05 Not about the gear
When I had the idea for this blog in the first place, I knew that it would take me down a rabbit hole of one of my favorite topics, new gear. This blog will not be a place to do any kind of head-to-head testing that would be valuable for anyone but me. I know that there’s more to photography than the sensor size, and for that matter any single piece of equipment, but I think it’s about the experience!
To get out there and allow the camera and lens become a greater extension of your senses is exactly what I hope to improve. I first need to develop my vision then worry about exposure, focus, framing, conditions, and post processing.
Ansel took many cameras out over the course of his lifetime, to include what he called “small format” that we now know as 35mm film. But this is one of his mules carrying a much larger load for his large format setups and likely blackroom equipment.
I think that as long as your gear helps you to convey what you have in your mind in the first place to the frame taken, then it’s a better result (for you). It reduces the friction from ideal state to reality. This is as true for musicians and painters as it is for photography. If the pencil, brush, or instrument helps you convey what you want, then regardless of the particular features it is a better experience.
As such, I knew that Ansel often shot on large format film cameras. As such, it is natural for me to at least consider other options. And to avoid diving too deeply into the details I’m going to focus almost primarily on the sensor size for the purposes of this discussion of equipment.
To date, I’ve been shooting on a full frame Nikon Z7ii. This is a 45.7Megapixel (MB) camera that I shoot in lossless Raw format. It is a monster in its own right and I think has more to give than I will ever utilize. I’ve been shooting Nikon for over 12 years.
Without getting into a debate about vendors and other options, I have found that this is what I know, what I’m familiar, and the gear that I can get to work when the pressure is really on, like a family group shot.
However, I’d be remiss if I didn’t look at other options that are out there, and before I jumped into the large format cameras that were in use by Ansel that literally required mules to drag around, I wanted to explore my options for a medium format.
The picture to the right is the Fujifilm GFX 100S. It is a meaty 100MP sensor in a single-grip DSLR styled body. As it is more than twice the resolving power of my go-to Nikon, I think it’s worth a look here.
It’s hard to tell here, but the Fuji GFX100s is huge compared to the Nikon (14-24 f/2.8). I’m not going to quote specs, or dive really into much of the details, only to say that this camera feels good when you pick it up. The metal lens (23mm prime) is stout, and the buttons and menu’s are right where I hoped they would be. I have only had the camera a few days, and this blog entry will show my very first few frames taken with the camera.
The sensor is huge, but it packs all these incredible features in a simple, and easy device. The primary downsides of this camera for me are that it is much heavier than my mirrorless full frame, the files are much larger (200Mb each), and the battery goes quick.
Nikon Full Frame on the left, Fuji Medium Format on the right
Here you can actually see the sensor size difference and lens mount difference.
So what?
I understand that the real difference comes from cropping and printing large….like really large. I don’t think that this will make me better, but it may give access to something i haven’t seen before. I’m willing to explore and continue to learn more. This new rented camera and lens go back in a week, and I will continue to play with, learn more and explore what options exist out there. To be honest, it might be a more interesting comparison of the full frame camera against modern iPhone cameras, but I’ll leave that for another day.
Below are some shots taken of the Golden Gate Bridge taken from the northern side in the Marin Headlands (rather than the south at Baker Beach that Ansel Took. ) The Baker Beach photo will also have to wait for another day:
Fujifilm GFX100s 23mm f/11 1/100 sec directly out of the camera
Nikon z7ii 135mm f/11 1/40 sec
Head to head below was a really tough thing to do. The light was changing incredibly rapidly as the sun was in fact setting behind me. These pictures were only taken about 90 seconds apart, but the whole sky changes in that same time. The Medium Format Fuji is first, and full frame Nikon is second. Obviously this isn’t about the art below, but the details are where the differences really show. I also have no idea what this website does with image compression on different devices. I’ve taken the 200Mb Raw file and converted it to a lossy jpg file, then uploaded it here for your viewing, and depending on how are looking at this may be a different experience (foreshadowing to a future blog post about printing).
While this is a far from scientific test, and there are millions of other pages dedicated to do this, I wanted to see the delta for myself. It’s enough of a difference for me to strongly consider going the medium format route.