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41
ON TRIAL FUJIFILM GFX 50S
200% and 400% – or an automatic
correction which assesses the
brightness range in the scene and
tweaks both the exposure and the
tone curve accordingly. The GFX
50S has Fujifi lm’s ‘Lens Modulation
Optimiser’ (LMO) processing
which detects and corrects for
diffraction blur, an intervalometer
(for up to 999 frames), and a
multiple exposure facility (although
it still actually only allows for
double exposures).AF, AE AND AWB
By virtue of the sensor’s design,
the GFX 50S relies on contrast-
detection for autofocusing, but
Fujifi lm’s design and processing
ensure it’s still fast and reliable.
You can choose between 9x13
or 17x25 point patterns (i.e. 117
or 425 points in total), the latter
obviously giving smaller points.
With either, the frame coverage is
impressively extensive.
For manual point selection, the
focusing area can be set to one of
six sizes, plus there’s a ‘Zone AF’
option which can be set to 3x3,
5x5 or 7x7 when using the 9x13
grid. Point selection is made easier
via the joystick-type control that’s
now provided on a number of the
smaller format Fujifi lm cameras.
Alternatively, there’s a touchscreen
control for either AF point selection
or touch focusing. Face/eyeIT DOESN’T TAKE
TOO LONG WHEN
LOOKING AT THE
IMAGE FILES FROM
THE GFX 50S TO BE
CONVINCED ABOUT
WHY YOU MIGHT
WANT TO MOVE
UP TO A DIGITAL
MEDIUM FORMAT
MIRRORLESS
CAMERA.
camera which is true, but then the
GFX 50S is the world’s fi rst digital
medium format mirrorless camera
with a focal plane shutter... because
the Hasselblad X1D system uses leaf
shutters in the XCD lenses. The Swedes
are highlighting this as one of the key
points-of-difference as leaf shutters
allow for fl ash sync at all speeds (and
that’s up to 1/2000 second with an
XCD lens), but a little cheekily, Fujifi lm
is offering a mount adaptor for ’Blad’s
own H System lenses which also have
leaf shutters. Flash sync on the GFX
camera is up to 1/125 second, but it’s
not hard to see Fujifi lm delivering a
few leaf-shutter lenses of its own if
there’s suffi cient demand in the future.
Incidentally, there’s no built-in fl ash, but
both a hotshoe and a PC terminal are
provided for syncing external units.SIMULATION
STIMULATION
The in-camera processing options for
JPEGs are similar to those available
on the X-T2 minus, perhaps not so
surprisingly, the fi lter effects. There’s
a full complement of ‘Film Simulation’
presets – which currently number
15 – including the Kodachrome-lookalike
Classic Chrome and the extra ACROS
monochrome settings (named after Fuji-
fi lm’s fi ne-grained B&W negative fi lm).
As with the standard B&W ‘Film
Simulation’ presets, there’s a choice of
additional ACROS settings with yellow,
red or green contrast-control fi lters.
However, compared to the standard
monochrome preset, ACROS is
designed to have a tonality curve which
emphasises detail in the highlights
and mid-tones, but gives enhanced
smoothness in the shadow areas as a
balance. The noise reduction algorithm
is also different as it actually processes
the noise to look like fi lm grain and the
effect varies with the ISO setting. This
can also be done to ‘Film Simulation’
the other presets via the ‘Grain Effect’
function which has a choice of Weak
or Strong settings. Colour saturation,
sharpness, highlight and/or shadow
tone (i.e. contrast) and noise reduction
can be adjusted globally. Additionally,
the GFX 50S has a ‘Colour Chrome
Effect’ adjustment – something that’s
not been seen on an X Mount model
yet – which also boosts the colour
saturation via a choice of Weak or
Strong settings. As the function’s title
implies, the saturation increase here is
more fi lm-like as it doesn’t compromise
tonality (i.e. brightness).
There’s a choice of three manual
settings for dynamic range expansion
processing – following Fujifi lm’s
convention of being labelled 100%,300CamMayJune17_036-045 Fujifilm.indd 41 13/04/2017 9:59 AM