Two big camera announcements recently. Fuji dropped the other shoe about the GFX 50S, giving us prices, and an approximate start-of-shipments date of the end of February. In addition, they announced an adapter for Hasselblad H-series lenses (which are actually made by Fuji), and another one for view-camera lenses. The H-series adapter does not support autofocus, but does trip (and presumably, cock) the leaf shutters in those lenses, and controls the diaphragm.
That, together with what appear to be interminable delays with the Hasselblad mirrorless camera using a similar – if not identical — 33x44mm CMOS sensor, was enough to push me over the edge. I signed onto the waiting list. I have H-series lenses that I don’t use because my ancient H2D-39 is the newest ‘blad I own. Since I want to see how the native lenses compare to the H-series ones, I ordered the native 120/4 macro, which I’ll test with the H-series 120/4 macro.
The other big announcement was the Leica M10. Like Microsoft with OS naming, Leica is returning to its traditional numbering system. The new camera is a solid step forward in many ways: smaller, lighter, faster, a supposedly better sensor when used with M-series lenses. But it does not continue the direction towards mirrorless started with the M240. It still has an external live view finder, albeit a better one than the laggy, blurry M240 EVF. That may have been – marginally – OK when the M240 shipped (the RX1 did the same thing), but time moves on. No, Leica is doubling down on the M10’s rangefinderness. If you like rangefinders a lot, that’s a good thing. I don’t I tolerate the parallax, the dodgy focusing for lenses longer than 50 mm, the mechanical fragility, the need for external optical finders for short lenses, etc, but I don’t like it, and I consider the a7RII a better camera for use with all but short M lenses than the M240. The M10 doesn’t improve the M10’s resolution, either. 24 MP is fine for many purposes, but the great Leica glass deserves better.
So I think I’m gonna sit this one out. While I know I’d like the M10 better than my M240, I don’t think I would use it much, and $7K (with the EVF) is too much for the little use it would see in my hands.
So, look for a GFX 50S review in – I hope – March.
But don’t hold your breath waiting for the M10 piece.
The Fuji X100T has a very interesting viewfinder. EVF as nice as my 7R ii but also selectable to be true optical RF and optical RF with EVF center inset magnified view for focus. However, standard hood obscures part of the optical view. through RF.
Cambo tells me there will be an Actus configuration for the GFX, which also opens up some interesting lens options.
Michael