Medium-format portraiture with the Fujifilm GFX 50S

Veteran portrait photographer Del Francis, recently embarked on a couple of projects that required a medium-format camera. So, to support his work, MPB lent him a Fujifilm GFX 50S, 32-64mm f/4 R LM WR and 120mm f/4 R LM OIS WR. Keep reading to learn more about his work and find out how he got on with the kit. Over to you, Del.

The first immediate impression was how compact the unit was for a medium-format camera. With the 32–64mm zoom attached, it was barely any bigger than my Canon EOS 5DS. The body and lenses were well-constructed, from high-quality materials and metal. It gave the whole camera and lens combination a solid and robust feel. The unusual feature of this camera is the electronic viewfinder. As I had never used one before, I was interested to experience how it would perform in real life and if there were major differences from an optical viewfinder. The fact that the viewfinder was electronic would have no doubt reduced the physical parameters of the camera, as there was no need to house a complex mirror system, dampening devices and prism as in a conventional DSLR.

I turned the camera on and looked through the viewfinder for the first time, panning the camera around. The finder is bright with good contrast and detail. The main area where you realise that the finder is electronic occurs when panning the camera, you can just notice a very slight flicker as the system is refreshing the image. The use of battery power did concern me, but I was glad that MPB sent me a second battery as a backup. 

The layout of the camera is very classic and reflects traditional 35mm SLRs with shutter speed dial, release and info LCD panel on the right side of the top plate. On the left side, there is the ISO dial ranging from 100 to 12,800. Everything you basically need to start taking pictures with! I have reasonably large hands and the camera sits easily in my palm. It’s about the same weight as my Canon EOS 5DS with the attached battery pack. And, because the general layout of the camera is simple and controlled by dials, I did not have to learn much about multi-function menus or sub-folders to work the camera.

The sensor on this camera is bigger than the Canon, and more square. From my perspective, it reminds me of the 6x7cm film format, which I use from time to time when shooting analogue images. As both cameras are around 51 megapixels, I would presume that the pixel size is larger in the Fujifilm and that this may help provide a greater dynamic range.

On the back of the camera, there is the usual high-density view screen. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this screen was moveable so you can see image previews without having to reposition yourself or the camera—if you are shooting from an unusual angle and, say, the camera is on a tripod. The controls to utilise the image screen are, again, very simple. If a dinosaur-like me can work it after a few minutes, then anyone can!

In relation to the quality of the viewing screen, the images are exceptionally detailed and in fine-moderate contrast. This is due to the screen’s very high pixel density. If you are not used to this, it tends to look slightly lower in contrast than some other cameras. However, it does provide a balanced representation of the final image and is reasonably accurate. On average, most of the RAW final images are around 160–170MB each, before processing to standard TIFF files. However, technical specifications and numbers are not the only lifeblood of a camera, and any piece of gear creates its own special bond with you when using it in the field or studio.

The first shot was part of an ongoing project on famous ‘roadies’. These are the people who are part of the team that set up the onsite rock-and-roll concerts for many of the famous artists in the UK and abroad. They build all of the rigging, stages and lighting systems for these amazing venues, and are—I believe—construction artists in their own right. They are a serious bunch of fascinating and tough characters.

The image was shot on the 120mm f/4 Macro at 1/125 sec, flash sync, at f/10. The image set was a full-sized RAW file, at 100 ISO and the camera was mounted on a large sturdy old Gitzo tripod. The location was outside, and we created a pop-up studio with flagged back angular lighting, and double-set high-key main three-foot softboxes from the front right. We also had the benefit of a little bit of sunlight from the extreme right side, pulling the highlights of the face up on the edge. The background was an 11ft mid-grey, as we wanted plenty of space to control the lighting and fall off. As we were using a short telephoto via the macro, it nicely compressed the subject’s features and provided a balanced and realistic ratio to his body. 

I personally do very little to the images I shoot apart from minor colour balancing and contrast ratios. I try to obtain as best an image in-camera as I can, as it makes any post-production much easier and maintains the image quality. I was very impressed with the lens quality and sharpness of the image, its balanced contrast and the fact that detail was held across the subject. There is no additional sharpening added to this image or was actually required. 

When I was initially speaking to the team at MPB before they sent me the camera, they asked if I could also do a shot that pushed the camera to its limits—a bit! I thought about this and, as I don’t go skydiving, scuba diving or potholing, I had to think. I had some discussions with a colleague some time ago about starting a project of capturing people on the London Underground while the Covid-19 restrictions were still running. A sort of social documentary set of images that capture people within the constricted environment of the tube network in London. I never got around to it but I thought “why not?" I spoke to the supervisor of one of London’s busy stations and ended up being allowed to quietly take pictures, without flash or any lighting, if I didn’t cause any trouble and was very discreet. This ended up with me grabbing the picture below of some people chatting in the corner while another commuter is walking toward the platform.

Now let me inform you that the lighting is quite dim on the London Underground, and the non-lit areas do fall off rapidly into shadows. Before going in, I thought that I would need at least a 1/60 or 1/125 sec to capture the people without too much motion blur and create reasonably sharp images. I initially popped down to check the light levels and realised that they were much lower than anticipated. This really would be a check of the camera’s very high ISO capability. 

The above picture was taken at 10,000 ISO at 1/125, f/5 on the 32–64mm wide zoom. I think it was around a 40mm setting and the image was RAW. On looking at this image, it seems to have a strange graphic quality about it, possibly due to the high ISO. There is not too much noise, and—coming from a film background—the digital high ISO creates an unusual look. It’s not grainy, like film, it’s as if it is a sort of superfine pencil drawing, quite unique! Due to the strange mix of olive green and magenta cast fluorescent lighting, along with the odd bit of Tungsten here and there, it is best served as a black-and-white image. I really like this image as it has a real atmosphere about it. The strange mirror in the centre pulls your eyes around from the chap on the left to the couple, to the mirror and back again.

The next image could not be more different. This was shot inside a large power station and showed one of the youngest engineers in the country who oversees all of the complex technical systems. This was one of those environments where there were all sorts of lighting bouncing around—daylight, fluorescent, mercury vapour, tungsten and high-intensity LEDs! We had to go around much of the area and either turn off the lights, and replace the illumination with flash, or convert them using Roscoe gels. We additionally added some coloured lighting to parts of the scene to add a bit of extra dimension and richness. The subject was illuminated by a high bank of two softboxes behind and to the right of the camera, with additional fill from the left of the image. The shutter speed was 1/13—due to the mix of ambient and flash, the shutter speed had to be slow—at f/13 on the wide-angle, again around 40mm setting. ISO was 400. As the camera was placed around six feet high on the tripod, the capability to angle the view screen down was very helpful. In this type of image, the camera’s sensor and the broad dynamic range did help to pull as much detail out of the shadows. The results I found were very impressive.

The final set of images that I was lucky enough to shoot with the Fujifilm GFX 50S was a mixture of engineers and clinical staff, who are part of the ongoing three-year project called Portraits to a Life of Dedication. This is a huge project, capturing clinical and support staff at one of Europe’s largest hospitals, St George’s NHS Trust in London.

The following images were shot on location within St George’s Hospital, within the engineering department, via a built location studio. Due to health and safety regulations, we could not shoot the people within their environment at the time as it was deemed unsafe. However, we managed to capture some fantastic images of those within the department for the overall project. All of the images were shot at full-res RAW and at ISO 100, f/11 at 1/125-second. Lighting was large soft-box flash units with additional rear key lights to add some contrast and modelling to the subject.

When we were shooting these images, we realised that due to the camera having an electronic viewfinder, the battery did run down quite quickly after a few hours and we had to alternate between the camera battery and spare unit—making sure that one was always fully charged. However, this did not cause any real issues. I would just strongly recommend that you really need at least one spare or, if possible, two spare batteries with the Fujifilm GFX 50S.

As this was totally inside, and all of the lightings was controllable, the image quality provided by the camera is superb. In essence, it’s a great camera and I would honestly recommend it for high-end use. It’s great on location, robust and easy to use. I prefer the analogue dials, they really are better when on location or in challenging environments, you don’t have to fiddle with small buttons or scroll through menus. I appreciate that Fujifilm placed the aperture control on the lens, where it should really be. It’s a really great camera and I was sorry to give it back!