So… The GFX 50R Intro: Or How A Leica Release Freed Me Up To Get A Fujifilm Camera.
Subtitle 1: More distractions from the madness.
Subtitle 2: For me, gear churn is a journey without a destination.
After falling for film M rangefinder cameras…
…and adapting M glass to digital mirrorless cameras,…
…I broke down and finally committed to a digital M camera.
And it was glorious…
Then I kind of got over it.
What set off the pivot?
I am glad I imagined that you asked.
The release of a wholly unrelated camera.
As has been documented in this space, I landed on another GFX camera.
Included in the bargain was a FUJIFILM manual focus aid so good…
…that I let go of my mechanical rangefinder fixation to fund the transition.
A transition with no regrets.
Where was !?…
Right. The M EV1.
As I said from the start of that post:
I do not get it.
The short version is I am not paying, approaching 5 figures to use M glass with an EVF.
But… I am not exactly thrilled about the alternatives either. There is the similarly MP’d faux DSLR hump mirrorless full-frame crew.
And we cannot forget the previously mentioned FUJIFILM GFX100S…
Yes. They cost less. But none quite cut it. Why?
Easy. But it is nonsensical.
The EVF is in the wrong place.
Why do so many companies stick to this vestigial form factor based on long-abandoned mirror boxes?
Sony gets it with the full-frame A7C range.
A genuinely great camera line. But… a bit soulless innit?
Ridiculous? Yes. But here we are.
FUJIFILM gets it with their APS-C X-EX lineup…
…but it is APS-C, and at a minimum, I would prefer to keep the original lens equivalent focal length.
But (in dramatic voice-over tone) there is another.
I have wanted this camera since it was announced.
I even put in an order for one at my local camera shop years ago…
…but it was on permanent backorder even back then. Liking it so much is why I was kind of disappointed when the GFX100RF was released. A beautiful contraption…
…that I am glad that they made. But what I wanted was a second-generation interchangeable lens GFX 50R successor. And that is where I left it.
Until the Leica M EV1 kicked up the digital rangefinder shaped mirrorless camera dust once again. Soon after that release, I started thinking about the GFX 50R. What was the main reason I initially let the GFX 50R go?
It did not have a mechanical rangefinder.
Welp. If Leica itself can make a rangefinder-shaped camera with an EVF, why should I hold that against the GFX 50R?
Let’s go to the tape.
| Leica M Ev1 | FUJIFILM GFX 50R | |
| EVF | X | X |
| Resolution | 60MP | 50MP |
| Sensor Size | Full Frame | Medium Format |
| IBIS | Nope | Nope |
| SD Cards | 1 | 2 |
| Price | $8,999.oo (new) | ~$2,500.00 (used) |
| Video (Not the point of either.) | Not at all. | Not well. |
| AF | Nope. | Yep. (All of a sudden contrast only AF does not sound so bad.) |
| Tilt Screen | Nope. | Yep. |
| Lenses | M mostly and some other lenses where flange distance is not an issue. | GF and just about any other lens you can find an adapter for. |
Let me stop here and say this.
If you want a Leica… get a Leica.
It may be everything you dreamed of and more.
Or, like me, you will have your fun, get it out of your system, and move on.
And now that I also have a rangefinder-shaped mirrorless camera from which to hang manual focus lenses from, I have moved on. Also moved on from M lenses. Once I realized that I had a wonderful trio of CY prime lenses…
…I saw no reason to hang on to my M glass.
And, of course, it works wonderfully with native AF GF glass as well.
Is it up to the aesthetic and build standard of the M series, or even FUJIFILM’s own GFX 100RF?
Nope.
But it is no slouch either, build-wise or aesthetically. A matter of better than most and best, not good and bad.
What of sample images?
Come on.
It can produce wonderful images.
It is a FUJIFILM camera.
It is a medium-format camera.
Have taken some sample images,…
…and it performs as well as one would expect. Wonderfully. The quality of what is captured is left to the one doing the capturing, not the device used to do the capturing.
That being said, I will share images in future posts.
Main header and subtitle 1 sorted, what of “Subtitle 2: For me, gear churn is a journey without a destination.”?
For now, I am good, but I have long abandoned the notion of a gear-churn final boss camera system. This is simply the latest step of my journey.
Until next time…
Happy capturing.
-ELW
Eric L. Woods 
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