“Medien Hafen” Düsseldorf captured with the Fujifilm GFX 100 RF
On a Sunday in October, I wanted to test the new Fujifilm GFX 100 RF medium format camera in the field of architectural photography. The weather has been for the Düsseldorf autumn typically grey. Not a good moment to take pictures of grey concrete of the buildings, grey in grey.
The “Medien Hafen” of Düsseldorf is known for it´s past charm combined with modern architecture and colorful details. The great contrast to the buildings is the dynamic river water of the Rhine. At this location I am not expecting to take pictures grey in grey.
Even more demanding, compared to the interior design are the lean structures and surfaces of architecture for the photography. It is challenging the quality of the lens for any kind of lens distortions and resolution variations as well color fringes at the edges of the image circle of the lens. During preparing my big camera and lens test and shooting my test chart, I found out, that the Fujinon 35mm f4 lens of the GFX 100 RF is excellent corrected. 102 mega pixels are very demanding to any kind of lens.
During this spontaneous photo session, once again I have felt in love with the great balance of the GFX 100 RF. A perfect street camera. Using the alignment tools in the EVF supports the image alignment. The color rendering for this grey day is still providing an interesting environment for this architecture imaging. The green water of the Rhine and the colorful facades of the media harbor buildings are providing the interesting contrast, I hoped for. Impressive are the level of details those 102 mega pixel photos are providing. One can zoom(crop) in to even read smallest signs or to find details that have not been seen on the first view. All this remembers me to the search picture books I have been “reading” with my daughters in the age of 3 to 5, exploring the world.
The fact that I am so happy with the haptic and balance of the Fujifilm GFX 100 RF is for sure related to my deep love to my Fujifilm X-PRO 3. Remember, on many occasions I said, using the X-PRO range is like coming home. Photographers that are in favor for DSLR style cameras and are expecting a big grip for their big fingers, will be somewhat less happy with the GFX 100 RF. Same issue might be the fact that the GFX 100 RF has only a prime lens and not a zoom. I love to use prime lenses on my X-PRO 3 and my snickers are my zoom. Still, I know people that use every day only zoom lenses on the X-PRO 3. For me the balance of that equipped cameras will be disturbed. What I am missing on the Fujifilm GFX 100 RF is the possibility to change lenses. My standard lens on the X-PRO 3 is the 35mm f1.4 (52.5mm FF), additional I use often 23-25mm (35mm FF) lenses and 50-55mm (75mm). That is matching for 98% most of my photographical situations and needs. The 35mm lens on the medium format camera is 28mm translated to the full frame sensor camera. Of course, the 102-megapixel big images allow to crop to 35 or 50 or even 75mm FF format. But to be honest it´s not the same.
More and more I get used to the 28mm focal length in FF the GFX 100 RF is providing with the Fujinon 35mm f4 lens. For this architecture photography walk the lens is perfect. Not too wide that distortions would be counterproductive. The outstanding correction of the lens is very visible on the images. If you zoom in, you find out that the pictures are sharp end to end.
Another very successful photo walk with the Fujifilm GFX 100 RF.
Have a look yourself I am looking forward to your feedback. Please drop me a mail if you want to get a link to the real high resolution HEIF or even 200mb big RAW images for download.