Approaches to Photography

There are different ways to go about taking (or capturing, why do I dislike that term?) photos. I mean this in terms of the approach one could take with respect to lens choice(s). Multiple primes, one or two zooms, or a single prime.

With my Fuji GFX I use a number of these different approaches. My favorite versatile setup is a Tamron Olympus mount zoom I adapt to the GFX.

All images are scaled for web display to about FHD.

Tamron 70-210mm f4.5

This one is a very nice zoom lens. It is very sharp and a joy to work with and it covers a lot of ground in landscape work. I shoot it with the 35mm crop and with the GFX 50s ii I still get 30 Mpix image size. Below are a few examples.

If I had to travel with two lenses I would add my GFX 35-70mm f4.5/5.6 ‘kit’ lens. This would cover nicely the lower end. These two lenses are very light so they travel well.

Olympus 135mm f2.8

By far and away my favorite way to shoot however is with a single prime. This is especially true when I am out on a hike or with someone else. When I don’t want the faff of changing lenses then the single lens is ideal.

The single prime creates for me a creative challenge in terms of subject selection and composition. I think the challenge keeps the hobby fresh and improves my work.

For my Fuji GFX the hands-down favorite lens is an Olympus Zuiko 135mm f2.8. They tend to be priced a little high as they have always enjoyed a great reputation. Again I adapt it to my Fuji GFX and set for a 35mm crop.

It makes for a compact lightweight setup for medium telephoto. It excels at intimate landscape. The wide aperture is very sharp and the lens has excellent contrast. At f2.8 the bokeh is very pleasing. This helps when separating subjects in a complex scene. (Click into these galleries to see larger versions of the photos.)

Fujifilm GF500 f5.6

Recently I purchased this monster of a native lens. It is traditionally considered a birding/wildlife lens but I thought I could also find good results with my landscape work. Consistent with my belief in a single prime I have left this on my camera for the past few weeks as the only lens I have shot.

It takes some time getting used to a new lens in a single prime setup and this one was no different. However I found it exceeds my expectations. I shoot it mostly handheld (I had to upgrade my tripod ball-head owing to the weight.) and at 5.6 it is sharp enough to satisfy. Image stabilization helps with slower shutter speeds.

My other trick in low light, is to shoot a stop underexposed knowing I can add the stop back in post with no degradation in image quality. This seems counterintuitive, however this buys a stop of either shutter speed for better image stability or a stop of aperture for a sharper image/depth of field.

It also has a very short near focus of about 10ft. This gives me some great near/far capability. Coupled with a 50 Mpix sensor I can then get some marvelous crops as well. Below the top of the peak and eagle are crops.