Fuji GFX Old Glass Configuration (Digital)

In a prior post I discuss the use of ‘old glass’ on the Fuji GFX 50s ii as a means of keeping the cost of the camera system reasonable. Coming from film cameras I find the use of old manual lenses natural to use and not terribly troubling once I got the camera set up properly. In-body image stabilization (IBIS) means I can shoot these lenses at lower shutter speeds without a tripod. 

One of my favorite lenses is the Olympus Zuiko 135mm f2.8 lens. It is very sharp and the focal length is ideal for intimate woodland work where a good depth of field helps separate subjects in what us usually a very cluttered environment. One drawback of using a lens made for a 35mm camera is that on the Fuji GFX one tends to get vignetting. So I set up the camera to crop the sensor to 35mm full frame. This works well as even cropped I get 30 Mpix images. 

It occurred to me recently that there is a useful’ cheat with 35mm lenses. I have long enjoyed panoramic formats and in my film cameras enjoy a 120 film back on my 4x5 large format camera that gets me 6x12 images and my Fuji G617 which achieves a 6x17 image. This leads me to like the ‘xpan’ aspect ratio built into the Fuji GFX 50s ii. This is 65x24 which sits nicely between the aforementioned film cameras in terms of aspect ratio at 2.7:1. The cheat is that this aspect ratio avoids vignetting on my 135mm f2.8 Zuiko lens. For a full frame image on the GFX50 the sensor size is 44mm x 33mm which gives a diagonal of 55mm that the lens must cover. At the xpan 65x24 crop the cropped sensor area is 44mm x 16mm for a 47mm diagonal which the Olympus lens seems to cover just fine. (A 35mm negative is about 36mm x 24mm which gives a 43mm diagonal.)

I can now configure a custom setting on the Fuji GFX to default to this aspect ratio and add in the details of the lens focal length and the aperture priority mode. I also use this custom setting to create a black and white mode by default. The recipe starts with Fuji Acros film simulation with a simulated red filter (AcrosR). I then add strong small grain effect. This is intended to give a somewhat contrasty black and white film look. 

Below is one photo I took from a trail looking down on Sandpoint and Lake Pend Oreille. It isn’t particularly special but gives an idea of the look achieved. 

 A crop of about 1/6th of the image gives an idea of the grain effect. 

I look forward to using setup more.