Fujilove Podcast With Billy Luong From The Fuji Guys: Medium Format Global Shutter, Focal Plane Shutter, Product Photography, Film Simulation, Leaf Shutters, Lens Adapters and More


Fuji Love’s fifth interview with Billy Luong was posted and it’s just over an hr long. If you have the time you can listen to the podcast on FujiloveiTunes, and Stitcher. You can find our coverage from the

If you do not have an hr to burn the excerpts covering the whole podcast are below:

  • Intro
    • Jonas Rask and Billy Luong are on
    • No way to shoot multiple film simulations without multiple RAW files
    • Jonas likes to work with ACROS because he can’t recreate them in a RAW editor
    • With the GFX the files are so big that you really don’t need a lot of JPG sitting around on top of them
    • Billy recommends using the Q button to selectively turn RAW files into JPEG
    • Jonas has been getting back into street photography
    • If you’re a real photographer you can capture anything, but he enjoys street the most
  • Jonas Product Photography
    • Jonas started getting involved in Fujifilm launches with the X70
    • Jonas has been shooting Fujifilm product photography since the X70 and Billy likes his work
    • Jonas’ black shots are all on a black linoleum table
    • Jonas still gets excited when he shoots new products
    • Jonas is using the XF60mm f/2.4 for his product photography because it is super sharp and has an almost GFX look to it
    • Jonas uses the GFX50R with 120mm Macro now and 63mm for wider shots
  • Camera Corner – GFX
    • Billy worked with the product planners on the GFX system so he was in the loop early
    • APS-C has the best balance of size/weight/image quality
    • Fujifilm talked about going Full Frame but decided the jump wasnt big enough so GFX was decided on for the ultimate image quality
    • Jonas was kept in the dark about GFX so he was excited like everyone else when it was announced
    • When GFX was announced Jonas thought it wasn’t for him, but then he got the 50S for product photography and he was blown away by the 100% view
    • The GF23mm with a prototype 110mm sold Jonas on the GFX along with adapting classic lenses that cover the sensor
    • Now with the GFX50R and GF50mm Jonas can’t live without GFX
    • The GFX100 has a lot of bleeding-edge 2019 technology compared to the GFX50S and GFX50R
    • GFX is a big leap over XT3 when it comes to resolution
    • GFX can be ridiculously sharp
    • All 3 GFX blow away smaller sensor cameras
    • GF lenses should well out resolve 100MP
    • GFX isn’t for Billy so he has never tried adapting glass for it and his old Mac Book Air cant handle GFX files
    • Billy likes to carry the smallest and lightest camera he can and for right now that’s the X-T30
    • Jonas can’t think of the GFX100 lacking anything because it is the epitome of what camera companies can produce
    • Comparing the GFX100 to other medium format cameras makes the camera’s price seem cheap
    • GFX50R was what made Jonas the most interested in GFX
    • GFX50S isn’t the most beautiful camera, but it feels better in the hand than the GFX50R
    • The use of a focal plane shutter let users adapt glass, but it takes up a lot of space inside the body
    • When global shutter becomes available Fujifilm will be able to create a lot more compact and interesting designs
    • Hasselblad X1D is small because the shutter is in the lenses
    • No comment about Fujifilm working on leaf shutters
    • The GF50mm f/3.5 is largely designed for the GFX50R
    • Jonas had the 50mm f/3.5 for a few months and he fell in love with it
    • The GF50mm makes the GF63mm feel bulky
    • The GF50mm has very fast AF
    • Jonas is liking the 40mm equivalence focal length especially since it has the qualities of the 50mm
    • Fujifilm’s 16-80mm gives you 24-122 equivalency along with 6-stops of optical image stabilization
    • Billy thinks the 16-80mm will be very popular for video because it is very quiet and fast with a smooth focus ring and little focus breathing
    • The 16-80mm f/4 is very light and portable, which makes it a great all-around lens
  • Tip Corner
    • Everyone should turn on the horizon level
    • Fujifilm now has two options for their in-camera level, one is a horizon level that just turns green when it is flat and now more recent cameras have a 3D level that gives you horizontal and vertical leveling
    • The 3D level has to be assigned to a function button and Fujifilm largely sets it to a swipe function
    • Everyone on the podcast uses the level all the time
  • Lens adapters
    • There are some AF adapters that actually work quite well
    • Sigma Art lenses cover the GFX well
    • Adapters give your images an extra bit of something that can’t be recreated
    • Old glass generally cant resolve high megapixels, but they look great
    • There are a lot of dumb and smart adapters out there
    • GFX has a Hasselblad adapter that will fire leaf shutters and they have a view camera adapter that works well with bellows
    • Fujifilm has worked with Kipon, Fotodiox, and Metabones to make their adapters communicate well with Fujifilm bodies
    • Others like Tech Art have just reverse-engineered Fujifilm’s system
    • Jonas started with Tech Art and is now using Kipon

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 B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
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