09.08.2021

GFX50S II: "More than Full Frame" x Junji Takasago

GFX50S II Impression

Historical moments that will never be seen again, or precious pictures that were obtained by encountering rare opportunities through hard work, are in a sense a different field of photography from, for example, the mass production of pictures on SNS. However, even with such precious photos, the mainstream media that people use to see them is the LCD screen of their smartphones and computers, and the hundreds of thousands or millions of photos that are updated on SNS every day are seen by people as if they were on the fastest conveyor belt.

Just as I was feeling uncomfortable about this change in the world of photography, I came across a large format camera. The sound of the shutter release and the slightly heavy vibration in my hand gave me the joyful feeling that I had indeed captured a precious image with great detail.
First, I took a picture of a flower. I was honestly surprised when I pressed the playback button after shooting and saw a part of the flower enlarged to a high magnification. It looked as if there was a real big flower in the LCD screen.

GFX50S II & GF23mmF4 R LM WR

Although the image was supposed to be made up of fine dots, there was no sense of dots in the enlarged flower, and the smooth texture of the petals seemed to exist as it was.

GFX50S II & GF23mmF4 R LM WR

GFX50S II & GF120mmF4 R LM OIS WR Macro

“I can enjoy my work slowly in a place other than the fast-paced world of photography.” Such a pleasant feeling filled my heart. I wanted to take a picture, enlarge it and be amazed, and then take another picture, enlarge it and enjoy it. I enjoyed taking pictures slowly, feeling the response one by one.

GFX50S II & GF30mmF3.5 R WR

GFX50S II & GF120mmF4 R LM OIS WR Macro

GFX50S II & GF23mmF4 R LM WR

The film Simulation also added to the atmosphere of the photo shoot. I see the light, and consider the contrast with the intention of creating the final data when I faced the subject in each shot. As I continued to do this, I began to look at my subjects more seriously, and I felt the adrenaline of the film days, when I would take a single shot on the spot.

GFX50S II & GF32-64mmF4 R LM WR

When I hold the GFX50S II in my hands, the feeling is similar to that of holding a medium format film camera, but the actual size of the camera itself is not large at all. The lens is a bit large, but the camera body itself is similar to the grip of a full frame SLR camera. In my case, most of my shooting is done in the ocean or mountains, so I appreciate the fact that I can enjoy creating such detailed images one by one with a camera of such size.

GFX50S II & GF250mmF4 R LM OIS WR

GFX50S II & GF23mmF4 R LM WR

The GFX50S II, with its large format in a not-so-large body, has made it possible to create works of profound image quality even in the outdoors, giving us a taste of the true joy of creating works of art and showing us another exciting direction that is different from the world of photography in the age of SNS.

GFX50S II & GF23mmF4 R LM WR