Jaco van Lith

Mistake ! Wrong ! Error ! Incorrectness ! Mr Bolch, cropping was not highly practical in " film days ". Not in Europe Professional photographers do not crop. For his 6 x 6 cm camera a real photographer has every optic. Starting with the wide angle of 38 mm and ending at 500 mm. More than 12 different Zeiss lenses. And for the view camera at least seven lenses. The Durst Laboator 138S can be tilted. Not for cropping, but for mural enlargements. The Laborator is then riding over rail in the darkroom. Fujifilm is not knowing today what real professional photographers need ! Fujfilm has one goal, just selling cameras to the Canon and Nikon freaks. Please read "Colour Photography '68" by Norman Rothschild. He wrote an article on photography in the U.S and Europa. He also visited Studio 13 in Zürich in Switserland. The most shocking facts were that European photographers are skilled and graduated craftsmen. Their equipement is a modern View camera and a rollfilm camera. Few 35 mm SLR; just for the photojournalists. And in The United States every pizza baker with a Nikon acts like a photographer. That was a great difference, those days. Today in the whole world every pizza baker with a camera is a photographer. And that is way they need wide apertures.

It is obvious that hardly anybody knows the optical technics. The IMAGE CIRCLE of a 24 x 36 mm ( fullframe ) is to small for any camera that has a larger sensor. So forget it to put Nikon, Canon etc fullframe optics at a Fujifilm GFX 50s. It is impossible. Once more: Bokeh and DOV is not for cameras smaller than 60 x 60 cm cameras like Hasselblad.

Go for an MD and ask for Swiss medicin. Make long a long walk every day.

I do not know where you live; go to a museum to see paintings or sculptures. Do not buy new books; they are full of rubbish Get some 40 or 50 year old books. Photo course : Famous Photographers School. Any old book printed in Germany or in the UK will do.

Jim, stop collecting lenses. Forget DOF, it is some word which is En Vogue by the new breed photographer who misses quality and style. A 400 mm tele ? Buy a sturdy tripod. And a cheap adapter to mount an analog 400 mm with M42 screw. Any brand will do, even GDR /DDR.

This lens is a must. Have a zoom lens, like this 18 - 55 mm and forget every prime lens. The next lens will be the 10 - 24.mm, That is all you need. And a second body if you like. Or a cheap adapter to mount some old analog to Fuji, just lens for fun or for ART. Do not buy art lenses; be an artist.

Leather or P.U ? Put a hot metal object against it. If it melts, it is no leather.

For Australia a lens with a bag ( to put a kangaroo in ) . For Austria a lens with with good profile to climb the Alps. For America a 66 mm lens to shoot the Route. For Germany a super wide angle lens, for everything is bigger there, For Africa no chrome body. Are you kidding? Is this a serious question ? Do you know what to do with a camera ? Do you know why they invented the Zoom ? Stay at home and spend your money to buy a book on photography an go for a photo-school. Which bastard sold you the extra 14 and 35 mm ? Because of the wider aperture and the DOF ? Wider aperture .... and what about rising the ISO ?Rubbish. Waist of money ! The 18 - 55 mm is the must. Extra batteries. An UV filter. Enjoy your photo-days.

Do not go abroad, stay at home. Stop making phographs,

Dear mr Bolch. Anything can be made. Fuji is like the European car industry: DOWNSIZING. It is a real miracle, feeling the power of 1.0 liter engine. But I prefer a 2.0 liter engine while cruizing at the same speed. It is a miracle to see the quality of Fujifilm. But I prefer .... Why do all the 6 x 6 analog camera companies downsize the format ? Too make everything cheap ? You need more powerful processors and a new line of optics. So today it is 63 mm in stead of 80 mm ? When all digital started, Nikon started with non-fullframe DSLR. So there was the need for new optics etc. Canon did it in another way, etc. Hasselblad asked Fuji/Sony to create the first digital Swedish DSLR. Too bad, they ignored all the 500 C/M users, and again and again. Nobody needs a digital camera that looks like a Pinnball Machine. Photography is very simple. Aperture, shutterspeed and ISO; everything in Raw, and I press the button. Fuji could/should have made a 60 x 60 mm camera without all the nonsense options. The Cambo Actus has a huge problem: not all Fuji X cameras fit. The Cambo Actus has a lot of imperfactions, which I had to solve by myself. All optics which are mounted to the Actus cause the same problem: the focal length is too long, because the GFX sensor is too small.

Forget fast lenses ! They are heavy and bulky. You nullify all the advantages of the compactness of the camera body. What is the use to be in a hurry ? With any speed you can shoot a aeroplane. A good tripod will do. Rise the ISO. AMATEURS AND PROSUMERS ARE LIKE LITTLE BOYS; they long for fast cars and fast jets. The speedometer was their obsession. Today the f-number ? I prefer a f/3,5 above a f/2,8 and I ignore the f/2,0

Macro? A macro-bellow with M 42 screw mount will do very well from infinity to 1:1. An enlarging lens ( with M39/M42 ) can fixed to the bellow. Focal distance of the enlarging lens: 50 mm, 80 mm, 135 mm. Any brand is okay !

Fuji should not have made the GFX 50s with this too small sensor of 33 x 44 mm. It is ridiculous. Fujifilm must reject this dwarf. We need a pro size sensor. Professional size is 60 x 60 mm ! All classical optics will fit than. The Rollei Baby nor the Yashica 44 were no great camers ( they had a 60 mm optic ). Any sensor size in between is like a motorcar with a stearingwheel not at the left side nor at the right side, but in the middle. That is no good. There are at least three standard negative / sensor sizes. The "normal' size, a smaller size and a larger size. So 60 x 60 mm ( Hasseblad, Rollei etc.). Smaller miniature size ( 35 mm cine film ) at 24 x 36 mm. And the larger 4 x 5 inch. Of course there was 18 x 24 mm ( Pen F), killed by all that bad photo labs. The pre war 60 x 90 mm, And later 60 x 70 mm and the Fuji 60 x 80 mm. And plenty of View Cameras at any size. And the in-between analoge size died before the were grown up: Instamatic and APS and 110 etc. etc. I think that the Fuji GFX 50s will become the camera for the "rich" pensionado, who could not buy a Hasselblad during the sixties or the seventies. The GFX is the toy for today's consumer with not enough money to buy a Porsche or a Harley Davidson. Anyway Fujifilm did not listen to the professional photographers. Mr Big Mouth, the self made, not skilled prosumer gots his (non) - medium digital camera. Now noticing, he was penny wise, but pound foolish. He starts whining now. O, please mr. Fujifilm make me optics with very wide apetures, because I need more DOF. Please, make them not too heavy and not too expensive. With small filter mounts, if possible ? The GFX looks like the French Gitroen GS. A brilliant, streamlined car with a weak 1015 cc engine, Less is not always more. Is there anybody home with the 1968 optics of Fuji 690 rangefinder camera. Please ............? Please make me a shift adapter for the GFX-66.

The brand new, pre sale GFX switched off and on without any reason. At a demo in Rotterdam march 2017. Nobody knew why.

Fuji SLR analog is with M42 thread. Light measure: stopping down, the screen gets dark. Fuji SLR analog is with M42 thread plus tab, light measure, screen keeps bright Fuji SLR analog with X bajonet ........................................... Fujifilm X digital with X ( not the same ) bajonet. Ask Fuji in Japan why they changed the X for a different X and you will receive some foolish answers. Pinoccio should not lie ....

Any lens wil do, whenever it fits. Every lens fits, because there are plenty of adapters. Expose correctly. Made a correct composition. Forget the brand of the optic. For APS-C everything from 50 mm till 100 mm. Aperture unimportant. Number of blades of the iris; unimportant. Bokeh is nonsence. Both eyes of the portrait MUST be sharp and the nose, the mouth and the ears. If not go for a real book of portrait photography. A lensshade plus a tripod and the correct background. One light and one reflector. That is all folks.

Not every photo of a human being is a portrait. Maybe a snap shot. Ever seen the photoos of Felix Nadar. Shot at 4 ( FOUR ) ISO. Today's errand boy with a camera is not always a photographer. Beware of Vloggers and Bloggers who make you think they earn their living with a camera.A photographers gots no time to write. Shooting moving people needs more DOF ! So forget wide apertures; stop down to f/11. And do not fear noise; 6400 ISO is no problem. In the sixties and the seventies everybody thought Tri-X had a lot of grain. I have seen the Tri-X enlargements sized 200 x 300 cm, shot in Vietnam with a Nikon and a Leica. At the World Press Photo Expo in the Netherlands.

Panagor Macro 50 mm. Panagor 100 mm. A 100 mm enlager optic mounted on a macro bellow. Close up lens +10 with your standard optic. Pentax 100 mm macro. Anything mounted on a macro bellow !!!!

It is a waist of money !!! The size of the APS-C is for amateurs; most of the time. I do not say "amateurs are bad photographers". A professional tries to earn his living bij making photographs. An amateur makes photoos just for fun. Forget those figures. Enjoy the hobby. Stop talking about good and better. By today's standards the old optics should be bad ? People talk too much. People think bigger is better. All nonsense. In the U.S.A. Full Frame is the standard for the Pro. In Europa Full Frame is the standard for the amateur. Mr. W. Eugene Smith was a great American photographer, even with the tiny Olympus Pen F 18 x 24 mm camera. Show me two identical pictures; made with the two different Fujinon zoom optics. Do the same with a 135 mm optic at 6 x 6 cm neg. and with a 210 mm at 4 x5 inch. Can you see the difference of DOF at 80 x 100 cm enlargements. I never said that a Fujinon optic was bad. Hardly anybody needs the oversized wide apertures. Is not it the same like todays motor cars. Smaller engine with big turbo.

A shift adapter buy it or make one yourself. Mind the image circle. A full frame optic of a analog 24 x 36 SLR wil well do .

I think a zoom optic suits best. With a zoom you can cross the border even to another continent. It is a ridiculous answer to a stupid question. Some photographers in Vietnam a few years ago did not meet this problem. They shot with Leica and Nikon. With simple German or Japanese optics. No DOF problems. Check a You Tube film with music made in the Sixties and admire the top quality of those old photgraphs. Tri-X at 400 or 200 ASA; depends on the press agency. I think people know nothing today. They buy a camera and they think it is easy to press the button. In the American magazin COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY 1968, mr Norman Rothschild wrote an article in which he compaired the quality of photography in the U.S.A to Europa. In Europe the photoschools were controled bij the state, so European photographers were better skilled. In the U.S.A. any buther's servant with a SLR thought himself an artist.

What is the maximum speed of a red Ford Mustang compared to a white Mustang ?

It is not true: the longer the less. Read book on optics. You need more extension. So what ? Good macro and good portrait. Use a close up lens. Close up lenses of the same quality as your specs. Leitz, Zeiss and Minolta made close up lenses. Even for zoom optics !!!

Portraits are made without any hurry. With an analog f/1,4 ( plus an adapter )it is great fun. Or a analog 85, 90 or 100 mm. Saves a lot of money. The old Fujinon 1 ;2,8 - 100 mm ( made in 1976 ) is better than the new 90 mm made in 2016. Printed at 80 x 120 cm in black and white.

You must be out of your mind; a waist of money. Since when DOF is a must. When you look with your own eyes you will see everything in focus. Painting are sharp painted. Except some, the ones they were made bij lazy starters, who copied unsharp photographs. If you need real DOF, buy a 5 x 7 inch view camera with a 360 mm and shoot 25 ISO film