6 minute read

Bring Back the Feeling

How FUJINON GF80mmF1.7 R WR brought pro wedding photographer Paul von Reiter back to his vision of portrait perfection

Can a lens really make you feel something? Each optic has its own distinct qualities, with some naturally fitting your own vision more than others. But can a connection be even more than that? Can it somehow be closer and more emotional? With the release of FUJINON GF80mmF1.7 R WR, that connection could be a reality. The new lens has certainly made wedding and portrait pro, Paul von Reiter, a happy man. “I’m extraordinarily excited about what it’s going to bring to my photography,” he smiles. “It brings features to the GF Lens lineup that I’ve desired for a long time. But beyond that, there’s something else. It makes me feel like I’m coming home.”

Having spent several days with the new lens, using it with various portrait subjects and mimicking his usual work, GF80mmF1.7 is clearly a big hit with Paul, but what does ‘coming home’ really mean? And how will it affect his portrait work going forward? “Well, this lens is like the missing piece of the puzzle for me,” he explains. “It’s the kind of lens that really defined my vision and built my business. It’s one that I’ve been wishing would appear in the GFX system for as long as I’ve used these amazing cameras.”

When Paul first started out with photography, he was committed to using a fast prime. “It was vital in refining my vision. And on top of that, I like to use light in an aggressive way. As I was using 35mm format at the time, I chose a 50mm F1.4. That perspective is still how I see things, really. It’s a human view; a flat view, without distortion. It lets me work with light in exactly the way that I want. If you were to boil down my photographic style, it’s light and airy, requiring a very fast lens,” he outlines.

“Of course, I’m not alone in that. In my industry, we love wide-open lenses, because their focus fall-off and narrow depth-of-field flatter subjects and photographers. They can fix skin issues; they can fix backgrounds, and easily isolate subjects for greater impact. That means you can take a fast lens and photograph a wedding that’s next to a train station or a factory and just rely on the available light. And with GF80mmF1.7 being the fastest GF Lens so far, it’s definitely going to be well received!”

Paul’s journey took another stylistic turn in 2011, as he began to use film in addition to digital cameras through a hybrid approach. “I embraced creating in medium format film at weddings,” he recalls. “That opened up a whole new world for me. It brought a clear look to the work and my clients were really responsive.

Though he looks back on this early style in an almost nostalgic way, Paul is certain that the same stylistic influences remain today. “In fact, the wedding industry is very heavily influenced by that filmic look right now. But while using medium format film is attractive and popular for wedding photographers, people are also realizing that it’s very expensive. They don’t want to spend $25,000 a year on lab bills! For that reason, lots of us have been looking around for something that emulates this special look in the digital world. And for me, alongside FUJIFILM GFX100S, the missing piece is the GF80mmF1.7,” he enthuses.

“Allied with Fujifilm’s digital work in terms of its Film Simulation modes, you’re able to add a classic and distinctive personality to your images. There is zero reason for me to create using film now. I can make images that look the same – and that have the same kind of intangible feel to them; a sort of richness – that I wasn’t able to create using any other system before.”

Previously, Paul has worked with some impressive lenses, relying mainly on FUJINON GF110mmF2 R LM WR. However, he feels GF80mmF1.7 has raised the bar even higher. “There’s no denying that GF110mmF2 is an incredible lens – I’ve made some amazing images with it – but my intuition is based on something a little wider, and now I can compose without even thinking about it! GF80mmF1.7’s compression and rendering of the background are very different. The bokeh is larger, and like each GF Lens, the fall-off is quite something,” he says. “In comparison, a lot of other modern-day digital lenses do this thing where they go from 0 to 1000 in terms of fall-off, but I don’t want that. I want a more natural-looking, fluid, and slower transition from sharp to defocused. This new lens gives me that.”

On top of its classical aesthetic – in combination with the advanced features of FUJIFILM GFX100 and GFX100S – according to Paul, the lens is also highly versatile. “Some of the stuff I created using GF80mmF1.7 included moving subjects,” he explains. “Thanks to its unerring autofocus and eye tracking, each image was perfectly sharp where I wanted. I mean, if you’re opened up at F1.7, that’s useful even when both you and the subject are trying to stay still, because the depth-of-field is so shallow. But in this case, I had a bride running towards me, while I was backing away. It’s incredible to get that kind of performance at those wide-open apertures.”

Summing up his time with GF80mmF1.7, Paul says: “This is going to be an indispensable lens on many levels. For starters, if you have a GFX camera or you’re thinking about getting one, it’s incredibly versatile: you get amazing image quality, as thin a depth-of-field as you want, and the ability to get perfect focus even wide open. It’s a great lens working in low light and, despite all that, it’s very portable. Not to mention, you can use it across almost any subject. It’s going to help people compose better, and it’ll let them create real art.”

Photo © Paul von Rieter | FUJIFILM GFX100 camera and GF80mmF1.7 R WR lens, 1/2500 sec at F1.7, ISO 125

The lens is also going to have a significant impact on Paul’s work. “It bridges the gap between film and digital in a very meaningful way. Coupled with GFX100S and Film Simulation modes, it’s set to disrupt the wedding market, because it’s going to help professionals make images in a style that, commercially at least, makes film redundant. Wedding pros are attracted to the idea of film because it makes the workflow easier and lenses give them narrow depth-of-field, beautiful bokeh, and perfect fall-off. But GF80mmF1.7 does all those things and even more besides. It’s going to make a huge splash, and for me, it completes the GFX system.”

FUJINON GF80mmF1.7 R WR is now available at your nearest FUJIFILM Authorized Dealer. Learn more and read the full specifications here.


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