After watching its fixed-lens X100 VI digital camera do stratospheric gross sales numbers, Fujifilm determined to construct a much bigger and badder model that might go up towards Leica’s full-frame Q3. The result’s the $4,899 GFX100RF, the first-ever 100-megapixel medium format compact digital camera.
The GFX100RF has some novel options, like a crop dial that allows you to select facet ratios starting from vertical 3:4 to a panoramic 65:24. It will probably digitally zoom through a devoted toggle and presents all of the social media-friendly advantages of the X100 VI, together with movie simulations. You possibly can even shoot medium-format 4K video.
Nevertheless, the GFX100RF has some flaws. The place Leica’s Q3 has a quick 28mm f/1.7 lens and optical stabilization, Fujifilm’s 35mm lens (28mm equal) right here is restricted to f4 and lacks any shake discount, hurting the digital camera in low mild. I’ve used the digital camera for practically two weeks now and loved it, however given the excessive worth and quirks, it’s undoubtedly not for everybody.
Fujifilm
The GFX100RF is the world’s first 100MP medium format compact digital camera. It presents unimaginable picture high quality and adaptability however isn’t nice in low mild, and the excessive worth makes it a distinct segment product.
- Extremely sharp pictures
- Revolutionary facet ratio dial
- Compact for a medium format digital camera
- Good design and construct high quality
- Poor low-light efficiency
- No picture stabilization
- No hybrid viewfinder
- Middling autofocus
Design and dealing with
Although it’s Fujifilm’s smallest medium-format digital camera, the GFX100RF remains to be a hefty unit at 735 grams. That’s greater than many full-frame mirrorless cameras and across the identical weight because the Q3. The management format is much like the X100 VI with management dials on the back and front, together with publicity compensation, shutter velocity and ISO controls on high.
What’s new is the facet ratio dial that gives modes for 4:3, 3:2, 16:9, 17:6, 3:4, 1:1, 7:6, 5:4 and 65:24 (the latter pays tribute to Fujifilm’s TX-1 panoramic digital camera). The GFX100RF additionally has a toggle up entrance to pick 28mm, 35mm, 50mm and 63mm (full-frame equal) zoom ranges. These step by step lose decision on account of cropping, from 100MP at 28mm right down to 20MP at 63mm. Bokeh can be lowered because the sensor dimension shrinks.
The rear 2.1-million-dot, 3.15-inch show solely tilts up and down, however that’s tremendous for the digital camera’s major road photograph position. Although sharp and detailed, the 5.76-million-dot digital viewfinder sadly lacks the X100 VI’s signature hybrid show that allows you to change between optical and digital views. Nevertheless, it does supply three modes to help the facet ratio dial and make composition simpler. One solely exhibits the chosen crop, one other exhibits the total scene with a field across the crop and the third shows the whole lot exterior the crop at 50 p.c opacity.
Battery life on the GFX100RF is excellent with as much as 820 photographs on a cost or about 100 minutes of 4K 30 fps video capturing. For me, that amounted to almost two days of use, which is healthier than practically each different (non-DSLR) digital camera I’ve examined. The digital camera additionally contains twin UHS-II reminiscence card slots plus mic, headphone, microHDMI and USB-C ports. The latter permits not solely information transfers and charging, but additionally SSD video recording.
Efficiency
The GFX100RF is basically a GFX100S II squeezed right into a compact physique, so efficiency is comparable with as much as 6 fps burst capturing speeds. Nevertheless, every RAW file is as much as 150MB in dimension and JPEGs are 70MB, so even at these slower speeds, you may fill your reminiscence playing cards very shortly. That stated, this digital camera undoubtedly isn’t designed for sports activities or wildlife, so I didn’t use burst capturing usually.
The autofocus is dependable when capturing single photographs, however it’s just a little laggy for bursts. Utilizing the face and eye detect AI modes helps nail eye focus reliably, however it’s not as quick as Sony and Canon’s methods. It additionally helps animal, hen and automobile monitoring, which helped me seize sharp photographs of geese floating on the Seine river in Paris.
The GFX100RF has each mechanical and silent digital shutter modes. Rolling shutter skew is an enormous subject with this sensor in silent mode with fast-paced topics, although. Fortunately, the mechanical shutter eliminates that and is sort of inaudible.
The built-in ND filter can scale back mild as much as 4 stops, letting you shoot on sunny days whereas retaining some bokeh. Nevertheless, the primary downside is when there’s not sufficient mild. The minimal f4 aperture is just insufficient and the dearth of stabilization exacerbates the problem as you threat blurry photographs at gradual shutter speeds. In dim mild chances are you’ll have to pack a tripod, which isn’t ultimate for a compact digital camera.
Picture high quality
The facet ratio and zoom choices on the GFX100RF are helpful and enjoyable. Some curmudgeons could favor to shoot full sensor 100MP photographs after which simply crop later in publish manufacturing. However the GFX100RF lets you’ve got your cake and eat it, too. You possibly can apply all of the crops, zooms and movie simulations you need and save them as JPEGs for straightforward sharing. Then, if it is advisable return and alter one thing, you even have the total 100MP RAW picture as a backup (although clearly, capturing each will fill your reminiscence card extra shortly).
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As with the GFX100S II, the GFX100RF is a high performer on the subject of element and sharpness. Colours are pleasing and RAW recordsdata retain excessive quantities of dynamic vary, permitting for straightforward adjustment in Lightroom. And naturally, Fujifilm’s movie simulations offer you colourful, nostalgic choices — like Reala Ace or the dramatic black and white look of Acros — straight out of the digital camera.
The GFX100RF additionally delivers lovely bokeh, with the f4 aperture equal to round f3 for a full-frame digital camera when it comes to depth of discipline (however not mild gathering). Like different GFX fashions, the massive sensor produces extra dramatic pictures than full body for portraits, landscapes or road photographs.
Like I discussed, issues crumble when the sunshine dims, although. With no choice under f4 and no stabilization, I relied on excessive ISOs to spice up publicity. The GFX100RF isn’t dangerous on this space, with controllable noise as much as about ISO 8000, however that’s not excessive sufficient contemplating the opposite elements. For these causes, the GFX100RF is much less versatile than it may very well be.
Video
The GFX100RF can deal with 4K and widescreen DCI 4K at as much as 30 fps with pretty excessive bit charges, so long as you’ve got a quick UHS-II SD card. It will probably even shoot ProRes with at a lot increased information speeds, however for these, you’ll have to report on to an SSD through the USB Kind-C port.
Autofocus for video is respectable however not extremely quick, so ideally your topics don’t transfer an excessive amount of. The AI-powered face and eye detection helps nail focus when filming individuals, however once more, can fail if topics dart round.
Video has a dreamy high quality and bokeh that solely a big sensor can supply. Just like the GFX100S II, the GFX100RF captures video utilizing the total width of the sensor in most modes, albeit with pixel binning that reduces high quality. The sharpest video comes with a 1.32x crop, however that reduces the picture high quality advantages of a big sensor.
Video on the GFX100RF has one factor going for it that the photograph facet lacks: digital stabilization. This smooths out shakiness for handheld photographs, however the extreme rolling shutter limits your capacity to maneuver the digital camera shortly.
Colours are pleasing and straightforward to regulate, notably when utilizing Fujifilim’s F-Log or F-Log2 10-bit modes to spice up dynamic vary. And naturally, Reala Ace, Acros and different movie simulations can be found in video modes to create nice appears to be like straight out of the digital camera.
Wrap-up
Fujifilm’s $4,899 GFX100RF is a strong digital camera with unimaginable picture high quality that’s hampered by a scarcity of low-light efficiency. It’s additionally a distinct segment and costly product that, in contrast to Fujifilm’s widespread X100 VI, solely appeals to a small group of photographers.
Its major rival on this house is Leica’s Q3, which has a smaller 60MP full-frame sensor and better $6,735 price ticket. Nevertheless, the Q3 has a a lot quicker 28mm f/1.7 lens, much less rolling shutter, a single SD UHS-II card slot and as much as 8K video. It additionally has the Leica model cachet, which does imply one thing to individuals spending this sort of cash.
The GFX100RF is enjoyable to make use of, although, and introduces a number of improvements just like the facet ratio dial. Although it might by no means have an enormous market, I feel merchandise like this push the trade in new instructions and create conversations that draw new individuals into pictures. So although I’d by no means purchase one, I’m glad the GFX100RF exists for these causes.
