I never saw this - and now I have, and now I'm fucking lens shopping again. Fuck. Why did I click? Amazing work man... like I said, you're doing comparisons that most people would love to see! Hope this flies.
I own both the 110mm, 120mm and the 45 extension tube, and I came to the same conclusion as you: the 110mm can work in a pinch, but for this use, the 120mm is in another league. I kinda regretted buying the 45 extension tube in the end, and wish I had bought the 18 instead, for a slightly closer minimum focusing distance for the 110mm for portraits.
Thanks for watching AND backing up my findings! ha. Someone else mentioned the 18 being better. I might do a part 2 with the 18, but not for some time. But yeah, this is why it feels kind of stupid, but first 3 lenses i bought for my GFX was the 120, 110 and 50. Cant beat the 120, esp as a studio lens.
Thanks for the nice video! I personally have the 18mm MCEX-18G extension tube, and prefer to use it with the GF 45-100mm f4 over the 110mm. It then gives a 0.5x magnification on the wide and and 0.35x on the telephoto end, and a nice working range. This setup works better, and even with autofocus, than using the teleconverter with the 110mm. I got the idea from the RU-vid Channel Theoria Apophasis a video called "😱 ALL GFX OWNERS 🤩 GFX LENS SECRET to Know! 😱", a video of 5th of April 2020.
@@MikeBanom You're welcome. While you certainly can't beat a dedicated macro lens, for me the 18mm extension tube with the 45-100mm f4 is a nice solution for the occasional macro shot. I do have the Sony 90mm f2.8 G macro (1x magnification) and the Voigtlander 65mm f2 Apo-Lanthar (0.5x magnification, stellar lens!) for Sony E-mount, and therefore couldn't really justify adding the GF 120mm to my kit as well. I do have the GF 110mm f2 and absolutely love it, one of the best lenses for the GFX system.
@@Edwin-- Totally makes sense on not needing to add the 120. I only picked up the 120 as a dedicated studio lens so I didnt have to lug the 110 every time. And as you said, the 110/2 is def one of the best lenses on the system! Soooo nice.
Macro implies a set of optical features: flat field, optimized for close focus, high fine detail resolution. Macro lenses are designed for copy work of two-dimensional objects. If you are taking pictures of three-dimensional objects like bugs or flowers, then you can use an extension tube on any lens as field curvature isn't critical for that application. It gets a lot more complex than that, but that is the watered-down version.
@@MikeBanom That is why they put a "macro" designation on it. Of course, it also implies a high magnification ratio. Typically, 1:2 or 1:1 but it implies all the other features. I say it gets more complex as some macros have been optimized for a 1:10 magnification making them perform well at close distance and infinity. Others have also come with floating elements, which are used to overcome the problem of a lens only being able to be tuned for a single magnification either close or infinity. Basically, it goes down an optical design rabbit hole. But what I said previously is a good rule of thumb for expectations.
The conclusion I came to watching this video is that these setups are splitting hairs for the most part. For most people, if you have the 110 already just get some extension tubes. It works pretty well for most images, shooting in a middle aperture, like f11 or f16. Unless you are photographing flat surfaces at super macro distances, most images don't make use of sharpness in their outer periphery anyway, so having some falloff there is not a problem. Expect to manually focus, or use a program or the fuji to focus-stack for you.
I think I agree with your analysis, as long as you don't need high res. Because I'm really not sure i'd recommend the MCEX-45G. Its not easy to use, and the results are not really worth it.
Recently, I encountered a big obstacle in the choice of 110 and 120 lenses. Thank you for your video, which cleared my doubts. It seems that it is better to use a 120mm lens if I want to shoot macro.
Glad the video was helpful! While the 110 is absolutely incredible, just as you said. If you are a macro photographer and you want to use native glass… you must buy the 120.
Glad you found the video helpful! Also thanks for the input on the sub-titles. I havent been able to do them for the last 2, but I will try my best to add them in. They take alot of time to do because the auto transcribe always messes up the lens and camera names and of course I have to watch the whole video to make sure they are right. Thanks again
gfx 100s is diffraction limited at f/7.1 You are guaranteed to have lower maximum resolution as you shrink the aperature smaller than that. An important extension of this is that pixel shift does not work beyond this point. So for pixel shift always pick an aperature larger than f/7.1.
@@MikeBanom I really wish Fuji would explain this concept in their documentation for the feature. The camera should also warn you when it thinks your aperture setting is not good for pixel shift. For each lens, Fuji knows the resolving performance and should recommend the sharpest aperature. And for the holy grail, they should let you combine pixel shift with focus bracketing. Because the best pixel shift results require a relatively large aperature, depth of field will be shallow. So it’s best to use on flat scenes. Focus bracketing a pixel shift that actually reaches the maximum resolving power limit of the lenses has been a dream of mine but it is very difficult to do.
Sadly even the 18 is too close for portraits I use both and use the 45 and the 18 along with the 120 macro for commercial work - its very close - we just wish it had T+S - apparently thats coming later from Fuji
@@MikeBanom I now use the Hasselblad HTS with the 907x - Fuji have announced two S+T lens for the GFX system and they will be a game changer - I use T+S on landscapes now - I have retired from studio based commercial work - this is whole new chapter for you to explore - the best thing about using proper macro gear is that you get shallow depth of field anyhow - usually a nice construct of macro - but proper use of T+S and even swing can yield much greater control over focusing - but it is not suitable for focus stacking. Full disclosure I was up until recently a full tie commercial photographer and a Fuji ambassador - I donated my GX680m full kit with every single accessory and every single lens including some prototypes to Fujifilm House Of Photography and it can be seen in their heritage department upstairs in Covent Garden - I have not been to see it as yet ;despite living only 2hrs from London - but I have spoken to someone who has. I had four full kits of the GX680II and put together a completely unused one for them. The main studio camera had well over 36,000 rolls put through it and it didn't miss a beat. Fuji rocks but I found the GFX too fiddly and overly complicated - Hass X system for me now - simplified for my simple brain - and I do prefer CS or leaf shutters over FP or focal plane for lots of reasons -but whatever you have and whatever you choose to shoot on remember what goes in front of the camera is more important than what camera it is you are shooting with - have fun all - thanks for listening.
@@nelsonclub7722 Funny you brought TS lenses as a whole new chapter 😅 I am somewhat dreading the new TS lenses coming out. I will absolutely get my hands on them. But I will need to do some heavy research first! Whoa! I'd really love to see some of your work! That GX680m looks really neat!
If you use the 45 with the 120 you can get super close - use that set up with the 18 as well for extreme close up - don't forget reciprocal light fall off will extend exposure times
@@MikeBanom Fall off is when the projection lens is placed further away from the optimal setting of say having it straight on the mount - when you use an y extension - particularly relevant with 5x4 and 10x8 the lens is projecting further - taking our well known law of inversely squared light - the further the lens is away from the sensor - or film plane the less light reaches the sensor - ie reciprocal (meaning there is a mathematical equation to determine the amount involved) which means you will require more exposure. I remember once we were photographing close up parts of machinery in our studio and we had to use four full pops on several 3K flash heads in a darkened studio to create a decent exposure on a 5x4 transparency at full extension of the monorail Sinar with the 350 lens set at F90 and full tilt and swing of the front and rear elements. The same applies with any extension of usually a prime lens. Using two 45MX's or a 45MX and an 18MX would mean some compensation is required - although in reality if you are using aperture priority it would do this automatically and you may not even notice - but go to manual and you might. In some cases if the object you are photographing in close up reflects more light than it would be on say a wider general view - because it is so close you may even have to compensate the other way. Next week 'reflectance' and how to avoid it!!!!! - Have fun everyone.
@@nelsonclub7722 Thank you for explaining! This goes quite deep! I suspect it would have been a solid idea to not go as close. But I did want to see how close we could get! I'd love to see some of your work! Do you have an IG?
