Is a Medium Format Camera Worth It?
Photo by Steven Hanna on Unsplash Taken with a Fujifilm GFX 50S medium format camera.
If you don’t know what a medium format camera is, it’s any camera that mimics 120 film size through a digital imaging sensor.
There are a ton of benefits of medium format cameras, but they are namely used for fashion and advertising photography because these cameras are wildly expensive.
For the purposes of this article, I’m going to be using the Fuji GFX 100 as a great example of a medium format camera. If you’d like to find out more about this medium format camera, I completed a full Fujifilm GFX 100 review a while ago that you can read.
Just keep in mind that the Fuji GFX 100 is $8,600 used on MPB right now, so unless you’re a high-end professional photographer, or have a really deep wallet, it’s probably not feasible for you to purchase one.
They Have a Full Range of Colors
Photo by Luke Braswell on Unsplash. Taken with a Fujifilm GFX 50S medium format camera.
One of the best features of medium format cameras like the GFX 100 is that they have the most accurate colors of any digital cameras in the world. Back in the day, if you were looking for a medium format camera with a CMOS sensor, you would be hard pressed to find one.
Thankfully, medium format camera manufacturers eventually caught on that CMOS sensors were the way of the future. Since these sensors are much larger, a medium format camera with a CMOS sensor can fit more pixels per area while maintaining their higher overall resolution.
I understand this is a lot of technical jargon, but what this really means is that you are going to get more accurate colors and a more dynamic range with your medium format camera than with a traditional DSLR because you can better capture highlights and lowlights with them.
They Feature the Best Depth of Field
Photo by JC Gellidon on Unsplash.Taken with a Fujifilm GFX 50R medium format camera.
This is one of the medium format camera pros that convinced both the fashion industry and advertising industry to begin using these cameras.
You will get the best depth of field with a GFX 100 or similar medium format camera because they house larger sensors so you can capture a shallow depth of field, but your medium format camera lens also offer larger optics, which means you can stop down more than you would be able to with a DSLR because diffraction is basically nonexistent.
This quality is going to leave you with photos that look so real they seem otherworldly.
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They Create the Best Viewing
Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash
Another reason people opt for a medium format camera is that you get better display options. Since your sensor will be so high res (the GFX 100’s sensor is 102-megapixels), you can basically print any photo, as large as you want.
This is one of those medium format camera benefits that truly won’t benefit everyone…
If you’re not a high-end professional photographer, then you will probably never need to print a photograph that is larger than yourself. This is, again, why the fashion and advertising industries use this sort of camera. They are perfect for shooting pictures to hang on billboards or other large spaces.
So while you may not benefit from this feature of your medium format camera now, it is something to keep in mind if you’re hoping to break into either of these industries. Plus, it’s pretty freaking cool to brag to your friends about.
You Get Better Lens Options
Medium format lenses are large. They have to be built this way in order to properly compliment the larger than life camera they are supposed to accompany.
So, if your lens is larger to account for a larger sensor, this also means that your lens is going to have a better optical quality because they aren’t as much of a pain to produce.
Think about it, would you rather build a very complex and tiny lens, or just a complex lens? Of course, this is another benefit that you may not be able to truly use. You have to be shooting very specifically in order for the better lens optics to really be noticeable.
I guess that’s why they cost so much!
They Feature Faster Flash Sync Speeds
Photo by Luke Braswell on Unsplash. Taken with a Fujifilm GFX 50S medium format camera.
This is one of the benefits of a medium format camera that you may not think of when you first think of these cameras.
But, if typical cameras produce a flash sync speed of somewhere between 1/160th and 1/250th, you’re going to need better flashes and triggers to shoot with a flash at higher speeds.
This problem becomes null and void with a medium format camera because many of them come with a built-in leaf shutter.
Again, for the price, this seems like the least the manufacturers could do.
If I haven’t dissuaded you from trying to purchase a medium format camera, and you’re not looking to spend the next three months searching Google for medium format cameras on sale, you can check out the Fuji GFX 100 on MPB right now.