Five days in Istanbul with the Fuji GFX100RF. How did it actually perform?

This isn’t my first trip with the Fuji. It made its debut in Portugal last year and performed brilliantly.

But Portugal was a different beast. We had a rental car and spent most of our time hiking through open fields. There were no crowds, no urban obstacles and nobody around. In those wide-open spaces, the Fuji was perfect – portable, agile, and easy to carry all day while delivering that mouth-watering medium format magic.

Istanbul, however, was a completely different test.

I wanted to see how it would handle a modern metropolis of 15 million people, narrow alleys packed with street vendors, commuters rushing, bumping and shoving past one another.

Crowded. Sultanahmet, Istanbul historic district

Is the Fuji GFX100RF good for the specific dynamics of street photography?

Before we get there, let’s talk about Istanbul and Turkey.

If you want to jump directly and read about the camera, just scroll all the way down to the last chapter of this post.

Turkey

As a tourist in Istanbul, I felt like I had gone back 40 years. Moving around the city, I hated the way the locals engaged with us.

Vendors would shout things like, “Hello! Where are you from? Vietnam? Japan? China? Konnichiwa? Ni hao!”

Some would grab my arm, tap my shoulder or stand in front of me to block my way: “Come to my store, please, just 2 minutes!”. I had to shove them away politely.

Street vendor, one of many everywhere.

When you have to do this for a full day, it becomes a pain in the ass. I understand they need to milk the tourists. But I don’t think this is a proper way to engage. So primitive.

Payment is as old-school as ever: everything in cash, please. Card? Pay an extra 20%.

The (bad) service

We were not impressed by the service from a local tour agency. We took a one-hour domestic flight from Istanbul to visit Pamukkale. The whole experience could have been a lot better.

I won’t waste time reporting every single detail. Let’s just say the logistics were a complete mess. Bad luck?

Last year I spent five days in Turkey and had similar bad experience with a tour guide who was all over the place. Too much to call it a coincidence.

Let’s focus on the good things instead.

Weather

In Turkey we enjoyed very, very good weather. We had a clear blue sky every day, it was pleasant just strolling around slowly, observing things, chit chatting, visiting the landmarks.

Enjoying the Bosphorus coastline with perfect weather.

Perfect outdoor conditions for a photographer carrying a medium format camera!

Safety

Local vendors were too intrusive for our liking, but they were not threatening by any means. We wandered around several districts with no issues.

Prayers

Every morning close to 6AM we would hear the morning prayer. Our hotel was close to a mosque, so the melodic chants from the prayer were quite loud.

I’m not a Muslim and don’t know much about the prayers, but it sounded very peaceful to me. It was our morning call, after which we would enjoy a Nespresso in our hotel room.

Prayer captured from a rooftop restaurant at 8:05pm.

I learned there are a total of 5 obligatory prayers along the day, from early morning till night. It is a peculiar moment because you can hear from everywhere. From the closest mosques to the ones distanced away, the chants echo across the city. It’s quite a feel. Not eerie, but close. I lack the word to describe accurately.

Food

After the morning prayer we would enjoy our Nespresso in the room and then slowly get ourselves ready to go out and enjoy a traditional Turkish breakfast, which was a food show in its own right.

Our table would explode into this colourful presentation of small dishes: vegetable salads, olives, humus, couscous, cheese, yogurt, shakshuka, bread, fruit!.. What else? So much food for a breakfast!

Traditional Turkish Breakfast and Turkish tea, always served in this elegant glass.

In Turkey the food is not only tasteful, but also visually captivating. You get to see rich colours in so many different textures. I find a visual resemblance to the mosaics found in mosques and palaces.

Similar look not a coincidence, they all go along together. I call this visual DNA and every place has its own.

You may think I’m stretching a bit here, but I’m not. I’m an Architect and very sensitive to the visual appearance of things. Whenever I visit a new place, after a few days I get a grip of its visual DNA and find similarities in everything surrounding me.

In the case of Turkey, I group all these things together: the food, the rich motifs in the wall mosaics and pendant lamps, the patterns in hand-painted tea sets… I can see similarities and there’s a reason for this. They come from the same people, they all share the same visual DNA.

Nevertheless, as always the most simple things are the best. If I am to pick something I really enjoyed eating in Istanbul, it was this balik dürüm (fish wrap).

The fish wrap was delicious and what made it memorable was the whole experience. The luxury to simply wander the streets, let the aroma draw you in, feel hungry, wait as the meal is prepared right in front of you from a street vendor, then eating it hot on the spot.

Istanbul

In the first 3 days we wandered around Istanbul and got to visit the main landmarks. We walked, used their tram and metro. We used the ferry to cross the Bosphorus. Public transportation was efficient. Getting the prepaid Istanbulkart in the vending machine was a headache, but all good once we got it.

Below a selection of photos taken with the Fuji GFX100RF. Description below each photo for some storytelling.

For EXIF data and full resolution just click on the photo (same for the ones above).

This was our first stop: unbeknownst to us, the Egyptian Bazaar was a stone’s throw from our hotel. It was still early, we had just arrived from Hong Kong that morning. A quiet and peaceful start.

Plaza outside the Egyptian Bazaar. Note the subtle light and shadow tones in the ground. Medium-format stuff? By the way, in Turkey every morning you see people cleaning the floor.

Hagia Sophia showing some remains of its Christian origin before being converted into a mosque. I found it extremely difficult to take photos here. Apart from the crowds, the building is under maintenance so there are scaffoldings everywhere. But mosques are difficult to shoot. I’d have to spend some time to understand how to best capture mosques as a whole. They have very high ceilings and massive open space.

Blue Mosque. Three local teenagers approached us, they were working on a school assignment. Asked us how we would describe Blue Mosque in one word. “Ehhh… Blue?..” Not the most inspiring reply from me, but I guess it worked. They laughed, shrug their shoulders and walked away thanking us. We spent just a couple of minutes inside the mosque, than security rushed us out as prayer time was about to commence.

Topkapi Palace. This place was huge. We lost count on the number of beautifully decorated premises we went through there. All those colourful mosaics with intricate patterns adorning the walls. At some point we got tired, it was too much to digest in one go.

Beautiful gardens in Topkapi Palace overlooking the Bosphorus.

On a Sunday morning, we crossed the Galata Bridge and were pleasantly surprised to see all these people fishing. We were on our way to the Galata Tower…

…which we ended up not visiting as there was a 2 hour queue… We proceeded to this adjacent pedestrian street full of al-fresco cafés and stopped for a San Sebastian cheesecake instead.

Cats are everywhere in Istanbul. And they are cute.

A note on these food vendors. In Istanbul you see them a lot. They sell simit bread (a donut shaped bread), corn and chestnuts.

The Gülhane park was another surprise attraction. On our way from the hotel to Sultanahmet, we made a stop there and captured these beautiful flowers.

Icadiye Street, located in the charming, historic neighborhood of Kuzguncuk, which is part of the Üsküdar district on the Asian side of Istanbul. It was quiet, although not much to do there. A couple of streetside cafés and some colourful, social media suitable houses. We found this car featured in front of a café. Later I used AI to tell me what exactly this car is: a Tofaş Murat 124, the Turkish-licensed variant of the classic Fiat 124. Interesting.

Pamukkale

Day 4 we departed early to Pamukkale, about 600km away from Istanbul. We took a 1 hour domestic flight. My wife wanted to visit the famous travertines, also known as cotton castle. I’ve been there last year with my son, but this time we had more time.

Before immersing into the travertines, we found this flower field and couldn’t resist taking some shots.

We spent several hours just enjoying the beauty of the white travertine formations and the attractive turquoise-blue water in the pools. This is why I enjoy travelling with my wife, we don’t rush around.

We take the time to truly savor the places we visit.

Talking of which, my wife took the shot above. I was just sitting there under the shade, admiring the magnificent view right in front of me. It looks so natural and could be a Fuji ad, with the GFX100RF inconspicuously by my side. 🙂

Now the travertines:

Several views of the amazing travertine formations. These photos had to be exposed carefully due to the bright white reflections of the travertines under the strong sunlight. Highlights had to be preserved in order to show the interesting wavy patterns.

Some formations showing different colours. Both photos above treated with VELVIA film simulation to boost the colours.

Posing with the travertines… and this was before getting our feet wet.

Finally, we walked down to the naturally formed travertine terraces that are beautifully filled with turquoise-blue thermal waters. I’d seen those in promotional material and had always assumed the photos were tweaked, thinking too good to be true. Well, I was wrong, this is the real colour of the water!

We had swimwear and towels in the backpack, we briefly considered going all in… At the end we decided getting our feet wet was good enough. By the way, in case you wonder how we managed to take photos with no one around in this tourist hotspot: I used Lightroom’s AI tool to have them removed.

After a few hours in the travertines, we went for a walk in the surroundings to visit the other landmarks. The travertines are actually located in an ancient Greco-Roman city called Hierapolis.

A fairly well-preserved Roman theater. This is a textbook example of ancient topographic integration: built directly into the hillside, the theater exploits the natural slope of the landscape to form its seating area.

Cavern

It took us over four hours to fully experience Pamukkale and Hierapolis. We went for lunch and then came Salda. Well, before that we got to visit a cavern. It was wet everywhere. Took a few photos, but they came out not that good.

A small pond inside a semi-open cave filled with an amazing dark blue water. Original image came out totally overexposed and the white balance was completely wrong. It took some heavy lifting in Lightroom to get it right. The Fuji GFX100RF struggled here.

The Fuji GFX100RF struggled. It kept over exposing. Not sure why, but one thing I found during this trip is that this camera struggles in low light. Not in terms of noise or image quality, but in terms of its normal operation. More on this below.

Salda

A large, beautiful lake surrounded by fine sand like a beach. Sun was setting when we arrived and all of a sudden the sky was covered by clouds.

With the Fuji’s amazing dynamic range you can shoot against the sun iwth no issue. Shadows and highlights are recovered with ease. If HDR is your cup of tea, you’ll feel at home. I’m not a big fan, thus I recover just enough to keep a natural look.

We didn’t get to see the beautiful blue shades of the lake, but sunset gave us a very cinematic light.

Lavender fields

Last stop, our guide took us to visit lavender fields nearby. It was part of the deal. But when we got there, he said there was no lavender to see because it’s not the right season.

“Then why did we come all the way here?..” my wife asked me in Cantonese. “So that he could tell us there are no flowers for us to see?..” What a rip-off. We called it a day, headed to the airport and back to Istanbul.

Last day

Back to Istanbul, we visited the elegant Dolmabahçe Palace.

The first of the several portal entrances before reaching the palace. Note how the portals in the background are all aligned.

The palace main façade. Lightroom did a good job here removing all distracting people from the frame.

One of the numerous stone reliefs in the façade. Note the monumental scale of these architectural members against my wife.

Another hotspot for social media addicts: this beautiful portal overlooks the Bosphorus straight.

For some reason, you are not allowed to take photos inside with a proper camera, only with your phone.

Go figure. I’ve been to places where flash is not allowed. But a proper camera not allowed, forcing you to use your phone to take photos? This is a first.

The only photo I managed to take inside the palace with the Fuji...

After visiting the palace, we decided to visit the Fener neighborhood. More cafés and shops, plus some Instagrammable spots full of young tourists taking selfies. It was all a bit lowball to our liking: attractions included a colorful stair (just painted steps, really…) and a patio covered by colourful umbrellas.

A pleasant street in Fener, with colourful houses and cafés. And many tourists around.

Walking up the blocks, up the hill. Still an interesting neighborhood, visibly less tourists now as we got distanced from the river front..

We were going with the flow and accidentally got into this neighborhood populated by a more conservative Muslim community. All ladies had full length burqas, several men had corresponding costumes.

I’m not much of a street shooter, I lack the craft and confidence to shoot strangers directly. The shots here and below were taken in a stealthy way. The high resolution of the Fuji gives plenty flexibility to reframe the shots at home.

There was this busy street market, they were selling everything from food to underwear. It turned out to be one of the best experiences in Istanbul.

Definitely a place for locals, not for tourists. Vendors didn’t even care to engage with us. It felt authentic.

Random photos showing the action in the streets. All processed with CLASSIC NEG film simulation for a distinctive look and feel.

This was our last activity. We woke up early the next morning and flew to Luxembourg for this.

* * *

Now let’s talk about the Fuji GFX100RF: how did it perform in Turkey, in Istanbul, in an urban context?

Fuji GFX100RF in the streets

In the first two days of the trip, I carried the camera with my usual Peak Design soft strap with anchor links. I would carry the camera with the strap on my neck. After a few hours I would feel a sore neck and switch to carry it across my chest to spread the load to my body.

On my 3rd day, I ditched the strap and used the Peak Design clip system instead, clamping the camera to my backpack strap. It felt a lot better.

The narrow streets of Istanbul. In CLASSIC NEG film simulation.

Still, after a full day strolling around Istanbul, I would return to the hotel with my body aching from the camera’s weight.

This was something new to me: the Fuji GFX100RF was heavy.

Everything is relative. This is a medium-format camera: at 735 grams, it’s light for what it is.

I’ve been shooting with this camera for almost a year and had never complained about its weight. Not even recently in Yamingshan, where we hiked for 9 hours straight, over 20km of mountainous terrain and 1000 meters elevation.

Galatasaray football club flag against a clear blue sky. CLASSIC NEG.

But in Istanbul, it felt heavy. My only explanation is that in mountain hikes, I have no one around me and I’m in perfect control of my own rhythm and walking path. Whereas in Istanbul, I was dodging the people around me, the cars, whatever, constantly changing direction and pace during our walks.

Was this really the reason behind it or am I just getting old?.. Frankly, I have no other way to explain this.

Overkill

Having to deal with the weight of the camera, I felt the Fuji GFX100RF was perhaps out of place for this setting.

(Bruh… Really?..)

Yeah I know. Medium format, 100MP resolution for street photos? Total overkill. That goes without saying.

Typical street scene… We were having tea and coffee in this alleyway. I pre-framed and pre-focused, then waited for someone interesting to come fill the frame. Do you need a medium format camera for this? Absolutely not.

I was used to taking this camera everywhere. I was used to seeing this camera as small, light and portable. So I never cared to think if the specs are overkill for what I’m shooting. The Fuji GFX100RF was my go anywhere camera. Good for all occasions. Period.

With this trip I learned something different. If I could go back, I would definitely pick a smaller and lighter camera. The Sony RX1Rii came to my mind several times when my back was complaining.

Low light

Now this was a new finding for me as well. I came to realise I had not much experience using the Fuji GFX100RF in a low light, dynamic setting: hand-held, no tripod and in a hurry, with a crowd behind me.

Image quality was not the problem here – we know this medium format sensor will eat the darkest scene for breakfast and then some. The problems I faced had more to do with the camera’s operation in dimly lit situations.

Basilica Cistern. Both photos shot handheld at ISO3200, no denoise applied. It was extremely hard to get focus on my wife’s face.

We were at the Basilica Cistern and the camera struggled to focus on my wife’s face. For the first time I experienced focus hunting with the Fuji GFX100RF. I switched to MF, with magnification as focusing aid. It didn’t work: too dark and the blown-up image was pixelated and noisy both in the EVF and LED.

I switched to focus peaking and for some reason the highlights wouldn’t show in my wife’s face. I kept turning the MF ring to no avail. Frustration built up when I saw the guy next to me happily taking photos of his family with his iPhone. I gave up!

So the Fuji GFX100RF is no good for low light?

I’d never experienced the aforementioned low light difficulties because so far I’d only used this camera in the bright outdoors. What happened in Istanbul in low-light was a scenario I was not familiar with using this Fuji. It caught me off-guard.

You can obviously use this camera in low light, you just need to be prepared by its shortcomings.

You need a strategy to get accurate focus, you need to switch to manual exposure for perfect control under complex mixed light involving very dark and bright areas. And you need to be aware of the limitations posed by f/4 max aperture and lack of IBIS.

Just need to plan ahead how to tackle these situations.

Bottom line

Simple and straightforward: if the Fuji GFX100RF is your only camera, then using it like I did in Istanbul, it works great. Just deal with the weight. Sure, compared to some mirrorless cameras out there, this Fuji may still be a lighter and smaller option.

Carrying the load. Well, the Fuji is not that heavy, but still… Lighter is always welcomed.

But if, like me, you have cameras at home that are smaller and lighter, able to deliver good image quality. Well, then you should think about picking those in lieu of the Fuji if you are to spend a whole day walking around a crowded city.

If I could go back, I would choose the full-frame Sony RX1RII or the APS-C Fujifilm X-Pro 3 with a fast prime. For me, any slight drop in image quality from a smaller sensor is a fair trade for a lighter kit that saves my back. I’m too old to trade my body, the pain on my back and shoulders, for a higher resolution photo. Nope.

Still

This is just me saying. Yet when I look at some photos from Turkey taken under good directional sunlight, when I appreciate the rich colours and shadow gradations, the colour slide feel I get from those photos… Can’t help but to think,

“I’m glad I had the Fuji GFX100RF with me”.

Am I really leaving the Fuji home on my next trip?..

Not sure… Let’s see…

*All photos above taken with the Fuji GFX100RF, post-processed to taste in Lightroom using PROVIA film simulation unless stated otherwise.