While it produced beautiful images with unprecedented detail, the GFX 100 unveiled in 2018 was large, difficult to handle, and priced at an eye-watering $10,000. However, Fujifilm rectified all that with the launch of the GFX 100S, a model that appears and seems like a “normal” mirrorless camera, while costing a bundle less at $6,000.
The GFX 100S isn’t much bigger than Panasonic’s full-frame, 45-megapixel S1R, but it's a sensor that’s 70-percent larger with quite double the resolution. At an equivalent time, Fujifilm says it’s faster than ever, with features you’d expect on a contemporary mirrorless camera like eye-detect autofocus and in-body stabilization. The question is, how does it pile up against recent models just like the Sony A1 and Canon R5? I took it bent see and also loaned it to a pair of professional photographers who were considering buying this very model. Here's what we found.
Body and Handling
The previous GFX 100 may be a big chunk of camera that weighs in at 1,400 grams or simply north of three pounds. With the GFX 100S, Fujifilm cut it down by 35 percent to 900 grams (just south of two pounds). It’s about two-thirds the peak and slimmer in profile, to boot. the first reason for the smaller size and weight is that the elimination of the vertical grip and accompanying controls.
It feels better in hand than any past GFX mode because it’s shaped more sort of a conventional mirrorless camera. At an equivalent time, it offers a deeper grip that’s easier, while adding an additional physical mode dial on top.
It doesn’t offer as many physical controls because of the X-T4 or other Fuji X-series cameras, but the operation remains very tactile. You get a pair of command dials and therefore the aforementioned mode dial, alongside a joystick that moves the AF tracking point diagonally and not just up and down like before. Other controls include an attention select switch alongside buttons for the drive select, quick menu, and more. like other Fuji cameras, apertures are often controlled from a hoop on the lens.
I would have liked rear control and exposure compensation dials, but I didn’t miss the shutter and ISO dials from the X-T4. It’s even as easy (maybe easier actually) to use the exposure compensation button with the rear dial, or “click” the front dial to vary what it controls (shutter speed or ISO, for instance). If you actually miss those dials, you'll see a simulated version on the highest display, which may also view settings or a histogram. I found the latter to be a handy way of checking exposure without cluttering the rear display.
The menu system is decent, though not as intuitive as Sony and Panasonic’s menus, you'll largely control things with the fast menu or manual controls. Overall, the GFX 100S handles better than the other medium format camera I’ve tried. Everything is straightforward to seek out, especially if you’ve used Fujifilm cameras before.
Fujifilm developed a replacement in-body image stabilizer (IBIS) for the GFX 100S that’s much smaller than the unit on its predecessor. It even managed to enhance the performance with 6 stops of shake reduction, compared to five .5 stops before. Every bit helps, as medium format camera sensors are often sensitive handy shaking. With the IBIS turned on, I used to be ready to get sharp shots at relatively low shutter speeds right down to an eighth of a second approximately.
The 3.69-million dot OLED electronic viewfinder (EVF) wasn’t up to the standards I’d expect on a $6,000 camera, considering that the last model (and the $2,500 Panasonic S1, for example) features a 5.76-million dot OLED model. On top of that, if you would like to use the utmost resolution available (adjustable within the menus), the refresh rate drops to a pokey 50Hz. you'll recover refresh speeds (85Hz) on the other hand the resolution drops.
The 3.2-inch, 2.36-million dot rear touch display tilts down, up, and to the side, offering a pleasant high-resolution view and a pleasant array of adjustments. It lacks a flip-out display, but I don’t think many of us are getting to buy this camera to vlog or shoot selfies.
It comes with dual high-speed SD card slots which will be used for backup or extra storage, a USB port for charging and data transfers, mic and headphone ports, and a micro HDMI port. The battery is borrowed from the X-T4 and isn’t as large because of the ones on other GFX bodies, but it delivers an inexpensive 460 shots on a charge. There’s no option for a vertical battery grip just like the GFX 50S — but that’s a good tradeoff for the drastic weight reduction.
Performance
Performance may be an assortment with the GFX 100S. it's more responsive than the other medium-format camera, offering shooting speeds of 5 fps with a buffer limit of 14 lossless RAW images (about 1.4GB of data). However, that’s a far cry from the speeds you’ll see on recent high-resolution models from Sony and Canon, or Fujifilm’s own X-series.
The autofocus system looks good on paper with 3.76 million phase-detect pixels and up to 425 selectable AF points. It also offers touch-selectable continuous AF tracking along side-eye- and face-detect AF.
However, it’s not terribly snappy, with some lag that was particularly noticeable after reviewing Sony’s 50-megapixel A1. The eye-detect and tracking work reasonably well for studio subjects who don’t move much, but it’s not nearly as good in additional dynamic situations. On top of that, the AF speed highly depends on the GFX lens you’re using.
To be sure, the GFX 100S is meant for studio work, not sports. However, recent full-frame cameras just like the Sony A1 manage to mix high-resolution image quality with excellent performance. Not all photographers could also be willing to sacrifice that to urge the very best possible quality (which the GFX 100S does deliver, as we’ll see soon).
That point was driven home by Nathanael Charpentier and Samuel Dejours, photographers who don't only studio work but weddings, birth photography, and more. They were watching purchasing a GFX 100S for studio and high-resolution work, but after testing it out for a few days, are not any longer sure.
Pro photographers discuss the Fujifilm GFX 100S
The interview has been translated from French and abridged.
What did you wish and dislike about the GFX 100S?
Nathanael: What I prefer is that the handling. I prefer the high resolution. What I didn’t like the maximum amount was the autofocus. I had tons of problems thereupon because I’m wont to Sony cameras. On the GFX 100S, the autofocus may be a lot slower and fewer accurate. And for the sort of labor I do, with candid photography on the fly, that would be a hindrance.
What sort of work would that affect?
Nathanael: We already knew that it wasn’t designed for candid and live work, but our tests have really confirmed that. it might be tricky to shoot weddings, births, and the other sorts of photography where I want to possess rapid autofocus. For studio work, once we have tons longer, it might be easier. therein case, the high-definition of the sensor is appealing. So we’re still debating whether to use one for the studio.
What aspects did and didn’t meet your expectations for studio work?
Samuel: Where you notice the difference, of course, is once you concentrate on the image. With 100 megapixels you'll crop during a lot and still get sharp photos. therein sense, our other cameras are more limited. But once you don’t crop in, it’s really difficult to ascertain the difference. When retouching photos [in Lightroom] sometimes you'll see a touch more latitude within the Fuji compared to the Sony. However, it’s not a glaring difference.
Nathanael: We also took some images in low light at ISOs as high as 12,800. There’s some noise, but it’s subtle and pretty looking.
Did the very fact that you simply just tested the Sony A1 have any pertaining to your opinion?
For sure. And our A9s also is quick. We’re really won't do those fast autofocus speeds that make our work easier and provides us only a few unusable images. the very fact that we tested the A1 (two weeks before) can’t help but color our opinion on the AF speed of the GFX 100S. But we were already won't have a really good autofocus system, therefore the slower autofocus on the GFX 100S was often annoying.
Image quality
The GFX 100S really delivers on image quality, starting with its surprisingly good low-light capability. You might not expect that from a camera with a 102-megapixel sensor. However, those pixels are spread across a huge 43.9 x 32.9 mm sensor area, so the pixel pitch is actually the same (3.76 microns) as the 61-megapixel sensor on Sony’s A7R IV.
With backside illumination and a dual-gain design (this is likely a Sony sensor), it performed better than I expected in dimly-lit conditions. I saw little noise at ISO 6,400 and got clean images at ISO 12,800 with some light noise reduction.
At lower ISOs, the GFX 100S delivers clean images with incredible resolution, making it ideal for things like archival preservation on top of portrait and landscape work. If 102 megapixels isn’t enough, you can use the pixel shift option to get four times the resolution, though that really requires a tripod and static image.
A sensor this large allows for an extremely shallow depth of feel if you need that for portrait shooting. Combined with a fast lens like the 80 mm f/1.7, it delivers incredible bokeh and subject separation. At the same time, it makes focus accuracy more critical. That could be an issue given that occasionally unreliable AF performance.
it delivers RAW files with up to 16 bits of color depth compared to 14 bits on most cameras. With that bit of extra latitude, it delivers a wider dynamic range than any other camera (apart from the GFX 100) that’s a small notch above the Sony A1 and A7R IV, or Nikon’s Z6 II and Z7 II.
The GFX 100S is designed for RAW photography but if you do shoot JPEGs, it delivers sharp, color-accurate images. That’s ideal for previews or photographers who want to use Fujifilm’s popular film simulation modes. With the GFX 100S, Fuji introduced a new one called Nostalgic Negative that’s based on the look of US photographer Stephen Shore.
If you’re thinking of using the GFX 100S as a street photography camera and want to stay quiet with the electronic shutter, beware. It has a horrendous rolling shutter in that mode unless you hold it very still. If you’re not on a tripod, stick to the mechanical or front curtain shutter settings.
Video
Fujifilm has massively improved the video capabilities of its camera lineup over a previous couple of years, and therefore the GFX 100S is not any exception. With a sensible line-skipping implementation that takes advantage of the complete sensor width, it’s possibly the simplest medium-format camera for video.
The full sensor width allows for a razor-fine depth of field and beautifully soft bokeh. The downside is that it’s almost as sharp as a fully downsampled video, meaning you’re getting to see some more (rainbow patterns) and aliasing (jagged diagonal lines).
Line-skipping also enabled Fujifilm to read the sensor at a comparatively fast speed for its size. Considering how bad the rolling shutter is in still mode, it’s reasonably well controlled for video — visually, it’s round the same as Sony’s aging A7 III.
Image stabilization works pretty much for the video and you'll boost it touch using the digital IS mode. However, you continue to need to be very smooth when moving the camera to avoid jolts which will induce rolling shutter, so I’d only use it for static handheld shots and not any tracking, panning, or tilting.
Like the GFX 100, the GFX 100S offers 4K 10-bit video with Fujifilm’s F-Log option. And for extra flexibility in post, it'll even capture 12-bit ProRes RAW to an Atomos Ninja V recorder, albeit with limited ISO settings and no white balance control. That’s a really interesting feature for videographers that you simply won’t find on the other mirrorless camera (except, again, the GFX 100 because of a firmware update).
The video may be a touch soft, but it’s easy to control in a post because of the 10-bit and RAW capabilities. the large sensor also gives it a singular, IMAX-like quality you can’t find on the other camera. like the photos, colors are accurate with nice skin tones because of Fujifilm’s latest color science. It’s not meant to be used as a video camera, of course, but it’s fine for infrequent video use alongside photos.
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