Fujifilm GFX Camera Settings for Cleanest Images on a Tripod
If you’ve ever looked at one of your tripod mounted GFX shots and thought that your lens wasn’t as crisp as you thought it should be, it’s likely not a failure of your optics, it is more likely that your selected Shutter type and IBIS (In Body Image Stabilization) usage is out of line with best practices.
Shutter Selection:
Fujifilm GFX cameras have two primary shutter modes with three additional hybrid modes based off of those two.
At the two extremes, you’re either using the mechanical focal-plane shutter (MS) or the fully electronic shutter (ES), which involves no moving mechanical parts inside the camera.
Each shutter mode comes with its own trade-offs. On the GFX, Electronic Shutter allows exposures up to 1/32,000 of a second, but it cannot synchronize with strobes and will introduce rolling shutter artifacts when photographing moving subjects. The mechanical shutter, by contrast, syncs with strobes and avoids those artifacts, but it can introduce subtle vibration into the camera.
Fujifilm GFX100S II
When the finest details of a subject are as vital as the scene itself, reach for FUJIFILM GFX100S II digital camera. It features a powerful in-body image stabilization (IBIS) system offering a benefit of up to 8.0 stops* that’s perfect for confident…
If your subject is completely static, Electronic Shutter should generally be your first choice—and not only for the reasons suggested by this article’s title. Any mechanical system has a finite service life, and the focal-plane shutters in these cameras are no exception. From the standpoint of preserving the mechanism, it makes sense to use ES whenever the situation allows. Replacing a GFX shutter can cost well over $500, and because of the larger physical size of the assembly, it may not offer the same longevity as shutters found in many 35mm cameras. Fujifilm service is typically efficient with these repairs, but even so, a shutter failure will almost certainly leave you without the camera for at least a week.
That said, ES is not a universal solution. . Whenever there is motion in the scene, rolling shutter artifacts are likely to appear, making that shutter mode unsuitable for many shooting situations.
Speaking in broad terms, the Electronic Shutter delivers the cleanest capture for longer exposures because there are no mechanical movements involved other than the aperture blades in the lens stopping down to the working aperture. You may assume the camera is still doing something mechanically, but this is often just the configured shutter sound. Check your sound settings to see which shutter audio option is selected and what volume it is set to. If you switch the ES electronic shutter volume to “Off,” the only audible mechanical movement you’ll hear is the aperture mechanism itself, which is extremely quiet and effectively vibration-free.
Admittedly, some of the distinctions that follow are self evident and some are incredibly nuanced when it comes to defining quality. The images shown are at 200% magnification in order to better see the difference and I’ve layered the files into a single slide show. (This is a somewhat limited test, as I only tested with a single shutter speed of one second, but the results do illustrate the need for proper selection between the different modes and options on the camera. )
IBIS Selection:
With careful scrutiny you can clearly see that within the test images, having IBIS enabled on a tripod provides negative results for both Mechanical Shutter exposures as well as Electronic Shutter exposures, the primary and obvious problem being the mechanical shutter.
IBIS works wonderfully when the camera is in motion, think of riding a snowboard / skateboard / water ski, your knees are bent, you’re actively predicting and absorbing the undulations of the snow / pavement / water. If you’re good at it your head is barely bouncing and the rest of your body is reflexively cushioning the irregularities.
Now think about locking your knees and being shoved unexpectedly. That’s how IBIS feels when it’s enabled and your GFX is locked down on a serious tripod. With the ouside of the camera being held rigidly in place, the motion that would otherwise provide the floating now provides unwanted movement which results in the blurring of your image.
So here are the key takeaways for the cleanest tripod captured images with your GFX camera:
- Maximize use of Electronic Shutter if your scene doesn’t include moving objects or if you are not syncing strobe
- Disable IBIS
The routine toggling of IBIS is important enough that you should give yourself quick access to the setting in your My Menu options.
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