Fujinon GF 500mm F5.6 R LM OIS WR Review | Medium Format Gets Reach

[@icogicog8287]

After using this lens for a week in Greenland on a boat mostly for landscape and for a very nice bear who posed for us for 30 minutes….. IQ is fantastic. The stabilization really works. Quite easy to handle with the GFX100II for significant periods of time. Autofocus worked well for the conditions I used it.

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

nice!

[@davidwalker2402]

Thank you excellent review, looking forward to this lens arriving.

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@TwinIonEngines]

I'll say this, as far as medium format mirrorless cameras go and the competition, the fact that not only us mere mortals can afford these cameras and lenses, but also even be able to get anything out of wildlife/birds to begin with..... absolutely incredible. But dear god Fujifilm, you're THIS close to greatness, please re-write your AF algorithm, learn from your market competitors!

[@illicit008]

Do you like the Twilight movie saga?

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

Exactly. If they could take that next step, they could really be a market disrupter.

[@Tbonyandsteak]

It will never be as good Sony. There are to types of IC, those that is controlled by software and those that are fixed hardwired. Software depended IC are very easy to customize, upgradable, but are also way slower than hardwired. Hardwired IC are very expensive to make. A company that have tons of experience and are as big as Sony, are one few company that can do that. Its the reasone behind their extremely fast AF. Fuji made a mistake taking making to much attentions to what people want in a camera. The result is the AF got slower the more advanced the Firmware got. What they should do instead was manage the ressources of the processors better. Meaning that you cant shoot with to many obtions in the settings. Its like an old computer, that cant handle to many programmes at one time. The dream that Fuji somehow should be a Sony, is stupid. That will not happen ever. Should be glad you got a cheap very customizable camera that can take great picture. If you know what you are doing and dont use to many obtions at one time.

[@reginalb124]

@@Tbonyandsteak You're acting like Sony is the only company with phenomenal af performance, and it's just not. Sony, Canon, and Nikon all have absolutely top notch autofocus. And Fujifilm is a significantly larger company than Nikon (with nearly 8x the market cap), though a bit smaller than Canon. I mean, heck, I was shooting sports indoors with an Olympus E-3 15 years ago with a great keeper rate.

[@Tbonyandsteak]

@@reginalb124 Yet still dont got what I wrote

[@lionheart4424]

Great review Dustin! I think this proves that the Fujifilm AF issues are not specific to a single mount but instead to their algorithm (my guess).

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

Agreed. I see variations of the same theme between the two systems.

[@Mattrossphoto]

Pics are incredible! Great work. I noticed a huge difference in af from the 100s to the 100sii. I use area touch focus with continuous, get really perfect results. Think it’s really tuned for portraits, you can see on my vids I shoot crazy fast and nail pretty much every shot. Need you buy one and join the team man😂

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

LOL - I'm glad you are enjoying it. I love the sensors, and if they can get autofocus up there, I might just join the team.

[@Pixelpeeps-69]

Another fantastic review! What’s your favourite gfx lens you own or have tested ?

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

I really do like the 55mm F1.7. It has such lovely rendering.

[@nSpiraliArchitectb]

Impressive lens and even more impressive is Nala! What a gorgeous cat.

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

She really is.

[@KristofferTrolle]

Thanks for the review Dustin. The only GFX lenses I have tried have had a bit of a clinical look to them, just curious since you have probably tested most of them, are all of them like that? I'm thinking i.e. the old Fuji XF 56mm f1.2 has some character to its rendering

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

Hmmm, that hasn't really been my observation.

[@KristofferTrolle]

@@DustinAbbottTWI i only tried the 65mm and the kit zoom, so maybe that's why. So i.e. the 110mm f2 is not clinical? And thanks for always answering Dustin!!

[@cameraprepper7938]

Thank you very much for the text review ! The Fuji 500mm 5.6 are the most impressive GF Lens, I do not get why the did not make it in a version for the X-series cameras ! Now Fuji just just need to upgrade all their GF Lenses to more compact and light weight GF versions as the 500mm !

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

That would be sweet, actually.

[@sidvicious3129]

Dustin, Sony dropped Shutter Angle this morning for Fx3 and the Fx30!!!

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

That's cool.

[@SJMPhotography]

Hi Dustin! Any idea when you'll be able to compare the Sigma 18-50 F2.8 and Fuji 16-50 F2.8-4.8? I'm waiting for your review before I decide which to buy :)

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

Probably I'll look that lens in October.

[@marleenvandam6931]

Thanks Dustin for all the good work.Just been thinking : what can you do with a very sharp lens if the autofocus can't keep up as should with wildlife?

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

Wait for them to stop moving? :)

[@Skillividden]

I still use the GFX 50R, so I got used to even more sluggish AF. I've shot sports competitions with it.

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

Good for you. That takes some skill!

[@VermillionInvades]

Now if we could get Fuji to make an X mount version of this lens!

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

Agreed.

[@catherinegrimes2308]

I think that the XF 500mm F5.6 will be announced by Fujifilm along with the X-M5 and XF 16-55 F2.6 II on the 14th of October 2024 at 09:00 New York time.

[@ReyhanHamdi]

What do you used the table tripod ?

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

Oben Tabletop Tripod shown in video: bhpho.to/3vL8YWy

[@ReyhanHamdi]

@@DustinAbbottTWI Thank you so much

[@FujixFan]

Nice lense, but i,think i,will pass on this gf lense, gfx is fabulous for landscape and portrait but average for moving subjects, instead i will invest in a 300 f2.8 for my sony gear

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

That's fair.

[@rauldeandrade]

I'm not an expert in lens design, but this 500mm (396mm ff equivalent) is shorter than the sony fe 300mm. isn't lens length related to focal length? I know the lens formulas are different, but I thought 200mm difference would be noticeable. I am very happy that Fuji keeps pushing out new lenses as at this point this is the only reason I didn't give them a try. I know "medium format" lenses are bulkier, but if this lens is any indication, they could certainly be bigger for non consumer use. I need more light. I get it that R&D budget is limited, but Fuji started at a price that only pros could afford and with body sizes that made the lenses bulk not be a deal breaker. Make more lenses Fuji. And yeah do something about the autofocus. I am really a big fan of Fuji and I'd love to buy their equipment but so far they always just lose out on the small details against FF

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

Hmmm, are you comparing the Sony 300mm F2.8? That's a very different class of lens

[@rauldeandrade]

@@DustinAbbottTWI I am yes. I mean as a genuine question, from a construction perspective, isn't focal length related to lens size? I never researched it, but you get what I mean right? Longer focal length, longer lens size. That's what I was curious about. I just found it curious that a 300mm would be longer than a 500mm

[@catherinegrimes2308]

@@rauldeandrade The longer the focal length the greater the magnification. But the magnification that you see also depends on the sensor size, with the smaller sensor having the greater magnification. Because medium format have a larger sensor than full frame (FF) cameras, the lens needs to be wider at the camera end to ensure that the light will fully illuminate the sensor.

[@nevvanclarke9225]

I don't think 🤔 fuji GFX uses expected this to be a birds in flight in lens (we are not stupid) What we wanted and got was a long lens for waves..landscapes..some basic sports ...I have seen images of surfers and skateboard skaters. I've seen NFL shots also. All fine BIRDS in flight is a niche thing and the BIRDERS as I call them will be using NIKON and Sony cameras anyways The odd XH2s user with a 100-600 fujinon lens also. I think with practice and set camera to back button focus it will work just fine

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

Hmmm, I think you may need to inform Fuji's marketing department about that, then.

[@nevvanclarke9225]

@@DustinAbbottTWI hey Dustin. I get where you're coming from but marketing companies will always do that. They will always pump it up. I think your review was very fair but if you talk to good professional photographers we all know that you're not gonna be shooting professional sports or birds in flight with this lens, we all knew and that's okay because it's GFX but it's still a great lens for doing landscape photography or some wildlife that is nice and stationary that I shoot surfers on a board with my100 to 200 and crop in a fair bit given the hundred megapixel that you can crop in heaps. But look at all the latest KZbin clips from Sony Nikon they all do the same they pump it up

[@mipmipmipmipmip-v5x]

Would you recommend this for a vlogging setup

[@matthewjamesmartin]

😂

[@FujixFan]

Only if your arm is 4m 😅

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

LOL

[@ddolde]

I have no use for a monster like that

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

There must be someone who does, as they clearly had an audience in mind.

[@mipmipmipmipmip-v5x]

An f5.6 aperture at crop-mf works like f4 I guess?

[@DavidNegstad]

I think it’s equivalent to around f4.4 on full frame

[@nicolask.3825]

it's like a 400mm 4.5 on full frame. actually, sigma released a 400mm 4.5 not too long before this one, and I find comparing the two interesting.

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

Yes and no. For depth of field, something like 400mm F4.5 is correct. But remember that for lighting gathering F5.6 is the same whether it is APS-C, full frame, or medium format.

[@nicolask.3825]

@@DustinAbbottTWI but the image is physically bigger and therefore has to be enlarged less to reach an equal size, therefore leading to cleaner performance at higher ISOs. Remember that ISO equalizes final brightness of the image, not how much the signal is being amplified. All said and done, a 400mm 4.5 on FF and a 500mm 5.6 on MF should behave about the same in both DoF and low light capability.

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

@@nicolask.3825 There's some truth to that, but the bottom line is that you are going to meter identically with an F5.6 lens on all three of those platforms because the amount of light coming through the physical aperture is the same, as that F5.6 is a measurement of the physical aperture.

[@v_stands_for_value124]

Single point focus is the worst way to use a Fujifilm camera, I'm always using the smallest smart area

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

I'm not sure I ever use single point focus.

[@helloianzakharov]

This absolutely useless wildlife tool. Have GFX 100 II, it’s a wonderful tool for portraits and any slow action, but not for wildlife. Too short, too dark, too slow

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

I'm not sure I would go as far as calling it useless, but I completely agree that the GFX platform is wonderful for many things, but action photography is not one of them.

[@dccoletrain]

I’m a Fuji shooter but I think I’ll wait for them to hire a Sony person to improve the autofocus before investing in the GFX system 😂

[@doogieham]

If only it was that simple . . . 😀

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

LOL - here's hoping!

[@illicit008]

Have you ever thought of joining the Church of Scientology Dustin?

[@DustinAbbottTWI]

Odd question. No, I have not. I'm an Ordained Minister already.