For this video, we traveled to Idaho to meet Thomas Shahan, a macro photography enthusiast and bug expert. We took the 50MP Fujifilm GFX 50S, a couple of flashes and a selection of lenses including the 120mm F4 Macro short telephoto prime.
During a busy day, Thomas showed us how to prepare for a macro shoot, and shared some tips for getting great shots using a variety of simple techniques.
But it's pretty difficult to justify the price of a such system compare to a FF DSLR + Macro... Waiting/looking at upcoming release. Maybe a 60mm (FF 40mm) Pancake :-).
Go Fuji, do not forget to integrate an even better EVF in your cameras
However, sometime disappointed by the lens price, also they seem to move the production to Philippine.. I usually care to not support such thing.
For Macro you don't need anything else than 1:1 lens. That is the thing. Macro is always at least 1:1 magnification, it means that the subject in front of the lens is same size projected to other side of the lens (the sensor/film).
Macro is nothing about specific size or equivalence etc. Only about 1:1 magnification at least.
So, 8x10 format that capture the full person face, is a macro lens when it is 1:1.
Sure you don't capture "full frame bug" but that isn't the definition of the macro lens.
So once you get the 1:1 lens for the MF, it becomes macro.
If Fuji offers only 1:2 then it ain't a macro but just close-up lens.
A 2700 USD Lens plus a 6500 USD camera that can't be used in macrophotography... I'm a proud owner of a Canon Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x and of a M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 60mm 1:2.8 MACRO With The first one I can do 1-5x macro (5DS) WIth The second one I can do Focus Stacking "on the fly" (EM1-MKii) Have fun ! Aven PS: A an Fuji X-Pro 2 Owner, I'm still waiting for a real Fuji X Macro lens...
I got the Oshiro 60mm macro f2.8 on my Canon EOS M5. For 179 USD it does a very decent job, even does 2x mag on the macro. It can focus at infinity too but I use it for macro 95% of the time. I got the Timack RF-600D LED ring light for 31 USD and it too works surprisingly well. It isn't necessary to break the bank to do real macro.
@Barney: Not just spiders but also camel spiders, whip scorpions, pseudoscorpions, scorpions, mites, ticks, hooded tickspiders, etc... all are arachnids. Many people make mistake them as insects.
This is a point of view issue. Humans like to make categories of everything. So humans decided how they will categorize various other living things. Humans don't think spiders are insects. But what do the spiders think? Oh, and the insects?
Unnecessary apology for offensive post: Insects are in fact spider lunch. I made a mistake there. Please don't twitter-assasinate me because I am spidersplaining.
This is no hate or trolling, but I guess a 1:1 Makro on fullframe has more sensor-area covered with the desired animal than a (cropped) Mediumformat with 1:2.
Don't get me wrong, this is nothing against the GFX, but the lense should have been a real 1:1 Macro. It's no magic to build after 40 years Zenza Bronica 105PE 4.5 1:1 :( And this even covers full 645-sensorsize.
i used to shoot video for a living, i know how hard it is to write a script and narrate it after the fact, and to me this clip was done pretty well... congrats.
if i won the lottery, i'd be all over mirrorless fuji mf :-)
Meanwhile, Fuji X shooters are still waiting for a proper OIS macro lens. I waited a few years and then last year they cancelled the macro - stating it was too big. So they put a 80mm on the road map instead - which still does not exist as all the love went to the new system. I gave up waiting and switched systems over six months ago since I do love close up work and Fuji lenses are generally poor for this. Never looked back.
Interesting selection of topic for a sponsored video. Here you are next to the Sawtooths with some of the grandest scenics in North America which this camera is too die for and you publish a macro video. Medium Format with its tight depth of field is certainly not the best medium to capture macros...all said I did enjoy the work.
We found that the GFX and 120mm combination was surprisingly versatile, actually. I agree it's not necessarily the most obvious combination, but I was very pleased with how the images came out.
The depth of field argument is silly. If you need more DOF, you close down the aperture, that's all.
Fuji in general is not the best for macro because of lack of macro lenses, not because of depth of field. I don't know what it is with Fuji and 1:1 magnification. x0.5 is what one would expect from a macro labeled zoom, not a prime lens. There's no dedicated first-party lighting system for macro either, as far as I know. And no focus bracketing in-camera.
If you compare x1.25 you can get on 4/3 sensor with x0.5 magnification on MF sensor, the gap is simply huge and even those 50 megapixels can't close it.
But probably not everyone needs to go down to 1:1.
Others such as @panther fan have pointed out the limitation of the Fujifilm GFX 50S and 120mm f4 macro lens for this type of macro photography, as that at minimum focus distance this gives a frame width of 88mm. To put this into perspective my Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS L II on my 80D will give a frame width of 72mm at minimum focus. One of my 1:1 macro lenses will give a frame width of 22.3mm, and my Canon MP-E 65mm f2.8 has a minimum frame width of 4.6mm at minimum focus.
As an experienced macro photographer of invertebrates, I always think in terms of frame width, rather than reproduction ratios. Self-evidently the Fujifilm GFX 50S isn't very practical for the type of photography Thomas Shahan does (which is probably why he uses an APS-C body).
The video was fun, and Thomas is a great macro photographer, but this camera and lens isn't very practical for general invertebrate photography. Having said that it would be great for larger insects if anyone wants to donate one.
Steb, I agree with you. I have been using the nex7 aps-c 24mp with the micro nikkor 105mm f4 ais for insect photography and can fill the frame with the subject fairly easy. I bought last week an a7r full frame and had to add some extra macro rings and had to get a lot closer to the subject. I used a few times the 2x tele converter to get a 210mm macro 1:1 to fill the frame from a reasonable distance with strong fill in flash to ensure I can stop down and prevent movement blur. And the main issue is less depth of field. I did manage some good pictures but had to crop them more. I will try both and see which one I will continue using for hand held macro photos of small lively critters.
I know there is no actual bug in the video. Beatles [wich are Insects, just like true bugs, the Heteroptera], millipedes and spiders are in the class of the Arthropod, commonly called bugs.
Thanks for a fun video. As it happens, i just started photographing insects round the neighborhood this weekend. Macrophotography is some the most fun you can have -every shot is a trip to another world. It's nice to see that even experienced shooters have to fight a bit to get enough DOF. I'm going to try some diffusers next time, and maybe grab some coloring paper.
great video but it just has to be said: GFX 120mm F4 is 2:1 -> resulting in a minimum image size of 88mmx66mm compared to the usuall 36mmx24mm of FF 1:1 macro lenses that is quite large.
Hi, 1:1 means the size of the sensor / capture area is equal to the size of the subject. As the size of the sensor in this camera is larger than "FF" I would say yoir assertion is not entirely correct..
Are you sure? As I've understood it so far, the magnification ratio did not depend on sensor size. It just means that if something is 1mm in reality will have a 2mm large image projected onto the sensor.
@liviutza, @role_of_72 - you are kind of both right, just phrasing it different.
The correct definition, is the one role_of_72 said: For a 1:1 macro lens, a 1mm object will project 1mm on the sensor. (For "FF" that translates as a 36x24 square fills the entire sensor) ... so yes can say that for a 1:1 lens the object will projected at "real size" on the sensor.
For the fuji sensor ... 1:1 would mean that 44x33 mm object will fit the screen. Since it's only 1:2, if means half of that, so it's the size @panther mentioned: a 88x66mm object will fill the sensor (at the closest focusing distance).
Agree, with the note that the correct - kind of conventional but that makes correct in this case - is 1:2 rather than 2:1 as in the original post; my Canon MP-E65 goes to 5:1 from 1:1 for example, meaning it can put 1 mm of "reality" on 5 mms of sensor, so to speak.
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