Flâneur à Paris – A day with the new FUJIFILM GFX100RF
When I held the FUJIFILM GFX100RF in my hand for the first time, I couldn’t believe it. This was supposed to be a medium format camera? So small, so light?
I had the opportunity to realize a project with the GFX100RF and put the camera through its paces. Together with my colleague David Klammer, who accompanied me as videographer, I travelled to Paris. I wanted to walk along the banks of the Seine, on the same route that had been staged so grandly and brilliantly for the opening of the 2024 summer Games. I wanted to see what everyday life was like to the right and left of the river. Just stroll along and see what I came across. The GFX100RF seemed to me to be the right camera for this project – light, handy and ready for the surprises and adventures of a foreign city.
I chose the darkest time of the year – December – for this practical test. The weather was cloudy and cold and wet. I didn’t want to make it too easy for the GFX100RF. I walked further downstream, always along the banks of the river. At the flower market I met Fanny, who lives in a small village near Paris and prefers to wear medieval clothes. I took a photo of her in a hat and black cloak surrounded by orchids. Then I walked on and discovered a staircase on the Pont Neuf that led down to the Seine island of Ile de la Cité. Seagulls were circling here, flying up the river from the sea, with calls that sounded like salt water.
In a side street, I discovered a restaurant where time had stood still. Artists and writers were having lunch. “Nothing has changed here for 50 years,” a sculptor told me. “Not even the prices,” he added with a satisfied smile. We also ate here, very traditionally: herrings with potatoes and scallops. And of course I took photos. Of the guests and the staff, like Jean-Luc, who treated himself to a glass of red wine after peeling the potatoes.
I continued my walk, always along the river. It was high tide, and the Seine was spilling over the quay. Then, at the height of the Eiffel Tower, the houseboats came into view. People live on the river here, singles and families alike. I balanced myself on the jetty of one of the boats and knocked on the door. Joffrey opened it and let me in straight away. He is a photographer and takes photos of tourists in front of the illuminated Eiffel Tower in the evening. I photographed him on his boat at dusk.
I spent the whole day travelling with the GFX100RF and hardly felt the weight of the camera. A medium format camera that is almost as light as a small compact camera. But with four times the resolution and the correspondingly high dynamic range, which makes details visible even in the darkest and brightest areas
Nowhere was I the photographer with this little camera, but always simply a part of life. I wasn’t an intruder with a camera in front of my face. No device that separated me from the others. I was always simply there and in the thick of things.
This camera connects, it simply comes with me as a matter of course. I don’t use it to take photos of people, I use it to communicate. Because when taking portraits, it’s important who or what is looking at you. It plays a role whether you feel comfortable or uncomfortable, whether you like looking at the camera or not. This determines whether the photo is successful. Nobody is afraid of the GFX100RF. On the contrary. People seem to like it, or even better, not really notice it. Because the photographer’s face is not covered by the camera, it remains unobstructed.
I like holding this camera myself. The tactile and visual experience is important. You must like an object that you hold in your hand every day. And the GFX100RF is not only a masterpiece of design, it also sits comfortably in the hand. The arrangement of the buttons and dials is intuitive, looking and shooting is a flow.
The viewfinder is indescribably good. It is very large and offers excellent resolution. When taking photos, I don’t feel like a spectator, but like part of the scene. The autofocus is fast and reliable. The lens with a focal length of 35mm (equivalent to 28mm in 35mm format) is suitable for all situations. When taking portraits, it was sometimes too wide for me, but the FUJIFILM engineers have come up with something good here. There is a three-stage digital tele-conversion that allows you to zoom in on the subject. It’s a digital zoom, but it shows me how the image would look cropped while I’m shooting
The very high resolution of 102 megapixels makes it possible to crop without any problems. I personally find this wide shooting angle practical, as I often regret in retrospect that I would have liked to have had a little more in the picture to the left or right, top or bottom, especially when I’m editing a reportage where things have to happen quickly
My conclusion: This camera is a milestone. Its compact size and low weight make it the perfect camera for travelling. A medium format camera that you always want to have with you.
