Fujifilm GF 35-70mm f/4.5-5.6: the #1 All-Around Best Lens for Fujifilm Medium Format
Related: Eastern Sierra, Fujifilm, Fujifilm GF 35-70mm f/4.5-5.6 WR, Fujifilm Lenses, Fujifilm medium format, image stitching, medium format, Mt Conness area, panorama, peak bagging, shift lens, tilt shift
Fujifilm GFX100 II | Fujifilm GF 30mm f/5.6 TS | Fujifilm GF 110mm f/5.6 TS | Fujifilm GF 55mm f/1.7 WR.
I am so impressed with the Fujifilm GF 35-70mm f/4.5-5.6—no other lens in its range offers better performance, it is compact and lightweight, etc.
I got mine used for just $500 and it rocks—better value than any other lens I own on any platform. Seriously, it is worth 4X that price if you are a Fujifilm medium format shooter. Actually, IMO it makes the system viable, a system otherwise pretty darn awkward.
Shoot it at f/8 or f/9, get the focus right and you won’t do better with any other lens in its range and likely worse. The trick is getting a good lens sample like mine.
Normally I’d say you might buy a camera for a really special lens. I said that about the Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4 APO-Distagon when it arrived a decade ago. But it was also a fixed focal length and a PITA to lug about. But the GF 35-70mm is in its own class of versatility/portability/solid performance, an unbeatable combination for real-world photography.
Also worthy of praise is just how terrific a job Photoshop does in assembling panoramas.
Below, a 7-frame 300-megapixel panorama assembled wonderfully, excepting one flaw which might not be evident at first glance, and was unavoidable.
Did I get the white balance wrong on some frames here? Nope—that color change is part of the geology of this area. The granite-type bedrock at left has more iron in it and it abuts a fault zone that turns to metamorphic rock.
Subscribers can view the full resolution image at 300 megapixels on the examples page.
Fujifilm GFX100S + Fujifilm GF 35-70mm f/4.5-5.6 WR @ 57.6mm equiv (70mm) RAW: Enhance Details, AI Denoise 10
[low-res image for bot]
