Photography News Issue 41

Photography News | Issue 41 | absolutephoto.com

Camera test 39

Inassociation

I shot mostly using the EVF. It is worth noting that this is removable and a multi-angle finder can be fitted. Or if weight is an issue, the EVF can be left off and just live view used. Live view is power hungry but I couldn’t gauge how long a battery would last in this preview. Battery life is claimed at 400 shots – but this figure isn’t qualified as xx% live view and xx% EVF usage. The image you get through the OLED viewfinder is excellent. It has a resolution of 3.69m dots, you see 100% of the image and there’s an eye-sensor for auto switch over from live view. Refresh rate is good and there’s no evidence of moiré on heavily patterned subjects. Arranged along the bottom of the frame is key camera info like shutter speed and aperture and up the left is an exposure scale. The AF system uses 117 points in a 9x13 array, switchable to 425 points – in this case the working area is the same so the AF points are smaller. The focusing system has options like face detection but in this short time I stuck with a single AF point using a thumb-operated focus lever to place the AF point on the subject. The AF point can be varied in size too and there other AF zone options too. Users of X-series cameras will find themselves perfectly at home with this system immediately. Manoeuvring the AF point around is quick thanks to the

thumb joystick – it is such a great innovation. If you venture too far off the array of AF zones, which is easily done in the heart of the moment the active zone index reappears on the other side of the frame. There is probably an option to stop this, but I didn’t have time to dig around for it in the extensive menu system. The look and structure of the menu system is similar to that seen on the X-Pro2 and X-T2. Focusing is swift, responsive and quiet. Of course it is accurate too. In some dimly lit situations I found it slightly less sure-footed and adjusting the sensor size was worthwhile. Autofocusing is done with a contrast-detect system and the camera initially goes past the point of focus and then back again to get sharp focus. It only takes an instant so it is not a problem in use and it’s typical of contrast-detect AF. In live view, focus point selection, touch focus and shooting are possible with the monitor. Or you can switch them all off if you prefer. The large tiltable monitor is excellent and can folded out for waist-level shooting in vertical and horizontal formats. It is great for composition but also when previewing your work too. Just like a smart device, you can swipe between images, pinch to zoom in and out and double tap – here you get a 100% view of the area where you focused. It is very intuitive.

Above left Taken on a GFX 50S with 32-64mm f/4 lens, fitted on a monopod. The tiltable monitor made shooting from a lower camera viewpoint easy and touch focusing was used to place the AF point over the model’s face. White-balance was set manually to 4200K to give a warm result and the exposure was 1/50sec at f/4 and ISO 1000. The scene was lit by two Lupo DayLED Fresnel spotlights. Left Taken with the GFX 50S and 120mm f/4 lens. The exposure was 1/125sec at f/4.5 and ISO 200. Lighting was provided by six mains flash units, two fitted with softboxes and four with grids.