Fujifilm
The Shard Dwarfed by Young Pretenders, XF50- 140 f/2.8 at 105mm, f/2.8, ISO 800, 1/80sec. Careful alignment and complementary blue hour colours all help to make this scene
Make the Switch Photography News featured David McKibbin last year as part of the Make the Switch campaign, when he borrowed a FujifilmGFX 50R with two lenses. The long and the short of it is that David made the leap with an X-T3 outfit, so it’s time to catch up with him and see how he’s getting on with all the kit ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE
It’s hard to believe that it’s already been ten months since I was lucky enough to take the medium format FujifilmGFX 50R through its paces. At that time, the photography market was going through significant changes, but who would have guessed what the world was about to face this year? I’m a member and past president of Winchester Photographic Society, which is so much more than a camera club. Among our 200 members are some incredibly accomplished photographers, covering virtually every genre you can think of and producing work
at the highest levels. As you will imagine, every brand of camera gets discussed and compared (including some great banter), but the most important aspects of the society are friendship, learning opportunities, mutual support and inspiration frommembers’ creativity. That GFX 50R trial completed my research and testing of three mirrorless sensor options: APS-C, full-frame and medium format. I enjoy a wide range of photography styles – not least travel, street, architecture and portraiture – and eventually decided on the Fujifilm X-T3 camera body, which, together
with several Fujifilm lenses, has fitted those bills admirably. This light, compact system is seriously accomplished, but it did take a while to get to grips with the plethora of functions and options available. That was well worth the effort, resulting in a camera with which I can work quickly, adjusting all the main controls and settings without taking my eye from the viewfinder. A couple of things that I’m happy with is using the front command dial (rather than the top dial) for exposure compensation and back-button focusing. For the latter, the AF-L button is
slightly tucked away behind the raised thumb grip and could be more comfortable, so instead I use the AE-L button, which has the additional advantage of being better positioned, ie closer to the focus point selection stick. While nitpicking, I sometimes find that I inadvertently rotate the metering dial and would prefer that to be tighter, or perhaps even lockable. Now, back to the good stuff and a testament to howmassively and quickly the X-T range has developed, both with the hardware and significant firmware upgrades. A long time ago I did use an X-T1,
DAVID McKIBBIN DPAGB LRPS Social, commercial and events photographer,Winchester
Issue 78 | Photography News 17
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