Technique
LM OIS WR lets you do is not cause angst or disturbance to an animal. But if you’re working with individuals like vets or capture teams, then you are up close and personal with the animal anyway.” For portraiture, the wide aperture of the GF55mmF1.7 combines with the increased bokeh of the GFX100S II to create a compelling option for David. “If I want to include the subject within the landscape, then I’ll work at F2.8, F4, F5.6,” he explains. “But if I want the subject to be all I’m looking at – while keeping it in context – then that lens allows you to do it. “It feels like you’re almost painting a background, because it is so out of focus and yet so beautiful. What you produce is almost like a silk scarf. You can’t quite see why it has these beautiful tones, but you’re reading it as the African bush or as the desert in Arabia,” he remarks. “You can’t see it, but you can feel it – and it’s
up again to the FUJINON GF110mmF2 R LM WR, until I can capture what I want from a distance that is either feasible to photograph the subject or safe to work with a particular animal. But my starting point will always be the GF55mmF1.7. “These fixed focal length lenses allow me to think – ‘I want to produce that particular scene in this particular way’ – and then select a specific lens instead of using something that can go from 35mm to 200mm. I don’t like the infinite amount of zooming and reframing that you can do. I like to see a particular image in my head and then know that this lens is how I’m going to achieve it. “For me, using the GF55mmF1.7 means that, 90% of the time, you’re going to have a conversation with the individual you’re photographing. You’re not getting anything where the subject isn’t aware of your presence. What the FUJINON GF500mmF5.6 R
not distracting from the subject. The GF lenses allow you to pull the background out of focus in such a beautiful, tactile way.” For David, another key advantage of the GFX System over his previous analogue set-up is its sheer reliability. “I’ve not had an issue with a single camera or lens the entire time that I’ve used them,” he notes. “And they are really trashed – they’re in sandstorms, rain, they’re on boats. Of course, they get loved and cleaned, but their performance is fantastic. They have been – touch wood – completely and utterly faultless, which is extraordinary.” Such is the dependability of his GFX equipment that David has even began to experiment with them in camera traps. “I’ll push them as far as they can go, because they produce really interesting files,” he states. “It’s very different to anything else that you’re going to see.”
FUJIFILM Focus Magazine 13
January/February 2026
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