Fujifilm GFX100 Round Up: 10 Days Till Shipment – Medium Format is Boss, Beastly, a Monster, Amazing AF, Problems and More

• 6 years ago

A lot of “influencers” currently have the Fujifilm GFX100 in their hands and their reactions are almost universally positive outside of the few that really do not have any experience at all with Fujifilm cameras. It’s interesting that Fujifilm seems to be taking a very Sony like approach to the GFX100 launch, hopefully, it pays off for them. Below I will have some summaries of videos out there in addition to some video and AF demos.

Fujifilm GFX100 (Preoders): B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

Above B&H Photo Video Summary

• This is good, This is good…
• Seriously professional camera
• Calls removing the dials made for 2019
• Awesome customizable mini rear LCD
• Love the new look
• Thought the Megapixel race was over years ago, but 102MP
• You can get a wide/medium/close up all out of one shot with 102MP or fill the frame and make some of the highest quality photos ever
• BSI sensor that is just nuts
• 16-bit color but not in continuous
• IBIS on medium format digital for the first time ever
• Can’t say enough how great the AF is and calls it X-T3 like
• Way different than GFX50S/GFX50R
• Must update all your glass for PDAF otherwise uses old CDAF system
• Buying the body is a big investment, but the lenses are priced like 35mm glass
• Awesome 5.7MP EVF
• Can run on a single battery, but takes two
• Wishes the portrait grip was rubberized
• Aimed at professionals and enthusiasts looking for the finest image quality out there
• Fashion, editorials, portraits
• If you shoot sports/wildlife there are cameras faster than 5fps
• He hit every frame tracking someone on a bike
• An exciting tool for video, but future sensors will have higher readouts so not really an A camera yet
• Medium format is boss it’s ridiculous to compare to full frame they aren’t the same thing

Above Image Resource Video Summary (A Little More Technical)

• First BSI sensor this size
• Using copper wiring to increase the readout speed
• Slightly better noise performance than GFX50R/GFX50S
• 14 stops of dynamic range
• 16-bit and 14-bit RAW mode
• Continuous shooting doesn’t work with 16-bit RAW
• M mode that records files like the GFX50S/GFX50R
• Photoshop/Lightroom read RAW files already
• First medium format IBIS
• IBIS weighs about twice what a Full Frame IBIS does and 4x what the X-H1 does
• IBIS has to be aligned within a tolerance of 20 microns of the lens mount
• IBIS is 5-Axis giving 5.5 stops of stabilization and there is no dual IS system so the lens OIS has to be turned off
• A future firmware update might add dual IS
• Medium format X-T3 for video without 4k60p
• Oversample 11,604 x 4,352 or 1090
• Uses line skipping vertically
• 4:2:0 10-bit internal recording and 4:2:2 10-bit external
• Internal F-Log
• Audio 24-bit 48KHz
• Top panel display very programmable and cool
• Programmable OLED on the back is very useful
• Dual core processor that’s about 4x more powerful than the GFX50S/GFX50R
• Dual Card Slots
• Surprisingly very light camera
• Dual batteries for up to 800 shots on a charge
• USB-C with 30-Watts or more will charge both batteries at the same time with a maximum limit of 100-Watts
• Anker PowerCore Speed 20000 PD provides 20-Volt 30-Watts 1.5A PowerCore+26800 PD provides 15-Volt 30-Watts 2.0A so the PowerCore+26800 PD is the ideal
• Very rugged and the magnesium casting is very light
• There is an additional magnesium panel inside the GFX100 that other cameras do not have
• Fujifilm has done a couple of things to reduce shutter shock like building in 4 shock absorbers in the shutter assembly along with an internal panel that locks everything together while removing vibration
• A ton of sealing points so it should be a well-sealed camera
• Certified down to -10C but the one that went up to Everest hit -40C

Above Vistek Video Summary

• Wins
  • The color tones are amazing and unmatched with all the detail you could need
  • There are 65k more colors in a 16-bit file then a 14-bit file which is handy for post-processing
  • Great for commercial portrait work
  • Skintones unlike any other camera, he has used before
  • Operates like a 35mm SLR
  • IBIS lets you hand hold below 1/250th a second reliably
  • Consistently sharp images at 1/30th a second and Fujifilm claims 1/3-1/8
  • More usable than any other medium format camera on the market
  • 4k DCI video 10-bit internal so no lost information in the shadows
  • Medium format X-T3 when it comes to video
  • They line skip in one direction and supersample in another
  • Some rolling shutter, but not very obvious
  • Pretty close to 35mm for rolling shutter
  • AF is great even though he’s not used to shooting AF
  • Everyone was blown away by the AF of this camera
  • Jaw dropping image quality
  • Can work for everything you do
  • 5.7MP EVF is the clearest/sharpest EVF he has ever used with close to optical viewfinder performance at 85fps
  • $10,000 is a lot but the next stop up is 3x more expensive and not really comparable
  • Thinks it should hold it’s value for the next decade
• Challenges
  • Files are huge with RAW files being over 200MB
  • You need fast cards for this camera or you will suffer from serious buffer lag time so get 300MB/s cards
  • Shift to large format terminology because of 35mm video market can be confusing since many large format lenses won’t have image circles that are large enough
  • The dials missing will be an issue from Fujifilm photographers so the learning curve isn’t great compared to Fujifilm cameras even though the menus are unchanged
  • The vertical grip isn’t the most useful because of the different size and texture
  • The rear dial is way too small and easy to press by accident
  • Heavy but not compared to other medium format cameras
• Who is this camera for?
  • Archival tool great for long term archiving or academia
  • If you’re coming from medium format this camera will blow you away
  • If you’re coming from 35mm there is a learning curve
  • Can satisfy just about every commercial photographer

Above CameraLab Summary (Not going to repeat things from above here now)

• Improved handling and usability since you can take it out of the studio easily
• Images are very useable out of the camera
• Decent demo shooting IBIS on and off and it makes a huge difference
• IBIS makes composition easier especially with a highly magnified view
• Not much bigger than GFX50S when fitted with battery grip
• Would have wanted a matching grip even if it made the camera bigger
• GFX100 best EVF he has ever used
• Many of the buttons came from X-Cameras and Gordon felt they were too small on X-Cameras
• The camera needs more controls that are larger
• SD makes sense because you can get the largest and most affordable cards
• Should have included a full-size HDMI
• Battery life is abundant and he never had an issue with battery performance even using Bluetooth and wifi
• Image quality might get a little better with final firmware
• Great images right out of the camera with JPG
• Handheld video is very usable
• IBIS is even good for walking and recording
• He vlog’d with it successfully
• AF isn’t great with video yet
• Electronic front curtain shutter is fine, but straight up electronic shutter is still slow
• Overall features make it more attractive than GFX50S/GFX50R
• AF speed about twice as fast as GFX50
• Lots of wasted space on the back and should use it with larger buttons
• The best image quality of any system

Above Matt Granger Summary (Not going to repeat things from above here now)

• When he had the camera ever shot shared from the camera had to be approved
• Fujifilm doesn’t think any other manufacturer will match their price
• He misses the buttons and hates the bottom grip
• Balances well with the GF110mm
• Not used to a camera this big having IBIS
• The price point with this kind of performance is unique and sets a new trend
• Less intuitive than other Fujifilm cameras
• Hopeful you can swap new EVF onto this camera in the future
• $10,000 price point is 40% less than the next system out there

 

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Fujifilm GFX100 (Preoders):

B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

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