Fujinon GF30mm F/5.6 Tilt-Shift Review

The Fujifilm Fujinon GF30mm F/5.6 T/S
Fujifilm Fujinon GF30mm F/5.6 T/S is one of only two Fujifilm Tilt-Shift lenses to date. It finds itself among a handful of perspective-control lenses made for Medium Format Digital Cameras. This ultra-wide lens for GFX system mirrorless cameras captures an 84° field-of-view. This is equivalent to a 24mm Full-Frame lens and is among the widest for the GF-mount. This highly specialized lens is ideal for architecture photography.

This Tilt-Shift lens provides versatile control over the focus-plane which is extremely useful to correct keystoning and direct the depth-of-field. The GF30mm F/5.6 T/S can be shifted ±15mm along any axis, allowing the lens to perform dramatic perspective corrections. The front lens barrel can be tilted ±8.5° to angle the focus plane. This can either create the impression of an extensive or a very shallow depth-of-field.

It is possible to focus down to 30cm from the focal-plane to achieve a maximum magnification of 0.21X. This lens is necessarily quite large yet can accept huge 105mm screw-on filters. Such filters are obviously expensive but would be useful to capture light-trails in architectural photography. As a premium lens, the Fujifilm GF30mm F/5.6 T/S is both weatherproof and freezeproof down to -10C. As with every other Tilt-Shift lens every made, this is a Manual-Focus Only lens.

Body Design

To accommodate its wide 30mm shift-range, the Fujinon GF30mm F/5.6 T/S requires a huge imaging circle. Therefore this lens is notably larger than other GF-mount lenses. A blocky square base encapsulates the tilt and shift mechanisms to make the lens weatherproof. This base controls a wide barrel that is slightly longer. From the base to the front, this lens measures 14cm. Its base with protruding controls is almost 9cm wide. It should surprise no one that this lens weighs over 1.3kg and is almost the heaviest in the GF-mount lineup.

There are controls all around the base of the lens, plus a wide focus-ring on the front barrel. The is a very well dampened ring that rotates completely smoothly. Completely on the front of the lens, a decorative ring covers the 105mm filter-thread mentioned earlier. Note that there is no lens hood attachment mechanism since it would require an absolutely enormous one to accommodate the ultra-wide field-of-view with shift motion.

The cubic base holds all tilt and shift controls. To provide maximum versatility, the axis of tilt and the axis of shift can each rotate 360°. The former rotates relative to the lens mount since it is closest to it. Rotating the shift mechanism obviously causes the tilt mechanism to rotate to. To allow arbitrary orientation of tilt, a second rotation is placed between the shift and tilt mechanisms. There are two levers to unlock rotation. Both of these allow rotation while being pulled towards the mount and lock automatically when released.

Shift is controlled by a large knob labeled S. As the knob turns, the barrel shifts ±15mm along the chosen axis. Its motion is smooth and uniform. There are hard stops on both ends of its range. Directly on the opposite side of the lens base, there is a smaller know that controls the resistance of the shift mechanism. When the secondary knob is fully tightened, the shift is firmly locked in place. This is critical to avoid drift and unintentional changes when working with this lens.

Tilt controls mirror those of shift. A large know, labeled T, controls tilting motion. Again, the knob turns smoothly with hard stops at the end of the range. Opposite of the Tilt knob, there is a smaller knob to tighten the tilting mechanism. It is possible to set any combination of tilt and shift on the Fujinon GF30mm GF/5.6 T/S. Finally, note that this lens does not have an aperture ring. Aperture is its only electronically controlled parameter.

Optical Performance

The GFX cameras exceeding 100 megapixels, GF-mount lenses must deliver the highest optical performance possible. With a lens that has an every larger imaging circle and so many degrees-of-freedom, it is virtually impossible to produce optics that are perfect for all cases. One way Fujifilm improved consistency is to limit the aperture to a maximum of F/5.6. By all means, this is a relatively dim aperture yet tilt-shift lenses are mostly used with much smaller F-stops.

Optics of the GF30mm F/5.6 T/S perform well expect at extreme corners where severe softness is visible. Closing the aperture gradually improves the situation, allowing for larger prints. This lens shows absolutely no geometric distortion and very mild vignetting when wide open. By F/6.3, corner sharing is negligible. State-of-the-art lens coatings make it highly resistant to flare.

Fujinon GF 30mm F/5.6 T/S Sharpness

The Fujinon GF 30mm F/5.6 T/S shows excellent central sharpness. Even at its maximum aperture, sharpness is perfect over most of the image. Corners however do not fare well at all, at least mounted on a 100 megapixels digital camera. Only by F/8 do images become usable for mid-size prints. One must stop to F/10 and more for it to render detail in extreme corners. Maximum sharpness or minimal softness, as it the case here, is availed from F/14 to F/18. Beyond that, diffraction takes over.

What is shown below are 5 crops taken from a photograph, repeatedly captured for each combination of focal-length and aperture. The smaller pieces are cropped from the extreme corners of the image, while the middle wide crop comes from the center of the image. Select an aperture in a row for a desired focal-length to see the crops from the corresponding image. When judging quality, keep in mind that these crops come from a 50 MP image which is normally used to print an image up to 40x30". On a computer display, these may appear much larger which magnifies image defects.

Upper Left

Upper Right

Center

Lower Left

Lower Right

The Fujifilm GF30mm F/5.6 T/S is a unique lens that is highly specialized for architecture photography. This is one of the most versatile ultra-wide tilt-shift ever made. It stands out for its rarity and exceptional build quality. Image quality would be impeccable if it were not for such pronounced corner softness. Some light cropping can help yet it unfortunately restricts usage of the shift mechanism.

There is simply no competition and so, those who require something like it, must simply work around its limitation. Any softness is only visible in proportion to print size and so, it may well be, that completely usable for typical print sizes, just not those that require the full 100 megapixels.