FUJ I F I LM | ADVERTI SEMENT FEATURE
ISO 3200
ISO 6400
ABOVE RIGHT Connaughton shot his film in one continuous take and found the huge sensor of theGFX100S performed well. In order to shoot wide open outdoors, strong NDs were needed
“The GFX100S worked great indoors in high contrast”
Hitech’s Firecrest Ultra ND 1.8 and Black Supermist filter to soften the skin. The Fujinon GF lenses are incredibly sharp, which is perfect for stills, but I prefer to use a diffusion filter for shooting video. Shooting at f/2, the super-shallow ‘medium format’ depth-of-field and perspective also helped nurture the film’s narrative, with the lens’s smooth and gradual fall heightening the sense of isolation that the character felt. However, it’s worth noting that Fujifilm offers a wide range of lenses specifically designed to complement the GFX100S, all of which are built well and weather sealed, but are primarily designed for stills. Interestingly, though, its new range of Premista Cine lenses covers the full width of the medium format sensor with a PL adapter. THE ULTIMATE TEST The huge sensor of the GFX100S performed well in both exterior and interior locations – obviously, you need to utilise strong NDs if you want to shoot wide open outdoors. It handled natural light extremely well, with great colour, especially in F-Log mode. After all, Fujifilm is a film company, so it’s always known how to get colours right. Being a light-gathering guzzler with excellent dynamic range, the GFX100S worked great indoors in high contrast and darker settings. The larger
ISO 12,800
sensor also meant I captured more depth to my images – great if you’re working in cramped interiors. While the camera was in my possession, I also took the ultimate low-light test: measuring how it performs when the only source is candlelight. As you can see from the images on the right, I shot at ISO 3200, 6400 and 12,800 at f/1.7 on the GF80mm lens, with the shutter speed adjusted to compensate for exposure. I also kept the autofocus on to test how it would perform in these conditions. The stills have a basic gamma curve adjustment to bring the images from F-Log to Rec. 709, but no noise reduction has been applied. ISO 3200 is totally usable and very clean. The image is noisier at ISO 6400, but not to the point where noise reduction is inconvenient. It’s also softer, but I suspect the autofocus might have struggled in these conditions. At ISO 12,800, the noise was much more visible and the autofocus constantly adjusting to find my face, but it would be extreme to expect any kind of reliable AF performance at such a high ISO. Overall, I was blown away by the image quality of the GFX100S, especially with its internal codec, which holds up really well recording in F-Log. Fujifilm has created something special with this camera.
LOW LIGHT Connaughton shot the same image at ISO 3200, 6400 and 12,800 to see how well the Fujifilm GFX100S performed by candlelight. As you can see, 3200 and 6400 were both very clean, whereas at 12,800 there was some visible noise.
MORE INFORMATION: fujifilm-x.com
LEFT The GFX100S handled natural light really well, especially in F-Log mode
JULY 2021 | DEF I N I T ION 35
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