Fujifilm GF 500mm f/5.6 & 1.4x Teleconverter lens review

[@ArteUltra1195]

Holy moly that thing is sharp

[@seth094978]

Once your focal length is long enough, the size of a lens is determined almost entirely by the maximum aperture and sensor size starts to matter less, so it doesn't surprise me that this lens is reasonably sized. It's very typical for the image circle of zoom lenses to get larger at the long end of the zoom range due to these effects.

[@TechnoBabble]

Yep, and lot of old Canon and Nikon super-telephoto primes actually project large enough image circles to almost or entirely cover Fuji MF already.

[@seth094978]

​​​@@TechnoBabble Yeah a 55mm vs 43mm sensor diagonal almost doesn't matter when the lens apertures you're looking at are like 70mm or more for those long lenses. (89mm in this case)

[@christopherfrost]

You've put it well. This is what was dawning on me during the process of testing the lens.

[@Léon-x3c]

Same reason why the Fuji 150-600mm isn't much smaller than its FF peers.

[@AlejandroMaagno]

Your videos are the top mark of lens reviews! I always love them and love looking at other lenses even though I am not gonna buy them but it’s great to see what the competition is doing. Thank you for making these videos.!!!

[@Léon-x3c]

Those corners on a 100Mpx sensor look incredible.

[@SMGJohn]

I always look in the corner of a picture no matter what it is. Always

[@Léon-x3c]

@@SMGJohn Interesting. I do it for landscape but usually it doesn’t matter that much. Why do you that for every picture?

[@SMGJohn]

@@Léon-x3c Its sarcasm, the corners do not matter except in extreme niche cases such as wallpaper or surveillance. You do know that in a study with over 400k subjects, people always looked in the middle of the picture. This was a study done by a very big marketing company way back.

[@Léon-x3c]

@@SMGJohn I know it’s sarcasm. That’s why I answered with sarcasm as well. Because I thought your comment was stupid.

[@joey_bonzo]

Do you guys think this is a good lens to get if you're a vlogger?

[@nremac]

Yes! After a quick and painless arm-lengthening surgery, you'll be good to go.

[@jklbd4815]

I don't think so, you should try Nikon z 600mm f4 TC or the Canon RF 1200mm f8.. 😂

[@FabienMathey]

And remember to attach the selfie stick to the lens mount 😂

[@mrbarkan]

I'd you're a bird vlogger with a human camera op working for yeah, then yeah! Go for it! 😅

[@goroskob]

Sorry, it’s more suited for street photography

[@jan-martinulvag1962]

4:47 what is the blue color?

[@mizshellytee]

Colour fringing.

[@trollfiddler]

Probably a result of the youtube video processing. He always mentions colour fringing if there is any and that amount would be really apparent in real life. I have the lens and have shot a ton of images with it and have never seen anything remotely like that.

[@explodingheavens]

1.4x (or even 2x) teleconverter vs regular sony 200-600 lens would be a great video.

[@adamzhang3028]

Been waiting for you to review it since it came out. Thank you very much.

[@Skillividden]

I have the TC, I bought it with the 250/4 six years ago. Right now I do not need the 500/5.6, but I will definitely consider buying it in the future.

[@KurtisPape]

My very first thought was the teleconverter would be useless being on a 102MP sensor but surprisingly, the results look great! Probably doesn't resolve the full 102MP with the TC but it looks pretty close. That's a lot of 'power' for a lightweight kit, but for the price would would expect that.

[@SKELEB0B]

Solid video Chris! Was wondering if you have ever gotten your hand on the Brightin Star 12mm f2 iii? There aren't really many videos with in depth specs like you do so was curious what your thoughts were on it or if you had plans to do a video about it at some point? Cheers

[@PINOYROCKTRAX]

I love your videos, very soothing. I wish you'd review the 250 f/4 next.. thanks

[@olesbadio1496]

In the film days, I shot a lot of sports 400/2.8 and 600/4, just to bring these two lenses I needed a separate person and quite strong. Sometimes I borrowed 1200/5.6, which very few people could afford to buy for themselves at that time. But now aps sensor cameras can shoot almost the same thing for very reasonable money.

[@stephenbarlow2493]

This is quite a viable outfit for bird and wildlife photographs, of the highest quality. Whilst not cheap, it's actually cheaper than a top flight FF DSLR or mirrorless outfit, with a f4 long lens. It doesn't quite have the reach, or the same potential, for fast action. However, for a large proportion of scenarios, it would be very capable.

[@oasean]

Wide open, it's extremely sharp, yes, but in which context is that "excellent contrast" [04:46]?

[@blah163]

Perfect for webcam use

[@gregboyce360]

Great review! I'm keen for the x mount version to debut.

[@Jawad.1]

GF 110mm F2 review will be next?

[@alexmirza5210]

Congratulations Fuji. great in all respects not least of which is compactness. Pretty reasonable too in the context of its specs, if I won the lottery this would be as high on the list as any telephoto prime.

[@mariobnc1995]

excellent lens I am very impressed

[@dizhou7966]

Wish to see the review of Fuji GF 45-100mm lens

[@Jawad.1]

Fuji GF 110mm F2 is deemed by many the top portrait lens on Earth. I want Chris to review that first!!!

[@dizhou7966]

@@Jawad.1 Me too, GF 110mm is a great prime lens, and GF 45-100mm is a great zoom lens. I am interested in both!

[@trowawayacc]

Dang. I love this beast. But i will get the small macro first.

[@_brushie]

Rumor has it that this lens is going to be adapted to the Fuji X Mount. Might be announced in the next Fuji Summit on Oct 14. Side note, got to try out that weather resistance on a random rainy day with the 150-600. Took some duck pictures with no issues at all standing in the rain. Lens came out of the ordeal just fine with no signs of water. I'm sure the 500 prime has the same WR performance.

[@martingarces4602]

Looks a lot like the Minolta 400mm f4.5, at least size and sharpness wise but obviously for medium format instead of full frame.

[@soheilphoto]

please review new tamron 90mm macro

[@panmaew]

I assume the greenish/blue tinge on the vertical and horizontal stripe test chart at max aperture is an issue with the camera's white balance and not the lens' chromatic aberrations because that would be highly unlikely for a lens in this class in these days and ages.

[@Paul_Rohde]

This is the first time I've seen clear separate lines in the centre of your chart. It can't be just because the lens is so sharp, could it, because you often say a lens is sharp in the centre, but yet I don't see clear separate lines on past occasions. They often looked connected with an outside edge line running along them. Have you or KZbin changed a compression algorithm, or do you have a different center on your test board? (Regardless, that TC is amazing.)

[@Kliffot]

Just the result of extra magnification of the MF 102mpx and the super sharp lens.

[@christopherfrost]

That's because it's a 102mp image - it's that extra detail you're paying for on a medium format camera :-)

[@Paul_Rohde]

@@christopherfrost wow.

[@CulturalCats]

I always find the jerky motion of the focus pulling rather strange, I've seen it in other reviews too not just yours. I've never had that behaviour on my X or GF mount lenses, no idea what's going on there.

[@nicedward7544]

I wish i had money :(

[@glennn.3464]

The lens by itself looked very good but why didn’t you even mention the quite obvious green fringing across the whole frame when you put the tele f/1.4 onto it? That could not have been just an oversight as it was pretty bad and you always mention it when fringing occurs with other setups.

[@nicedward7544]

Is this a rehoused sigma??

[@drbeardo6960]

🎉🎉🎉

[@boredcat7]

Goooood eeeveening

[@killpop8255]

They didn't loan you the body? Could we get 'adapted to gfx' among your lens tests if you own a gfx?

[@christopherfrost]

They did indeed loan me the body

[@mekore]

how can it be so small😅?

[@swawekvandermeer99]

Thank you very much for testing this combo! I feel almost tempted to trade in my Z8 and 500mm f4.

[@KurtisPape]

Crossed my mind as well but from what I have seen the autofocus is seriously unreliable and frustrating. Maybe wait for the next generation of medium format bodies. Also shooting at 102MP, you might become hyper focused on image quality where the composition is really what matters. I shoot with a 61MP A7R and it's so disappointing to downsize all the images and lose detail to share online.

[@HJRphoto]

I asked Fuji if I could get one of the medium format camera for a weekend to shoot up north in Scotland for my charity gallery I’m having . and was told they done loan equipment only 2x day hire with half value deposit. Is this what you had to do ?

[@6042833]

It’s a shame about the autofocus issues. All in all, great lens.

[@Adogcallednoortje]

Just incredible how far modern lenses ar pushing resolution.

[@helloianzakharov]

Nah, too short, too dark, too slow for wildlife. Could be sort of okay for zoo. Happy to see your reviews

[@cy9nvs]

No word about chromatic aberrations? The lens seems to be great, but if even the X-Bodies AF can't keep up with,,, basically anything, I imagine the GFX bodies must be even more of a nightmare to work with.

[@AAJJ007]

This is the reason I’ve been eyeing the GFX for years but never bought one: the sensor has c. half a stop of an advantage over FF. But the slow, bulky, expensive lenses and the AF system that’s six years behind more than erase any of that sensor advantage. Sad.

[@tbrown2892]

Chris…..why didn’t you mention the horrendous green colour fringing on contrasting edges! This is the worst fringing I’ve ever seen in any of your usually excellent reviews. What’s going on 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@AzarathGirl123]

First

[@stefanbadass5357]

No it isn't a "full frame" Mr Frost, its MEDIUM FORMAT.

[@christopherfrost]

Oh, did I accidentally say it was full-frame at one point? Please let me know where - I didn't notice.

[@Nikalym]

@@christopherfrost I haven't heard anything wrong I think 🤔