I had a chance recently to photograph a big event at the Sydney Opera House with the Fuji GFX 100S. Here’s some of my findings. Firstly (to start at the end), I can say I have never before used jpgs before as my final images. ie, the in camera version of the photos. This time I did. I used a variety of lenses not just GF. Well, a 200mm Pentax 6X7 SMC (manual focus) in addition to the 32-64 mm GF and the 120mm GF. Manual focus with the 200 was fine. Most shots with this lens landed OK. Maybe 95%. Nice and sharp too where it counted. If you don’t mind the manual focus, the Pentax 67 lenses are highly recommended. But I’d say I used the zoom 85% of the time.

I used the jpgs with the Eterna simulation which gave them a slightly warmer, richer tone. Not noticeable really as a ‘look’. Though you might recognize it if you use the system. And I could see the difference obviously comparing it to the RAW file. The only touch-up I did was auto-contrast which brightened up a few of the images. There were also a couple of shots that were underexposed which I then used the RAW version. So the process of PP for me was a breeze, making the choice to use this system where processing such large images can be very time consuming an easy one.

Camera systems being heavy has never bothered me where results are a high priority (and in most cases they are). Although the body has a little heft to it, it’s not excessive. The lenses I find to be very reasonable and I was able to do the 2 hour shoot along with the rehearsal without noticing the weight.

Flash was not allowed, so auto ISO kicked in. I never use use this setting but I have to say, high ISO shots which I varied with the front wheel to get correct exposure, look excellent. If it was not the case that high ISO gave quite good results, I would look to faster lens options. As it is most were f4 and being reasonably sharp at that f stop, subject separation was OK for me.