Luna Park by Timothy Poulton

Luna Park by Timothy Poulton

So I decided to sell all my Nikon gear and change over to the Medium Format world with the new FujiFilm GFX 50s, and my first chance testing was on tour in Patagonia with probably to most photographic mountain peaks anywhere. I have a bit more fine tuning to do I’m super stoked with the results and can breathe a sigh of relief knowing I made the right decision. I’m using the Fujifilm GF 32-64mm f/4 R LM WR zoom lens exclusively on this tour; the only zoom lens launched alongside the camera. With only the one lens I’ve had a few issues with wide angle scenes, nothing a pano kit can’t rectify, and I’m keen to pick up the 23mm once released. Size-wise, the Fujifilm GFX 50S is very similar to a full-frame DSLR camera despite having a larger sensor and new, robust G lens mount. It is comparable in size to my old Nikon D810, which means that it’s larger than many other mirrorless cameras but also surprisingly small and light-weight for a medium format camera. After only a few hours I was impressed with its excellent physical controls and design, it felt great in hand and secure moving around on the tripod. At first, I was a little concerned with the 3.2-inch touchscreen LCD monitor, it just looked a little flimsy, after extensive use the tilting mechanism is quite robust and durable. The display is quite reflective, though, and can be difficult to view in bright light; however, you can tilt the screen to help alleviate this. The touchscreen tilts 90-degrees upwards, 45-degrees downwards and 60-degrees toward the right, perfect for serious yoga-pose photography. Haven’t taken the GFX out to test its weather resistance except for a few subzero mornings, but as winter approaches and weather deteriorate, I’ll keep you posted on how it fairs. Stitching panoramic images has been my thing for the last five years, and I didn’t want to compromise on my style so when I heard they had an X-Pan feature, I was super excited. Image above is captured using the 65:24 format, single frame. Although slightly soft at the far edges I’m keen to get this printed at 2 metres to see how it stacks up with similar 4-5 frame stitched images. Plenty more thoughts to come so stay tuned.

Timothy Poulton: Photos