Fujifilm Photography News and Rumors

The 2017 Solar Eclipse will go down as the most photographed eclipse of all time for obvious reasons, but this is also the first with mirrorless medium format cameras in so many photographers hands. I previously shared my rig with readers so you could pick it apart and tweak your systems for the eclipse, but now I am sharing something truly unique, a 7 image stack that shows the moon during totality. When I assembled my solar eclipse rig I planned on stacking images to gain as much detail as possible and thought this shot might be possible, but I was not sure if it would work since I have never seen it before. It is why I put time into getting tracking perfected at the last moment. I figured most photographers were going to get tradition shots, but I wanted to see what the Fujifilm GFX 50S‘ dynamic range could do, and it didn’t disappoint.

I am not a big photo stacking/HDR editor so I am going to have to work on my editing some, but this is my first attempt and I am amazed at the detail the GFX can attain. In addition, I have many of the traditional shots, and some non-traditional shots from the eclipse to share. I will be sharing these photos on  500PX and Instagram in the future and if you have any tips on photo stacking feel free to reach out. The entire experience has been a bit of an overwhelming one with DepotMSA and Me driving 12hr up and 16hrs back just so I could edit my photos properly, but this event was not over sold in the slightest, so I have no regrets. Having the world around you go black for a few minutes in the middle of the day is a wild experience and the sight of the eclipse is breathtaking. Given the opportunity to do it again I would gladly chase an eclipse like this again anywhere in the world with the knowledge gained from this experience.

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Believe it or not, there are a few Fujifilm GFX photographers looking to capture the Solar eclipse this year and we are actively discussing our plans in the Fujifilm GFX Owners Group. Some are using full frame adapted glass to gain the reach needed despite the 0.78x crop factor, while I chose to go a more traditional route. The Hasselblad Telephoto 500mm f/8 CF Zeiss Tele-Apotessar Lens, but I didn’t stop there because I wanted to fill more of the frame I found a Hasselblad Zeiss Mutar 2X Teleconverter T* CF to provide 1000mm of reach (780mm after reverse crop). This is mounted via a FotodioX Hasselblad V Lens to Fujifilm G-Mount Camera Pro Lens Mount Adapter to my Fujifilm GFX 50S and it is rock solid!

I then picked up a LEE Filters Hasselblad 93 Adapter Ring for my LEE Filters 100mm System Deluxe Landscape Starter Kit along with the LEE Filters 100x100mm Solar Eclipse Filter (which can be purchased with the foundation kit). This should give me all the reach and resolution necessary to capture the event. I can see Sun spots pretty clearly, which is a good sign and there is no chromatic abbreviation to be seen.

If you are lucky you can use a pro photo shop like B&H to build your ultimate GFX Solar or even deep sky Astro rig because it quickly becomes a very complex setup including a specific assembly/disassembly procedure (so you don’t trigger the lenses shutter and have to wind it manually with a screwdriver). Pro photo shops can help you learn about some of the more nuanced stuff, especially if you aren’t familiar with Hasselblad gear. My lens and teleconverter can be incredibly hard to come by, but they are worth the effort in my opinion because my super-telephoto solution completely covers the GFX sensor. Read More »