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When we think of iconic moments in sports, what often comes to mind are grand victories and high-stakes moments. But it’s also the subtle, fleeting instances of raw emotion and personal significance that can make a photograph truly unforgettable. For instance, when Oleksandr Usyk took over Tyson Fury in the epic fight for the title of the absolute champion in heavy weight, all eyes were on Fury’s face changing in disbelief – as well as all faces from the front row. Would it be possible to capture that blink-and-you-miss-it expression without today’s high-speed gear? Obviously, not. Neither would have we seen in detail Cristiano Ronaldo’s tears after his penalty miss at Euro 2024, or Yaroslava Mahuchikh crying in a jump after setting a new world record in Paris.

These moments exemplify the power of high-end sports photography equipment. Today, with the introduction of the GF500mmF5.6 lens, a new chapter in sports and action photography is being written.

An Italian sports photographer, Federico Tardito, has tried what’s possible with the large format GFX100 II camera combined with a 500mm focal length of GF500mmF5.6 lens in his recent project. For this test-drive, he chose one of the most challenging and complex team sports to try the autofocus – American football. Armed with the new lens and the GFX100 II, he contacted the Torino Giaguaro team, which plays in the top Italian American football league.

“Unlike football – which is the discipline I usually work with – the players are much closer together and the movements are much less orderly and predictable, not to mention the fact that there are many players moving in front of the subject, which makes tracking the camera and lens anything but easy. (…) After attending a couple of their training sessions to thoroughly understand the movements, and the players and game dynamics, I found myself shooting my first sports competition with a large format. This was finally possible thanks to the GF500mmF5.6.”

The GF500mmF5.6 is the longest telephoto prime among all GF lenses. Despite the very long focal length, it remains extremely lightweight, especially when compared to other 400mm lenses in 35mm format. This makes the lens very easy to handle during the game. Above that, it has a reliable weather sealing, which is a must-have when working outdoors.

“I often work at the maximum aperture to isolate the subjects better, and the performance at maximum aperture of the new lens thrilled me from the first use: the blur effect is truly pleasant and allows for perfect isolation of the subject from the background and scene distractions.”

Despite its small size and light weight, there’s absolutely no compromise about image quality. The GF500mmF5.6 offers one of the best resolution in the line-up. It is also equipped with a powerful 6.0 stops image stabilization system and a high-speed AF drive system with linear motors, which enables comfortable handheld shooting with minimum camera shake and overturns the conventional wisdom of large-format.

“The best part comes during editing. The files from the GFX100 II, paired with the GF500mmF5.6, are truly stunning. The latitude of exposure is incredible and allows for recovering highlights or shadows that are too closed even using only JPEG. The detail is remarkable, and so is the sharpness. The 102MP of the camera allows for an almost infinite freedom of cropping, and different versions of the same frame can be obtained simply by cropping the image differently, which becomes an additional very useful resource during work delivery.“

“I chose to work with the Eterna Cinema film simulation. This way, I could take advantage of all the speed of JPEG while maintaining a file rich in detail and extremely workable.”

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