My Favorite Fujifilm Photos of 2022 (GFX50S II, X-H2, X-H2s)
In this video Dylan Andersen reviews his favorite photographs taken throughout 2022, using a range of Fujifilm equipment that he acquired during the year. He walks through personal and landscape images captured with the X100V, X‑T3, X‑Pro3, X‑H2s, X‑H2, and the medium‑format GFX50S II, highlighting key lenses such as the 33 mm f/1.4, 80 mm f/1.7, 30 mm macro, 45‑100 GF, 55‑200, and 70‑300. The narrative blends technical observations (sensor detail, color rendition, dynamic range, autofocus performance, focus‑stacking, long‑exposure) with personal anecdotes (family moments, beach outings, skatepark action) and location highlights across Southern California (Big Sur, Morro Bay, Venice Skatepark, Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Bakersfield). Dylan reflects on the transition from X‑mount to medium format, praises Fujifilm’s 2022 lens releases, and concludes with an enthusiastic outlook for 2023.
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Hey. So 2022 was a really exciting year if you're a Fujifilm user. I myself was lucky enough to pick up a couple new cameras this year. I had really been shooting on my X Pro 3 in 2021. I've been shooting on my X100V last year and I want to show you some photos from the year. These are my personal favorite photos. These were taken with my new set of Fujifilm equipment that I kind of acquired through the year. Some new lenses, new bodies and of course I actually entered the gfx world in 2022. So really excited to show share some of these with you. So let's look at some images here. So the first one here, this is of my daughter. This was taken on the X100V on January 4th. So beginning of the year I live here in Southern California. We get a very short kind of winter but really cool image. Again, my favorite thing about Fujifilm is the colors. You can hear people wax poetic about how great the colors are. But again the colors shine on RAW files and even if you're shooting jpeg, you can do some amazing stuff. So really love that image. Again, starting out the year with a new lens from 2021, which was the 33mm f1.4. I made a video on this channel with this actually as the thumbnail still probably my favorite lens that is in the Fujifilm lineup for the X mount. It's just, it's powerful, right? It's F1.4. It's incredible character. It reminds me of the 3514 if it had a better, you know, focusing motor, the linear motor and had weather resistance. So fantastic lens. Sadly, this was taken with my X T3, which I no longer have. Talk about that in a minute. And then this was taken of my X Pro 3, which I miss greatly. But I did sell in order to acquire the XH2s, which is what I'm filming this on. So again, miss that body, but still have the lens. My favorite lens of all time for Fuji. So I was taking on the X100V just down here in Orange County, California. Again, having that small of a camera with you is really powerful because you can get images like this, right? You can just walk around and shoot. I. I think a lot of people online, especially on YouTube, try to find out what piece of equipment is going to get them better photos. I mean, this is talked about a lot, right? What technique or recipe or editing style is going to get you better looking images. It's really just going out there and shooting. Unfortunately this year, having a new baby and so many other things in my life, I wasn't able to get out and shoot as much. But moments like this on a random Mode. Is this February 5th at like 4:30pm with my X100V, just walking around, getting a cool shot of a dumpster. This shot was in April. This is after I purchased the gfx. This is one of my first shots with it actually. This is of cacti kind of set up here nearby. And with the kit lens, this is a 35 70. I love this image so much that I actually printed it 40 by 30 and it actually sits in my living room so all my guests that come into my home get to see it. It's not the best image in the world, but I loved it so much because it's very Southern California, very Orange County. I took it on a hike, but zooming in here, you can just see the immense detail of that sensor. I love shooting with GFX so much. The kit lens is incredible. For people that say it sucks, I don't know who that is, but it is incredible. So really enjoy shooting with that. On the end of that hike, I actually with the kit lens as well. I think this was shot at 70 millimeters. This was a guy that was on the hike with me and it was one of my favorite photos I've taken of all time. I think again, this is in April, earlier this year. 10:20 in the morning, you know, just meeting this guy and he was talking to me about my camera. I thought it was really cool. I told him, hey, it's medium format. He said he had a medium format camera when he was younger. So I said, do you mind if I take your portrait? And he said, sure. Came out with a really cool image. And not only is it a great image, but even at like f5.6, I mean, the background is incredibly smooth right on the kit lens. So you can really see the detail on this image. And again, this is pretty close to being straight out of camera. Really fun. And again, I love GFX bodies and lenses now. I think that was really the start of my addiction. Later that month, I picked up the 80mm 1.7. This was one of the first images I took with that at F1.7. Had to shoot it wide open just to see what it's all about. Again, it's not an amazing photo, but it just reminds me of how powerful that lens is. And even on the 50s too. I mean, you just get stunning results. I ended up going on another hike with the GFX. This is again on the kit lens at 70 millimeters at f8 and just seeing the amount of sharpness and detail and just corner to corner, just incredible. Blown away by that lens, blown away by the sensor. Shooting on X mount for the past eight to 10 years, you know, I really have seen the system grow, but GFX is just a whole other world. I'll make a video one day on why I jump back and forth between the two. But I think it's an incredible system and nothing comes close to that image quality other than the Hasselblad X1D and those other cameras. Earlier, before the summer transitioned jobs, actually, I had some time off in between jobs and went up to Big Sur, one of my favorite areas of California. If you've ever been here, go to Big Sur. This is a place called McWay Falls. It's part of the Julia Pfeiffer national park or regional park, I can't remember. But McWay Falls is the place. And it's got this very famous waterfall. And I took this on the X T3 1024 F4. This is the older version, not the weather resistant version at F8. Not a super amazing image, but had nice little clouds and fog and just kind of set, right? So really enjoyed that image. I'm on a little trip and it was again, most photos are going to be personal, right? Most photos are going to be something that you really were captivated by. So this was the time in my life when I was transitioning between jobs and job industries. I went to one of my favorite places in the world on a solo road trip. Left my family at home and got this really cool image on that same trip. This is with the GFX50S II with the kit lens at 35. We're at f11 here. I was in Morro Bay and kind of came across this really weird kind of electrical building that was tagged up and had this really cool, you know, greenery in front of it. I thought it was a cool image and it came out really well. I'm really happy with this. Again, the detail is like jaw dropping, right? I mean, we're in here pretty close, but just really, really nice, you know. And you can see, even at F11, you can still see the foreground kind of blurs out. So focus. People do a lot of focus stacking on gfx. I don't really have the patience for that. But really cool image I was happy with. Same thing. This is of Moro Rock with the kit lens, 35F11 so far, we're kind of seeing the theme. I mean, we're almost halfway through these images and a lot of these are on gfx, right? So I've had a lot of fun with GFX this year. This is right after I got the X H2s. I want to say probably within the couple weeks that I picked it up. And one of the things I loved about it was getting into a new body, right? And kind of setting aside my GFX for a moment, but I went near my home here in Irvine, California and shot across the pedestrian bridge. A little long exposure. And I did this with the 33 millimeter, so you can see f11, 15 second exposure. We're having this kind of weird harvest moon thing going on. I don't know too much about that stuff, but so it kind of made a cool image. And, you know, long exposure is fun, but you can definitely see them. The detail is not equated to what GFX has. But having said that, I was really happy with this image and it was a lot of fun shooting this flipped around. Same night I have my GFX with me and I have the 30 millimeter, which I recently picked up at f16. I mean, the detail is much, much better here, but the, the look of the image and the feel of the image is much different too. Whereas before I could kind of shoot through and blur out the foreground on the fence. But here with the medium format sensor is a little more challenging. I'm at F16 here on the 30 millimeter, so nevertheless awesome image. I love doing long exposure stuff. I'm trying to get more into that. It's definitely a learning process for sure. I would say this is my favorite image of 2022. This is an image I took in the Middle of Summer, July 17, at Venice Skatepark in Los Angeles, California. And if you're familiar with it or you've seen images from this place, I mean, you can't take a bad photo. But I brought my 33 millimeter, I brought my 70 to 33 hundred. And I wanted to, you know, take some photos of sports, right? Sports in action. And the skateboarder was ripping and just shredding big time in the bowl and ended up getting this really cool shot. Put it on Flickr. I was really happy with the detail and ended up getting on the Explore page on Flickr, which was awesome. So a lot of people enjoyed it and I think it's a great image and it really showcases just how good the autofocus on this camera Is this is a picture I took on my XH2s with the 23. This is the original 23 millimeter lens at f4. And this is of my wife and my daughter. It was the first time she went to the beach. So it was really kind of meaningful moment for me in the middle of July. Again, basic photo. But Fujifilm cameras just make these fun basic photos even better. This is a focus stack image. I think this was 60 images with the GFX50 S2. I believe I'm using the 50 millimeter F 3.5 on this. I'm almost positive. The EXIF info unfortunately got wiped out during the conversion. But this was right after I got the battery grip for the camera, which I love. It says December 26th, but it actually should be sometime in the summer. But yeah, love the battery grip on this camera. I love the way it looks. I love the way it feels. Again, having GFX camera and having XH2s and now the XH2, which I'll talk about in just a moment. It's a really easy transition. So really nice. Went to the fair, Orange County Fair this. This year. You probably go to fairs. It's a lot of fun. I had the 55 to 200 at the time. Doing some long exposures. Really enjoying that. I mean, the. The detail here is crazy. And actually, let me show you the detail in the focus stack. It's pretty nuts. I mean, it's like a pixel shift image almost. But this is just a focus stack image. So about 50 megapixels. Yeah. The quality that comes out of the 33. Excuse me, the XH2s and the 55 to 200, which is a really underrated lens. I really loved it. I ended up selling it for the 70 to 300 just for the extra reach, which I'll talk about in a moment. But really love that lens too. This is of a photo that actually printed. I actually have it hanging above my desk. Printed this on 40 by 30 as well. Excuse me. GFX50S2 got some fog at Point Vicente in Los Angeles and super, super happy with the image. I think I took this on the 80 millimeter at F5. Yeah, 80 millimeter at F5 here. Basic image landscape shot. But I was super, super happy with this and came out. This is pretty close to being straight out of camera. That just shows you how good the GFX is. It's really wild. This is probably my second favorite image of the year. This is a random. This is actually almost straight out of camera. I Think I brightened up the pole here. But unbelievable colors and kind of image that I got. It was just something random that I saw. I was shooting a bridge in Long beach late at night around 9:30 at night in August and looked over to my left and there was all these cameras on this post near the port of Long beach in California here. And I was like, that's crazy. So I ended up getting a quick long exposure. I think it was 15 seconds. And you can see obviously some planes in the sky. But I mean, look at the detail on this. It's unbelievable. It blows me away every time. You know, taking the GFX with you is a lot of work because it's heavy, the lens are freaking huge. But when you get these images and I can see here, oh, it's dot works is the brand of the, of the camera here. And you see the dynamic range. I was able to pull the shadows up on the pole and leave the background the same. And that's, that's super powerful. This is of XH2s, a L55 to 200 Huntington beach during Heat wave day in August. Basic beach photo. But I loved it a lot and I thought it was really cool perspective. Getting that compression is always really nice. And these photos are always going to be nice when you take them. OC Farragan XH2s 55 to 200. Zoomed all the way in on the telend. Really cool shot. Played with some of the shadows here and I really like the result. Did some of the first kind of fair long exposure with that one earlier. But once night fell I was able to kind of get some really cool light trails. And this is again with the 55 200. And I use that lens a lot this year on the XH2s. So super happy with that XH2s. I was doing a lot of surf photography this year. This is one of my favorite images. Kind of got the guy hitting the brake perfectly and just really enjoying himself. And this was with the 70 300. I had sold my 55 to 200 by the end of August. So super happy with that lens at f8 and above. It's just killer. And again the auto focus and burst. I think it was doing like 40 frames burst on this scene just to kind of check it out. And it was a lot of fun. So really cool that you can choose the exact moment when someone's doing something. 7300 XH2s here, which the. I think I took this at the aquarium in Long Beach, California and they've got some Birds there and some animals. So just to show kind of Even on the X60, I think we're at 320 ISO. But I did a lot of brightening, so you can see the noise here. And I will say the noise on the XH2s is a lot better than the XH2. Well, not a lot better, but it's definitely marginally better. Not really noticeable if you're not a pixel beeper. But on the 70, 300, just to show the quality. That lens is insane. So bird photography and wildlife photography on the XH2S IS killer. Another bird here fully zoomed in at 300 at f 5.6. I mean, you can see the detail here is pretty awesome. Yeah, super happy with that shot. A night shot, long exposure, 15 seconds. This is at 122 millimeters on the 70 300. This is shooting from Irvine into Newport Beach, California. If you're familiar, this is the Fashion Island Hotel. Cool night shot. You can see the oil rig in the distance because what's behind those buildings is actually the ocean, Pacific Ocean. So cool little night shot that I was really happy with on my XH2S33. I took a photo of the big wheel at the Irvine Spectrum center, the place I go to a lot. And this wheel is just so photographic that you can't really screw it up. But I love the orange on the wheel and it was a beautiful day outside and I've taken this photo from every angle a lot. But I really enjoy that, that structure and it's a really photogenic item. Tustin Tiller days I believe this was from in Tustin, California. This is the GFX with the kit lens, 35 to 70, 200th of a second. So kind of cool little shot, but very stereotypical affair. But I think again, the colors and the dynamic range that comes out of that sensor is really, really special. X100V here at the beach, pigeons with were surrounding me and my daughter. So that was kind of a funny photo. But really happy with even the X100V and the colors that you can get from it and having it on me at all times. To be able to capture moments like this is pretty cool with the 80 millimeter on the gfx. Took a picture of my daughter. You can just see, you know, it's a very. I think it's that F1.7. Yeah, this is a razor sharp, you know, plane of focus, right. Pretty thin, but yeah, I mean it looks like a large format image, right? It's really, really nice. A couple more here. This is the XH2S. I actually took this shot on the original 56 millimeter. I think actually that day I traded it in for the weather resistant one at my local camera store. So I think I was at the Spectrum doing some photography before that. And I love this image because they had their Christmas tree up. It was October 18th, I mean two months, two and a half months early for Christmas. And it's just kind of a funny shot and going into the ornament, but it's like this own world within it. And cool thing is you can see my daughter right here. And even on the XH2s on the old lens, the quality is insane. So really happy with that. Recently I went to do some client work in Bakersfield, California. It's way out of the way for me in the farmlands and place I don't really go to and kind of pulled over and had seen these animals and said, hey, I'm going to take some photos. So I had my 45-100 GF lens on the 50s II, took this wide open at f4 and I love how some of the birds had landed on them and they're kind of going back and forth. But just a really cool image. It kind of shows you even at f4 at 100 millimeters on the 45 to 1, 100, just the depth of field, right? I mean pretty, pretty insane. This will be the last image. I took this actually today, December 26th and I love this image. It's with the X H2 which is kind of my new daily driver. Now just for the resolution and with the XF 30 millimeter macro. This is at f8, so insane detail, not close to GFX, but certainly really exciting. I mean 40, 40 megapixels, it's pretty good, right? But yeah, love that image and actually love that macro lens quite a bit. So yeah. So thanks for joining me. Appreciate you kind of sitting through this long video with my favorite photos of 2022. I think the takeaway here is that Fujifilm has put out incredible equipment, incredible, incredible lenses. The XF 30 millimeter came out this year, the 150 600. My friend Mike Riley has used that quite a bit, loves it, A lot of good glass and bodies. It's just been a great year for Fujifilm. So congrats to Fujifilm, congrats to those of you who use their bodies and lenses because it's been an amazing year to be a Fujifilm user, fan, whatever, but have a wonderful rest of your year. Happy New Year. And we'll see where 2023 takes us. Thanks for joining me. Bye.
