Dabbling in Digital: A Betrayal?
I have a long unfinished draft of a post that I called 'Toying with Digital', don't look for it as I never published it. In it I planned to discuss my temptations to get a good digital camera. I certainly can become a tech geek and what is not to admire about all the technology packed into some small box like that. But still I remained reluctant as the years passed since this yearning was first felt. I fell in love with (perhaps just the idea of) a Fujifilm medium format camera. They have continued to be impressive and though expensive they are much cheaper than the equivalent Hasselblad. Still, I was not tempted enough to buy.
Ritual
In contemplating my reluctance, I delved deeper into what I enjoy about photography and settled on, amongst all the other joys, that perhaps ritual is at the core of it. Yes, there is a heritage (with my brother and grandfather who have long ago passed), the quality when you get it right is impressive, the challenge, the craft, the learning. But finally, there is something about the human being that craves a ritual, it is why some people prefer to be Catholics, it is why we take comfort in daily routines. At the heart of film photography for me is ritual. It has a certain order and grace. All of the accumulated steps that culminate in an image. From the long, involved setup of a large format to a quick session with the Mamiya 645 Pro with built-in meter, they all have their own quirks and habits with me. The enforced contemplation, deliberation, choices, movements, thoughts, and pace all contribute to an enjoyable whole, even on the worst days.
So, it is against this background and against this resistance my internal debate about digital revolved. The result too was a kind of belief in the purity of the ritual and support of some old rites of my brother and grandfather. And yet you read and hear that the means is not important if the results are good.
I acknowledge some truth in that though, what about the process and the artist caught in that process; is that not also important? Professionals have little choice in the matter, the digital workflow is much faster, cheaper and largely more certain. I wonder what their creative life is like. Does their work revolve around another set of rituals based on menus and screens that find some fulfillment or is it a means to an end? Perhaps that does not matter, that the result is all the soul needs. I suppose I am about to find out. For me, however, this is a hobby and so efficiency and time are not critical factors.
Digital
So, this past week I overcame my reticence and purchased a used Fuji GFX 50s II. There are some things in my personal life that tipped the decision. Namely a move back to the US that may or may not be permanent. I am withholding the expense of a full move until the future is more certain and so would miss my photography and darkroom. My wife suggested I try digital while I am away.
My other reasoning was that digital medium format would offer the kind of performance to match what film would give me. I also have a bunch of Mamiya 645 lenses and adapters to Fuji for them are available. I had been lusting after the Fuji GFX 50R as it was quite reasonably priced used, however it lacks in-body image stabilization which I reasoned would make my Mamiya lens collection more useful. So, here is my justification for this 50 megapixel digital camera.
New Rituals and Impressions
After the first few days I am not thoroughly convinced about this whole digital thing. This is not my first encounter, but it is my first immersion in it. (Something about paying a lot of money makes me take it more seriously. :))
The first day I felt like I had just bought a box of great complexity, a headache in physical form. It drove home how relatively simple film photography is. The choices and settings on the new camera are too large to be numbered. No longer content with focus, shutter and aperture we now have a full set of menus just for autofocus. Choices about buttons, and screens, film emulations, connections, storage. It felt like a huge cognitive burden.
Still, I persisted and within a few days I had broken it down to a simpler configurations and habit. Still, I found that something I had set had disappeared because perhaps I changed some other configuration or had accidentally changed the setting I intended to leave alone. I read the manual incessantly and listened to polished over-enthusiastic teachers of digital on YouTube until I could no longer stomach them any longer. Useful, but a fatigue can quickly set in.
And I practiced taking photos on sunny but uninspiring days. Building some knowledge and muscle memory.
The Camera
The Fuji GFX 50s ii is a second generation of this type. It is mirrorless camera and uses a quite old 50 megapixel sensor that is getting on for 8 years old. Still, it holds its own in terms of imaging making. I half expect in some future there will be certain sensors that will be considered classic like old film types. Weirder things have happened. The autofocus is considered slow by today's standards but works well for landscape. Besides, I plan on using manual lenses.
Video is limited to 1080p30 but I don't really do video. Many say that 100 megapixels is almost too big, so I shied away from that more expensive version (GFX 100s). To me this is a sweet spot of value.
It has been pointed out that film photography has peaked in terms of technology. It would be hard to expect your film camera to be obsolete at some point. Whereas the turnover of digital technology continues at pace. More pixels and sensitivity and other features continue to be developed. It seems to be a treadmill I have hopped on.
First Light
In the world of telescope building which I was once associated with, there is the term called 'first light' which is when the telescope is first used to image an object. So here is my version (after a couple of days of practice). I was blessed with a beautiful morning while walking the dog with some light rapidly dissipating fog. My method was to stay to manual exposure setting and manual focus despite having the 55-70mm Fuji lens attached. A chance to try to stick to my ritual.
Here I learned the hazards of digital where two shots are taken when one would do. To be fair I am still working my way around the camera. I found it fairly easy to get on with. I wished for more telephoto in some cases as the meadows are quite big and plain. I got some pleasing shots. The electronic viewfinder takes some getting used to. It shows a horrendously saturated version of the scene and I wish for way to give me monochrome to keep me more 'in the subject'. The pixelization and focus help I find very distracting from the pleasure of composing a scene through an optical viewfinder.
Here are the results.
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