Madeira
Where do you bring a camera such as the GFX100RF? – A camera that has been designed ground up to be as versatile as possible, while delivering the best possible image quality from its medium format sensor. That was the question that I found myself having to answer back in November of 2024.
That November day in Prague, I had just been handed two prototypes of a camera that I myself 5 years back had bluntly requested Fujifilm to make. “Why don’t you make a medium format X100 type camera?” – I remember shouting from the back of a room full of fellow photographers, developers and product managers in 2019 in Stockholm. And now 5 years later I was sitting with it in my hands. A surreal experience in all its essence.
I remember pulling it from the rather inconspicuous bubble wrapping, just looking at the small size footprint, the ultra sharp edges, the minimalist design language, the clear reference to the X100 series, as well as the X-E series. It was all there. Just like I had hoped the product would be those years ago.
Later that afternoon my mind was already starting to form ideas on what to do with it to really test out its capabilities. It was clear from the large aspect ratio dial placed front and center at the top back of the camera, that Fujifilm intended it to be a true multipurpose/multi-format camera.
Obviously I really wanted to test out the GFX100RF as a street photography camera, since that is what I really love to photograph. But at the same time I really wanted to use it as a landscape camera. Really harnessing the wide focal length as well as the ability to compose in multiple formats.
Combining those two genres of photography actually wasn’t too hard. Theres actually already a genre of photography that blends these two together quite nicely.
Travel photography. – The perfect way to use a compact, all in one, multi-purpose super camera.
I researched many possible locations all over the globe, but I wanted to honor the fact that I reside in Europe, hence I wanted to photograph somewhere in Europe. Being that the wintertime in Denmark and Northern Europe tends to be as dark as night, I needed to look further south.
I finally settled on a small island just off the northern coast of Africa that is an autonomous part of Portugal.
Madeira – Every time I looked at photographs and videos from that place, I was blown away.
Rugged cliffs bordering gorgeous blue waves, mountainsides covered in lush green vegetation, mountain peaks with cloud inversion sunset views and enchanting fog-ridden mystical forests.
This place seemed too good to be true. And I figured it would be the perfect place to bring the GFX100RF.
Madeira is a 740.7 km2 (286 square miles) large island created at the top of a massive shield volcano that rises about 6 km (20,000 ft) from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, on the Tore underwater mountain range. It’s situated 520km from the African coast. The total population is around 260.000 people. As defined by the Portuguese constitution and other laws, Madeira possesses its own political and administrative statute and has its own government.
The capital is the city of Funchal, with a population of just about 106.000 inhabitants.
The island was settled by Portuguese people, especially farmers from the Minhoregion, meaning that Madeirans, as they are called, are ethnically Portuguese, though they have developed a distinct regional identity and cultural traits.
When looking for accommodation I chose to stay in the northern part of the island. Although supposedly less sunny, and more rainy, the climate on Madeira is a microclimate, and there are multiple microclimates across the island, which is absolutely crazy given its rather small size. I would definitely recommend staying on this side of the island since there is a lot less tourism than on the southern coast. Most of the more famous viewpoints and geographical attractions are also spread across the northern and middle part of the island, so staying in that area is a great way to economize travel time. Almost everywhere is reachable by car, although you have to like driving narrow windy mountain roads.
Before leaving home there were a few key vistas that I really wanted to photograph. The most intriguing being the mystery Fanal forrest. Situated on a mountain side, it’s often found almost hidden in a huge layer of fog. When we arrived it was clear that it wasn’t just fog, it was actually extreme mist, combined with rather fresh wind conditions. Everywhere was moist and soaked in water. Everything was lush and green, but the trees stood majestic and bare to the stems, making them seem like giant bonsai type trees. Bent by time and wind.
It was one of the most beautiful and surreal places I have ever visited. Like stepping into a place described in old fairytales and sorcery stories.
The GFX100RF was perfect for this environment. With the lenshood and filter in place the camera is completely weather resistant, and I didn’t have to worry about it taking damage from the heavy misty rain. I wanted to really showcase the fog and the mystery trees while introducing human elements for scale as well as context. I did a series of pure black and white images using the Acros+Green film simulation with the highlights at +4 and shadows at +4 to get maximum contrast into the images. I think it worked really well.
The microclimate on Madeira really became apparent when we descended from the foggy misty mountain and down to the seaside. In a matter of a 10 minute car drive we went from foggy, windy, misty 12 degree weather, to sunny clear skies, 22 degrees and perfect surf conditions.
We made a stop at the side of the road, and watched as the surfers entered the water and rode the waves. Probably my favorite photograph from this entire trip was taken there. A surfer, watching the big wave rolling in, clenching the rock beneath him with his bare feet. It was one of those moments that just happen out of nowhere, and the only way to capture it is by having a camera with you at all times. Slung over your shoulder ready to shoot.
Another point of interest that I really wanted to photograph was the Miradouro do Guindaste. It’s a spot that is best photographed at sunrise where the sun rises to the east casting it’s rays parallel to the rugged cliffs of the northern shore. There’s a small natural cliff that you can venture out onto to get completely uninterrupted views, or as I did – threw my travel photography buddy
Casper onto the ledge in front of my lens to, again, try to get that sense of scale by introducing a human element in these vast landscapes. We had to get up early for this one, and the weather decided to play along, giving us the perfect sunrise. Not many people were there other than us, but from what I’ve heard we were quite lucky with that.
The lens on the GFX100RF is a newly developed 35mm f/4 lens. On a medium format GFX sensor it gives a field of view similar to that of a 28mm lens on a full frame system. This means that it’s wide enough to capture these magnificent vistas in their full glory. But in addition the camera has a newly designed “crop lever” right below the shutter button. The amazing 102 megapixel sensor allows for Fujifilm to design a system where you can “live crop” into either 45mm, 63mm or 80mm focal lengths. This was very nice in this scenario where I wanted to compress the scene so as to “pull in” the scenario in the distance behind Casper on the frontmost ledge. It’s so easy, and it truly is like having 4 virtual focal lengths In one tiny camera. This once again underlines that this camera was designed to be the ultimate multi-purpose camera.
In addition to photographing all the beautiful landscapes, we also went to the the capital Funchal for a couple of days so I could try and get into some street photography. The citizens of Funchal are super kind, and taking pictures here is both fun and rewarding. The warm color tones and high contrast of the sunlight is so beautiful in this part of the world, and doing high contrast street photography is something that I really like to do.
The GFX100RF is fast in this type of street scenario. I often found myself forgetting that I wasn’t using my X100VI, but actually a medium format camera! The leaf shutter lens, the fast autofocus and especially the face detection makes it so easy capturing fast moving people in the street even at close range when people walked towards me. There’s quite frankly nothing like this camera in the medium format market.
The bucket list moment that I really wanted to do on Madeira was to witness the sun setting over the clouds while standing on the peaks in the central part of the island. The three tallest peaks on Madeira are the Pico Ruiva at 1862m, Pico Das Torres at 1847m and Pico do Arieiro at 1818m
The easiest one to get to is definitely Pico do Arieriro. You can drive by car literally to the side of the radar station situated at the top of the pico. In the surrounding areas there are multiple hiking routes as well as semi paved trails so everyone no matter their physical ability can enjoy these magnificent views.
We tried to time it as best we could with regards to the weather, but we ended up just taking a chance a going to the peak. And we got lucky! – We drove all the way up the mountain through the heavy fog of the low hanging clouds, and 300m from the top we cleared the clouds, and found ourselves looking across a landscape that I still really can’t describe with words.
In addition to using the different aspect ratios for different expressions of this landscape, I also harvested the insane resolving power of the 35mm f/4 lens combined with the GFX100F 102mp sensor. I took an image of a mountain ridge covered in clouds, only to find out when I got home that I had captured a tiny hiker on the mountain ledge in the distance. I can’t wait to get that image printed.
We spent a good 2,5 hours at the peak photographing every possible scenario. And just like that the sun went down and sky gradient turned darker and darker.
Using the GFX100RF on a trip such as this one, and having it perform absolutely flawlessly might be the perfect testament to how versatile a camera it is. In all its essence it’s indeed a true multiformat camera.
