I have just had my Fuji GSWiii sit at home waiting for that perfect chance to shoot some landscape images on film. Knowing myself, I figured I would have to create an opportunity!
With only 8 frames to each roll of film, the 6 by 9 film size is incredible to view, especially on colour positive film. I parked my trusted Bronica Zenza ETRS and decided to get out and use this camera more this summer.
This particular GSWiii comes with a 65mm lens which I believe is equivalent to a 28mm lens on a 35mm camera.
First shoot opportunity came from a shoot setup with Anna. She was in the country and we set up a shoot in Central London late one afternoon.
I threw in a whole bunch of medium format rolls into my bag and over the next few hours we shot natural light as well as with my wonderful profoto umbrella and profoto A1.
Shooting Fuji Provia 100F in Natural Light
We started off by shooting on the colour positive film Provia 100F. It was a late afternoon shoot, hence why I brought along my off camera flash. These images were all taken using natural light.
I really like this image of Anna in her chequered jacket and blue jeans looking over in the distance.
The colours came out natural to the eye which I was really surprised to see considering the relatively low level light available at the time.
The details are captured in this frame with Anna resting one leg down while resting her head gently against her left hand.
The details in the jeans combined with the reds and yellows in the fore and background add more energy to the image.
The highlights are perhaps a little overexposed but something that can be managed in a future shoot in camera or in post production!
Going in a bit closer, once again the colour and detail of the 6 by 9 negative has really come out super well.
This image of her holding the rose, combined with the red seat and red lipstick draw in the line of sight making it a compositionally attractive image to view.
This combined with how her arms make an almost symmetrical look on either side in reflection to the legs.
I took another image of her standing up with the rose and framed this one up. I think these more close up portrait shots could be the way to go!
Ending this set I took this shot which is a little out of focus but I really like the effect and emotion coming through the image and this is definitely one of my favourite shots from the Provia batch!
Kodak Ektachrome in Natural Light
Well, If I was going to shoot some Provia, I was going to have to shoot some Ektachrome to see the differences in colour.
Unlike the Bronica unfortunately you don't have the luxury of swapping film backs to capture identical images but I tried my best to keep the frames similar in nature throughout.
Starting off with this shot, the colours are a bit more subdued but nevertheless deliver outstanding colour rendition.
Part of the ability to shoot well with subjects comes down to how well you both come prepared to shoot. Certainly Anna, turned up with the perfect outfits for a befitting urban location shoot.
As before I took a combination of closer shots combined with wider shots to see the differences between the images. The consistent theme throughout is the more subdued colour rendition.
I think, in part, maybe there were clouds passing through in comparison to the stronger light experienced when shooting the Provia roll.
Nevertheless, you can see the film doesn’t perform as strongly in the shadows. Overall, pleased with this batch of images and my personal favourite was this shot of Anna with her arms crossed holding her jacket.
Shooting Kodak Gold 200
Kodak Gold has made a comeback to medium format and it has been great to see so many photographers getting out and shooting this film.
Carrying on with the same outfit and vibe, I decided to shoot some in a different location to catch a bit more of the afternoon sunset.
This time a combination of natural light which has come out with much warmer tones and then brought in the umbrella and profoto to capture these shots with a little bit more controlled light.
The colour is better balanced particularly with the wonderful warm sunset light radiating off the back of the Victorian buildings. Bit of a New York vibe, no?
Shooting Kodak Portra 800 with Flash
It was twilight and having these tall buildings surrounding us didnt help too much with the light either. It is somewhat fitting that for a camera that I have not shot much with I was reminded to take out some of that Portra 800 that had been knocking about in my film stash from quite a way back.
I wasn’t going to waste this roll on the hope the images would come out by shooting this pushed 1 stop, let alone 3 stops. All these images were taken having metered using my Sekonic L-308X with the umbrella and profoto a1.
Shot with this brick backdrop first, trying to capture some variation in styles from Anna. I like the one with Anna sat on the curb out of this mini set. We moved on to take a few with this black backdrop which I think has colourwise come out much stronger.
When I first saw this on the film strip it looked as if the image had been taken with a greenscreen backdrop applied.
In hindsight, I was beginning to think how different these images would look had they been shot on Portra 160 or Portra 400. Personally, I don't think it would be very different. What do you think?
Important Considerations Shooting with Fuji GSWiii
If you are looking to shoot with this wonderful rangefinder camera here are my thoughts on some things you should consider before shooting away.
First, if you are shooting portraits you have got to make sure you measure the distances between yourself and the subject accurately.
If you have wonderful 20:20 vision then you might be thinking, wait why can't you just use the rangefinder optics?
This can be a bit tricky for me and I suspect probably for many others that may have particular eye conditions.
Easiest way to get around this is to measure the distances. Honestly this will save you a lot of lost frames.
This particular Fuji comes with a fixed 65mm and if you enjoy shooting street photography could be a fun companion with its 28mm 35mm camera equivalent lens.
Although primarily known for landscape photography, the Fuji GSWiii has the potential to give photographers new creative opportunities in portrait photography.
It got me thinking, are modern digital cameras up to the level of old school medium format cameras?
I’m not sure, but it could be a fun experiment! Do you have experience with this? Let me know in the comments below.
Overall, I feel the closer I was shooting to Anna, the richer the details in each of the frames. Images with natural light use of off camera flash came out super well.
With more shoots I will slowly find my preference, Let’s see where this takes me next!
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