Light Happens: GFX 100S - Impressions and Discoveries

Saturday, March 27, 2021

GFX 100S - Impressions and Discoveries - Week Two

Sophomore Hijinks

Here are my impressions after my second week of daily shooting with the GFX 100S.

a photo of a classic green dodge dart in new york city

Classic Dodge - 1/280 @ f/8 ISO 160 - ASTIA Simulation

- The more I use the camera, the more I enjoy it and the more I respect the engineers who designed it.

- The shooting experience is a joy. The camera becomes a part of you. You don't just use it, you love it.

- Lens firmware update are critical to getting the most out of your gear. Some of the softness that I had blamed initially on the shutter speed has been corrected.

- I have gotten sharp results handheld down to 1/30s. It's not guaranteed, because unexpected body movement can have an impact, but if you're disciplined and steady, you'll get more hits than misses at slow shutter speeds.

a photo of a young woman renting a citibike in new york city

Renting A Citibike - 1/240 @ f/5.6 ISO 400 - ASTIA Simulation

- My favorite film simulations have been ASTIA (which surprised me), PROVIA, and VELVIA. Nostalgic Negative and Classic Negative have been useful in some cases, but I use them sparingly.

- Sometimes the simulations look better than Adobe presets, but in other cases, I'll use Adobe Color, Landscape, or Vivid, or their suite of B&W presets. There's no clear preference. I apply them on a case by case basis.

- The GF 30mm f/3.5 is the sharpest lens that I have ever used on any camera. It's also wonderfully small and lightweight.

- The 32-64mm zoom is a more satisfying walk-around lens than I expected given its size and limited range of focal lengths. It's quite flexible.

- The battery drains faster than on my Sony full frame cameras, but I have now changed the image stabilization feature from "Always" to "While Shooting Only." I'll have to see over the next week whether that makes a difference.