Let’s get this out the way first: the Fujifilm GFX100RF is a truly fantastic bit of kit (along with several others in the compact line).
There, I said it – despite my deeply ingrained British cynicism – and while it’s not without its foibles (what system isn’t?), it’s quite the impressive little camera.
So with that out of the way, in this post I’ll talk about why, while walking the mist-lined cliffs of California’s Big Sur, I absolutely loved using it – and why I also ended up spending a disproportionate amount of time poking at its newly-designed power switch like an annoyed raccoon.
For obvious reasons, most readers will know I don’t always carry a full-frame Phase One medium format setup on every trip I take. While it genuinely continues to be the best camera I’ve ever owned, unbeatable in my field of work, it’s also not the most practical to carry around in your hand all day – I get it.
Since pocketing (pun intended) a limited edition Fujifilm X100VI last year, I’ve enjoyed the relative freedom that a more compact, point-and-shoot-ish, camera has given me on trips that weren’t for commercial work – and that’s where the GFX100RF piqued my curiosity: a 100MP medium format (cropped) sensor, fixed 35mm lens, compact body…
It was like my little X100VI had just grown up – what’s not to like?
Naturally, I had to give it the full road-trip experience as soon as I could..
In comparison, it’s clearly the bigger brother of the two bodies – and while it takes design cues from the X100-series, there’s no mistaking that this is an altogether more “serious” beast.
That said, it still fits in your hand in a way a “proper” medium format camera simply can’t, and I had high hopes that this could fix my resolution-anxiety for handheld trips I took without my bigger Phase One XT (or XF) setup.
So where better to try out my new handheld bundle of joy than the stunning California coastline of Big Sur, following Route 1’s trail along the Pacific?
Click 1, from the car – looked good.
Colours were rich, accurate, controllable via recipes and quick settings – and the detail level from this sensor was spot-on.
Already being familiar with the X100VI’s fixed 23mm lens on APS-C (so 35mm full-frame equivalent), the new 35mm fixed lens on cropped medium(ish) format also gave me just that little bit more breathing room that I’m used to, given its 28mm equivalent on full-frame.
(Technical reference: a “full” 645 medium format sensor would translate a 35mm lens to a 21mm equivalent on an IQ4 back)
But that little bit of extra space was welcome, especially for coastline landscapes, and out of the box it was delivering the goods in both JPG and RAW.
Add to that, the fact I could carry it in one hand, that it slotted into the glove compartment of the car, or even into the pocket of my hoodie, and this little gem had a lot going for it on a trip where we’d be stopping and starting, moving and walking – all day long.
What Fuji got very, very right:
- Build quality? Solid. I didn’t wrap it in cotton wool, and it didn’t seem to care. Chunky enough to feel premium, but hardly a burden to walk around with.
- Image quality? Wonderful. In good light, that fixed lens keeps up with all 100 million pixels – even wide open. Dynamic range was reasonable, too.
- Handling? Easy. If you’ve used the X100VI, the GFX100RF feels instantly familiar. I was up and shooting within minutes, no manual-panic required.
- Screen & viewfinder? Crisp, vibrant, clear in bright light. The lack of optical viewfinder (like I have on the X100VI) wasn’t an issue – I didn’t feel it was “missing”; the switch being repurposed for other functions.
- Battery life? Unexpectedly strong. I was braced for power anxiety at the level of a new electric car owner when I realised I’d only have one battery, but one charge got me through several days of mist, cliffs, and low light* (*ish…)
The X100 family genes continued into functions like that familiar shutter-speed / ISO wheel with the pop-up ring to select between the two.
Essentially, this felt like a very familiar, upgraded, experience when compared to my past year of shooting with its little brother.
The articulated screen, while kind of expected these days, feels solid and delivers one-axis flexibility for high or low shots. The EVF, as mentioned, is bright and full of all the right information at the point of capture, and the dual memory card slots continue the “nod” towards this being a “pro-version” of the smaller family members we’ve all come to know.
There are a couple of uniquely GFX100RF dials that were new to me – the first being the Aspect Ratio one – which I must confess to being slightly confused by.
Not because I can’t do the maths – but because I’m not actually sure of its value…
Sure – in conjunction with the repurposed EVF/OVF switch, it can give you either black bars or an overlay to show the frame based on that ratio.
Sure – it can deliver a JPG with my settings and that crop “baked in” to meet a consistent look.
But the raw still captures the full frame.
Which is good, don’t get me wrong (and through their full integration with Capture One, this aspect ratio data is handed across to you as you process those files).
But if it’s to “discard” unused parts of the image (to save space?) – it’s not doing that. It’s still recording the whole view.
And as a photographer, if I can’t see how a 16×9 or 2×1 aspect would look, without needing to black-bar the dead areas (which felt very 2010!), it would feel like that’s part of my (visual) job that I’m not doing well…?
Add to that, the fact that many of us make our crop decisions after the shoot – and try to capture as much as we can to give ourselves options – I found myself pretty quickly sticking to the (native) 4:3 ratio and never again touching that dial.
I’m sure some will find it handy – but personally, it felt more of a gimmick than a useful function.
And then, we come to the issue that’s hard to ignore with this camera…
Low light, handheld, shooting.
Maybe I’ve been spoiled by the extreme flexibility I’ve found with the X100VI. With its wide-aperture lens, coupled with a (claimed) 6 stops of IBIS (In-Built Image-Stabilisation) – I’ve found there are very few scenarios it can’t handle, even without a tripod.
But as a result of being designed for a small size, the GFX100RF has two quite big compromises:
An f/4 lens and no IBIS.
And in the daylight – all the way up to golden hour, to a certain extent who cares?
Handheld images are sharp, contrast is controlled, and it does a great job of capturing all 100 million pixels in a near-perfect way.
(Above and below at ISO125 – 1/250s – f/8)
While it doesn’t quite hit the 151MP of my IQ4 full frame digital back from Phase One, you can’t help but zoom in on these shots to look at how much fine detail it captures in that one click.
BUT…
As you head into dusk, or pre-dawn, things aren’t quite so rosy, especially on that high-res sensor.
From a distance (just as with our eyes), things look great. Colours are well-rendered, contrast control is still realistic and the EVF is perfectly illuminated to see what’s in the frame in relatively low light.
(Above and below at ISO400 – 1/30s – f/8)
Sure, I could have shot at a higher, noisier, ISO – but I shouldn’t have to.
Sure, I could have shot at a wider aperture – but I would have missed my foreground.
Sure, I could have shot on a tripod – but the point of this camera is its portability at high resolution; if I’m going to use my tripod, I’m going to shoot with my Phase One.
The guys at Fujifilm argue that it’s possible to shoot up to 1/30s handheld. My hands, having been “trained” over many years, are relatively stable – but I’d counter that position and say we’re still in the realm of twice-shutter-speed as a rule of thumb.
And the 50% crops, below, demonstrate this.
That said, I understand the design choices here.
Switching to an f/2.8 lens would have stopped this being compact and lightweight.
Likewise, IBIS would have added even more size and even more weight. Both of which would have resulted in a move away from the intended portability of this camera as a clearly-defined product in the overall line-up. Indeed – you’d pretty much end up with a GFX 100S series instead.
But when forced to look at shooting ISO1600 images the second the sun goes down, it just feels like this setup is simply out of its depth for the output that’s being demanded, if using it handheld.
The “oh, that’s a nice touch” button.
Underneath the power switch, you’ll find the other new addition – the Digital Teleconverter dial. Handy, when you want a bit more reach…
…or not?
You see, with a fixed lens camera, it’s often frustrating to find you’re not quite close enough. You don’t have an optical zoom, so the placebo effect (that works quite well) on the GFX100RF is to give you a digital crop in to the image – giving the impression of a zoom, while still on that fixed focal length.
And, let’s be fair, with 100 million pixels – for most applications, even a heavy crop will deliver an acceptable resolution for almost anything online.
Images at a 2x or 3x crop (“zoom”) still look crisp, sharp and full of detail.
As with its Aspect Ratio dial cousin – it’s only for JPG; the RAW file is untouched (apart from, again, its integration with Capture One that means you get a preview and auto-crop of the setup you had at capture).
But for those delivering fast JPG results, with recipes embedded, it’s a nice addition to be able to crop in-camera.
With that in mind, looking back, maybe the combination of aspect ratio and crop/zoom in-camera does begin to make sense as an output proposition – but again, only for JPG.
In reality, there are certain images that I wouldn’t have shot at full wide 35/(28), whereas they do work better when cropped.
Whether that crop is in-camera or in post-processing, well that’s a creative workflow decision for owners. Personally, I’d rather keep the flexibility to crop later, even on (or maybe even more especially for) JPG files which have their recipe and film simulations baked in – but to many, I’m sure it’s a welcome feature.
There is, however, one usability issue with the digital teleconverter that I couldn’t ignore.
If you leave the zoom/crop on (and that includes after a power cycle) and then forget about it, the viewfinder doesn’t clearly tell you it’s active. Twice, I framed shots thinking, “huh… this feels tight?” before realising I was still zoomed in digitally with the teleconverter enabled.
A small indicator in the full-screen preview would go a long way here – maybe one for a future firmware release.
Fuji’s not-so-hidden superpower : Film simulations & Recipes.
Now here’s a bit that doesn’t get shouted about enough outside of the owners’ community (who talk about it a lot): Fujifilm’s in-camera recipes and film simulations are actually useful now – not just marketing waffle. The GFX100RF nails this, and brings those same wonderful grades and feelings to much higher resolution images in the same compact form factor.
Being able to preload custom profiles and film looks into the camera, at 100MP, is a game-changer when you’re on the move. It’s no longer about getting a “quick preview” in the field – the JPEGs are genuinely usable.
Stylised, yet detailed, and sometimes so close to what I wanted that I didn’t touch them in post.
And the way that all integrates into Capture One makes the entire process feel seamless.
I can see the JPG with baked-in recipe (and aspect, and crop).
I can see the RAW with chosen film simulation (I love Classic Chrome) – and change it post-capture to any other.
I can (now) even load the JPG into Capture One’s “Match Look” and apply that recipe to one, many, or all images I took in RAW.
It actually makes “developing” images fun.
A great example below – the same image: the left with the rich, vibrant tones of Fujifilm Velvia, the right with the achromatic “Acros +R filter” film simulation applied – from within Capture One.
And of course, we can further develop from there.
All those in-camera goodies – crop (/”zoom”), aspect ratios, simulations – translate seamlessly into the RAW file metadata. No reworking needed, no hunting for where the camera stashed the settings, no mismatches. It just works, end-to-end.
And as a result, despite its compact size (and echoes of the X100 series), this GFX version of this form factor feels like a truly grown-up system now. It’s like Fujifilm realised not every point-and-shoot photographer wants to commit to a look mid-shot. The flexibility is there, the quality is there, and the transition from camera-to-edit is smoother than ever.
Highlight control & dynamic range.
One area I did have some concerns, especially in the field, was in the GFX100RF’s tendency to push exposures too hot.
Granted, we’re (apparently) all aiming for ETTR histograms, but I’m a firm believer of the principle you can recover a shadow, where you cannot undo a blown highlight.
And this worried me, when I took the EV+/-0 shots into Capture One in both JPG and RAW.
Granted, the image on the left had a recipe applied – but still, I shouldn’t really see that level of peaking at the top end of 255.
The raw, while obviously similar in RGB histogram, was able to recover a lot of detail – once pressed using either curves or HDR sliders – but I’d argue it could do with being just half a stop “safer” at capture for the metering modes they offer.
That said – post “recovery”, there’s little I can complain about in the final images. Colours are rendered well, my film simulation applied organically, and tones were consistent throughout – especially on such a harshly lit day.
Add to that, the level of detail and sharpness – even on these which were f/4 and up-close (you get a 20cm minimum focusing distance on this lens). With the accompanying fall-off, it does indeed feel almost like shooting true full-frame medium format, with the added convenience of it being entirely handheld.
And that dynamic range “concern” I had, well, I had to test it to prove things one way or another…
Shooting into a 70º sun, with shadows and shilouettes filling the frame, I wanted to see how that 100MP sensor would perform in harsh light and no “help”.
Admirably, I’d argue – it did a great job here, with no loss of detail and tones that were clean from dark to light.
So while things may look scary on first glance – I don’t doubt the sensor is capturing all the good stuff; you just might have to do some recovery work in post to get the best out of your frame.
The bit that drove me a little bit nuts.
(Well, a lot – I did warn you from the start…)
For all the technical innovations, functionality improvements, image quality and integration that’s been delivered in such an amazing little package – for me, there’s ONE thing that lets the GFX100RF down.
The power switch.
On the GFX100RF, the knurl of the switch sticks out, poud of the camera body.
Which means…? Every time you put it in a bag, take it out, brush it against your side, walk, breathe, it turns on.
Which got me thinking – have I missed this for the past year on my X100VI? Am I going crazy? Am I doing something different?
No – they changed the design.
The button has been significantly changed to be positively exposed. Great for knowing where it is when in your hand – not so great for avoiding accidental activations.
Why not copy the X100VI’s flush design? (See comparison below – did the two design teams not talk?!)
It seems like a small thing, until you’re on your third unintentional lens cap photo of the morning, with a depleted battery from live view to boot.
For such a fantastic bit of kit, it seemed such a shame for something so silly to let it down.
Sure, there are “ways of putting it in your bag” (as I’ve been told…). Of course, you could “put it in a case” (but then that defeats the “ready to go” nature of this form factor). Obviously, you could “be more careful” when it’s on a strap over your shoulder.
But, at this level of technical achievement; at this price point; why should you have to?
And that’s what frustrated me with this camera.
There are SO many great things about it.
In fact, if I didn’t have the X100VI and had to take one camera for a fast-travel shoot in daylight where I didn’t want to haul a full kit, but still wanted high-res, exhibition-worthy files – this would be it.
But if I planned to shoot in lower lighting conditions, that would mean I’d absolutely have to be putting the GFX100RF on a tripod (which means I’d be thinking of taking better kit anyway, for that reason).
And if you already own the X100VI (as I do), the question becomes trickier. You either carry both and pick your moments, or admit that one will probably stay at home a lot more often – and I fear it’s the heavier one, without IBIS, with a slower lens, that may be left behind.
Some of the innovations they’ve come up with over the years are truly impressive.
I love the film sims. The “Reflect Shooting Conditions” during RAW review on this camera is a great little add-on. I just love everything Fujifilm have built into this clever bit of kit.
It’s just – when my other choices are a handheld X100VI and a more serious Phase One IQ4 150MP – I’m not entirely sure where this new addition to the line-up quite fits.
The Fujifilm GFX100RF is a stunningly capable camera in an unlikely form factor. The fact they’ve managed to put that sensor in that body, I can say nothing other than “that’s incredible” at this point in our industry.
It delivers beautiful images, feels great to use, and proves that you can squeeze serious power into a deceptively simple-looking box.
But it’s not without its quirks.
And if you, like me, tend to notice the quirks while elbow-deep in a camera bag on the side of a cliff; just know what you’re signing up for.
That said, what camera is without its quirks, right?
And that’s the thing.
It doesn’t fit in my line-up. It’s in a weird space between my other systems. It’s got its flaws, and its features.
And would I trade it, knowing all of that?
Not a chance.
Unless, of course, you’re offering a power switch that doesn’t have a mind of its own…