PhotoPXL On The Rocks: Fujifilm GFX100 Interview With Mike Bulbenko From Fujifilm
Kevin Raber and Jody Grober with PhotoPXL interview Mike Bulbenko from Fujifilm about the GFX 100. Below is a summary of the 30+ min interview.
- Fujifilm released two 50mp cameras followed by the 102mp
- Fujifilm designed the GF lenses to outperform the 102mp
- The GFX100 is catching up to the GF lenses capabilities
- New zoom coming next year and the prime this year 50mm
- The 50mm f/3.5 is a medium format pancake
- Fujifilm still makes film and medium format is a film concept
- In the digital world, the GFX class size sensor is the large format
- You can think of S as studio and R as roaming for the GFX50R/GFX50S
- GFX battery lasts for 400 shots CIPA
- The nobs were removed from the Fujifilm GFX100 for better weather sealing
- The GFX100 lets you swap the wheels
- At the 100MP level, Fujifilm expects that 50% of users will be tethering most of the time
- USB-C tethering and you can power/charge the battery while it’s plugged in
- There is a barrel plug around 15v
- You can run the GFX100 off a ptap battery and a variety of other popular broadcast batteries
- 10-bit cinema 4k internal and external
- There has been a huge upswell of interest in filming with the GFX
- There are only 2 camera models with larger sensors and the GFX is just below them
- 16-bit sensor with full 16-bit files
- 16-bit and 14-bit files are about the same size at 200MB and in TIFF format they are 600MB
- Uncompressed files work faster than compressed on your computer
- Use UHS-II in the GFX to clear the buffer quickly
- Dual UHS-II slots
- GFX100 does 5fps 14-bit raw and 1fps 16-bit raw
- True 16-bit gives better color transitions than 14-bit
- If you’re pushing and pulling a lot or shifting color a lot you will want to shoot 16-bit to avoid banding
- Fujifilm offers lossless compressed and uncompressed RAW, but it only saves you about 10% of storage
- There is no reason to not shoot compressed
- Flash only syncs with a mechanical shutter
- The electronic shutter is for outdoors and very high speeds
- The electronic front curtain is a half and half that minimizes shutter shake by not using the front curtain, instead if uses the rear curtain to end the exposure
- IBIS will work down to 1/8th of a second and is great with video or third party lenses
- IBIS at it’s best is 5.5 stops of stabilization, but third party is up to 5 stops
- Electronic shutters made the company that makes blimps go bankrupt last year
- Optical stabilization works better than IBIS
- If you turn off the OIS switch than stabilization is turned off altogether
- Almost no reason to turn off stabilization even on a tripod because the floor is rarely stable
- The vertical shutter button lock issue was a production issue that only affected a few cameras and the fix is free
- Fujifilm generally does repairs quickly
- Fujifilm GFX100 Histogram is based off the JPEG read out not the RAW
- Film simulations will change how the histogram readout sees the scene
- The only way to get exactly Fujifilm’s simulation is to plug your camera into X RAW Studio because it uses the camera’s processor
- Fujifilm won’t give their color science to third parties because it is proprietary
- Fujifilm GFX100 has PDAF/CDAF with full sensor coverage
- Fujifilm GFX100 has mindboggling image quality
- Resolution is a system there is glass and sensor together
I still don’t accept their explanation for removing the dials. My Fujifilm GFX50S handled rain just fine.
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Fujifilm GFX100: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Fujifilm GFX50R: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Fujifilm GFX 50S: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama