actually looked more monotone or do we convert to black and white or use another process?  The 2-images above reflect that dilemma. And then there's the image below.

GF 23mm f/4

f/8 0.8 ISO 100

 

This was a change from shooing inside Silo City and offered unique challenges.  Where I used 2-lenses for the interior work in Silo City I quickly found the need for other lenses.  The light was much better inside the pump station than shooting inside the darker Silo City.  I also enjoyed seeing the older street lamps lining the upper walkway.

 

GF120mm f/4

f/6.4 0.3 ISO 100

The machinery wasn’t the only thing on a large scale.

GF 120mm f/4

f/8 0.8 ISO 100

 

GF 32-64 f/4

32mm f/4 0.8 ISO 100

I used four Fuji GF lenses while inside. There are 17 images included here with the GF 23mm f/4 accounting for 3, 8-with the GF 32-64, 3-with the GF63 and 3-with the GF 120mm.

GF 23mm f/4

f/8 0.5 ISO 100

 

GF32-64 f/4

64mm f/4.5.0.5 ISO 100

 

GF32-64 f/4

32mm f/4 1.3 ISO 100

 

All the images were processed initially in Capture One Pro before sending them to Photoshop CC and in some cases processing in either Nik Software or Topaz Labs.

GF 32-64 f/4

32mm f/4 0.8 ISO 100 

GF32-64 f/4

52.7mm f/4 0.8 ISO 100

The GFX 50s performed just as well as it has done throughout the time I’ve had it.  Put any of the above lenses on and it becomes a lightweight walk around camera system.  The camera was either in a backpack, attached to a tripod or hanging around my neck.  The unused lenses were all stored in a backpack along with spare batteries.  All in all a nice compact system.

GF 32-64 f/4

48.2mm f/4 0.8 ISO 100

 

GF 32-64 f/4

32mm f/7.1 0.8 ISO 100
 

Speaking batteries. I never once had an issue with power, shooting all day at long exposures.  I did screw up once on a particularly long exposure by not checking the power and I count that as user error.  I normally watch the battery level and once it shows 2-bars I’ll switch (I do that as a normal course with all my cameras).  At the end of the day I would have a battery in the camera that was close to 75% and 1-that I needed to charge. 

GF32-64 f/4

36.4mm f/4 0.8 ISO 100

Shutter releases. My usual workflow is using a Fujifilm RR-90 wired remote shutter and did so for close to 95% of the time shooting in Buffalo.  I also had a Pluto Trigger however I kept it in the bag on this trip.

Thank you once again for allowing us to share our experiences.  Please let us know if you have any question, suggestions or comments.

Don