Fuji GFX availability slips (round 1?)

[Jim Kasson]

Jim,

I quickly will defer to your knowledge on the subject.   

My experience with the P1 application of the 50MP Sony was very positive, very good DR and shadow recovery.  I mainly stayed away due to the crop factor of 1:3 and the fact all my lenses were designed for 645 sized chips.  The Fuji, with lenses designed around the crop is where I plan to be. 

I have never been a big fan of x-trans and if Fuji had made this chip x-trans, I would have not been so fast to order.  But I have seen what the chip can do with a Bayer pattern.  But to Fuji's credit, they did somethings with this 2.5 year old chip that no one else had done, namely EFC and ES, which are a huge plus for me.

Just wish B&H would get their order in.  Still not sure what is going on there. 

I talked to a B&H agent today. He said a) my GFX is still backordered, b) they have received no cameras as yet, and c) they have no ETA. OTOH, their lack of stock has not kept them from bombarding me with invitations to buy the camera with the tag line, "Grab them before they're gone."

My the way, in addition to "photic", which turns to to actually be an English word, I also noticed the following in the page you pointed me to:

"...the images are 1/3 tougher against over-exposure."
"The pixel size is big enough to receive enough lights without making micro-lenses any bigger."

I suspect that the document was not originally written in English, and that the translator was not a native English speaker, and that could be the source of some of my difficulty achieving precise understanding.

Jim

[Paul2660]

Hi Jim:

I believe that Fuji actually had very few cameras to ship, (reminds me of another company) and thus they fired out a shotgun blast around the world, so that coverage would be worldwide.  The fact that Amazon had a few units (shipping from Cardinal camera of whom I have never heard of), disappoints me.  I would never purchase such a product via that type of method.  None of the items that popped up were Amazon Prime, so buyer beware. 

Not sure what happened with B&H, as only they know.  I am sure their order was much larger than the smaller shops that did receive them and because of this Fuji held off on shipping to them.  They had the removable EVF, and shipped that to me. 

Fuji gave a message a week before the 28th stating the camera orders had exceeded supply and it would take a while to catch up.  No problem with that, but the fact that literally the next day B&H started to show "arriving on 02/28/17" led me to believe that B&H's first round of orders would be taken care of by Fuji.  Just as was done with the X-T2 as there is not other reason to all of a sudden state "arriving on 02/28/17".  Looks like the earth quake from last April is still showing it's effects.

There also may be a delay in the U.S. as Fuji ramps up their repair center and tech support as supposedly the GFX is going to get a different level of support and warranty turn around. 

BTW anyone need the removable EVF?  I have one of those showing up tomorrow.  Not going to do my any good. Both Adorama and B&H received some of these.

Paul Caldwell

[hcubell]

Very strange about B&H not getting GFX units. B&H was way ahead of other US dealers in shipping X1Ds.

[ronjh]

Local dealer, CameraWest in Walnut Creek, had one GFX that arrived yesterday:hey also had two X1D's that sold out immediately.  I bought it today and I'm in the process of testing  it  along side the Hasselblad X1D. Briefly: GFX is bigger than I thought but ergonomically very comfortable, and has  an interface that's a bit complex with a number of very intriguing features, which are highly customizable. ( see the  fuji guys recent  highly informative video on their youtube channel)
The X1D's interface is much easier to grasp without immediately consulting the manual, and, if you're familiar with the Hasselblad H6D, you will not be disappointed.  Overall, both systems will most likely appeal to a broad number of users.
Best regards,
Ron
 

[NowHere2]

I have two orders with B&H for the GFX50s and accessories. Order #1 for the body, zoom, macro, tilt adapter & an extra battery.  Order #2 only has the 63mm lens on it.  Today, order #2, the 63mm lens, with as status of "processing" changed to "In stock, order sent to warehouse" while order #1 shows "new order" and each of the line items has changed from "processing" to "order placed" -- I'm not sure why the line items changed (from processing to order placed and I can't find any information on the B&H site that explains the difference).  Both orders (#1 & #2) were placed early on January 19, 2017.  I have an inquiry into B&H on status of order #1.

[NowHere2]

Update from B&H on my order #1:

-------------
Thank you for contacting the Customer Service Department at B&H Photo Video and Pro Audio.
 
Please be advised that your backorder is estimated to arrive at our warehouse by 3/7/17. As soon as we receive it in stock we will ship your order to you, and e-mail you with the tracking information.
--------------

Scott

[luminouslandscapearavind]

Just got notification from B&H that the camera and all lenses just shipped, should have it Monday.  So they did get some yesterday/today it seems.

[Michael Erlewine]

Ditto. B&H shipped my order, including two extra batteries... should be here Tuesday. So, they missed their proposed deadline by about three days. Not too shabby at all.

[algrove]

Well, this thread is all an exaggeration IMHO. So 28 February was the first official selling day and some camera stores actually had them in stock to sell on that day.  I did not see a manufactured photo of a pro living in the same town as the factory showing off her boxes in the trunk of her car when no one else in the world had one.

I received shipping notice of the 2 items I pre-ordered in the middle of the night at B&H on 19 January, the first day one could pre-order from what I understood at the time. I also have a UPS tracking number so I missed the first day by 3-4 days, so what.

Come on folks let's get real. If you really wanted your GFX shipped this week then you could have just gotten up in the middle of the night like I did and pre-order one. End of story.

P.S.-I also got notice of extra batteries and extra charger being shipped for arrival today. Already received the tilt EVF adapter.

[Paul2660]

As the starter of the thread, I guess we can agree to disagree.

B&H could have handled this much better IMO, I also was up at midnight and preordered. 

Bits and pieces have rolled out to various photographers, but very few if any got everything ordered on the 19th of Jan. 

Glad to see your camera has shipped however.

Paul Caldwell

[hubell]

I have two orders with B&H for the GFX50s and accessories. Order #1 for the body, zoom, macro, tilt adapter & an extra battery.  Order #2 only has the 63mm lens on it.  Today, order #2, the 63mm lens, with as status of "processing" changed to "In stock, order sent to warehouse" while order #1 shows "new order" and each of the line items has changed from "processing" to "order placed" -- I'm not sure why the line items changed (from processing to order placed and I can't find any information on the B&H site that explains the difference).  Both orders (#1 & #2) were placed early on January 19, 2017.  I have an inquiry into B&H on status of order #1.

You should check to see if B&H is holding off on shipment until all of the items in Order # 1 are in stock. That has happened to me.

[cgarnerhome]

As previously noted, I received my system with 3 lenses 2 days ago.  I got notice that the vertical grip would be shipped today.  They are slowly releasing more product.  In comparison to the X1D this has been handled really well - so far.  Hopefully, we see significant shipments by the end of March.  Could they have done better - of course.  It seems to me they have done OK all things considered.

[hubell]

In comparison to the X1D this has been handled really well - so far. 

Well, that's a pretty low hurdle, isn't it?
In all seriousness, I fully agree. I didn't expect anything less from Fuji. My only point of disagreement is over the issue of raw support, and yes, because the GFX is a $9,000+ medium format camera system, I hold them to a different standard on the timing of raw support in a mainstream raw converter. Would it really have been so difficult for Fuji to have the basic GFX profile included in the most recent LR release?

[Stephen Girimont]

Well, I guess they didn't get enough stock to satisfy ALL orders placed on day 1, as my order still shows as "Order Placed".

[BernardLanguillier]

The latest version of Iridient Developper has just been released with GFX 50s support in Mac and Windows.

Since this is IMHO the best raw converter on the market in terms of image quality it should be good for those interested in confirming the level of image quality of the GFX?

Cheers,
Bernard

[Michael Erlewine]

The latest version of Iridient Developper has just been released with GFX 50s support in Mac and Windows.

Since this is IMHO the best raw converter on the market in terms of image quality it should be good for those interested in confirming the level of image quality of the GFX?

Cheers,
Bernard

I can't seem to find the link for the Windows version? Can anyone provide it here please?

[BernardLanguillier]

I can't seem to find the link for the Windows version? Can anyone provide it here please?

http://www.iridientdigital.com

The win version is called X-Transformer Beta 3. The Beta of Iridient are as good as GA releases.

Cheers,
Bernard

[Jim Kasson]

I can't seem to find the link for the Windows version? Can anyone provide it here please?

In an email today, Brian Griffith says: "The Iridient Developer 3.1.4 and X-Transformer 1.0 beta 3 updates are now available for download! Iridient X-Transformer beta 3 is now supported on both macOS 10.7 or later and Windows 7 or later. Iridient Developer is available for macOS only at this time."

Jim

[marc aurel]

In an email today, Brian Griffith says: "The Iridient Developer 3.1.4 and X-Transformer 1.0 beta 3 updates are now available for download! Iridient X-Transformer beta 3 is now supported on both macOS 10.7 or later and Windows 7 or later. Iridient Developer is available for macOS only at this time."

Jim

I did a quick test with the GFX RAWs and Iridient Developer to see how well the Fuji reacts to pushing. Impressive.

Fuji GFX, 63mm f2.8 prime at f5.6, handheld at 1/55th of a second, ISO 100, RAW file
Standard development settings in Iridient developer
100% crops (screenshots).
First one original, second one with exposure pushed 5 stops

(not too fair to use the Canon as a model - but hey, the Fuji does this a bit better than my beloved 5DsR)

[Stephen Scharf]

The latest version of Iridient Developper has just been released with GFX 50s support in Mac and Windows.

Since this is IMHO the best raw converter on the market in terms of image quality it should be good for those interested in confirming the level of image quality of the GFX?

Cheers,
Bernard

Yeah, Brian Griffith of Iridient is pretty amazing. I was betting to myself he'd be the first to offer 3rd party support.  He usually has RAW support before anyone else, and I agree that the image quality is really excellent; to date, the best I have encountered for X-Trans. His highlight recovery tools are way better than LR's. Why other companies can't do what a one-man shop can do I don't really understand. C1 still doesn't support compressed RAF, and Iridient has had support for it since September 2016; approximately 7 months ago. Cool that the X100F is supported, too, because I am going to snap one of those puppies up as soon as possible (they are flying off shelves, also).

So...let's sum up: Fuji shipped cameras to many locations worldwide just as they said they would, "brick and mortar" stores in the USA have had cameras for sale, B&H is now shipping cameras, and we have first class RAW support available in Week 1. Not too much to gripe about from where I sit.

I wish all the new GFX owners "good times" and amazing images. Looking forward to seeing what you guys get up to with GFX.

Me? I'm headed to Yosemite for a three-day weekend of landscape photography.