The X100 VI cemented Fujifilm’s name in the camera world. Now, prepare for a little seismic shift. Meet GFX100RF, the $4,899 middle finger to the status quo. Forget full frame. This is medium format with 100 megapixels compressed into one body tall enough to stare down Leica’s Q3. Fujifilm is not playing; they are making-the-rules.
With the GFX100RF, your creative mind runs into visual expression. Imagine standing tall in 3:4 portraits or stretching into panoramic vistas such as 65:24 with the crop dial turned. Zoom in on the heart of the moment through the ingenious toggle for digital zoom. To accentuate your expression even further, the film simulations previously exclusive to the X100 VI can now be used for your personal vision. And where stills aren’t enough, dive full clip into medium-format 4K video!
This camera represents a box of flaws. While the Leica Q3 offers a bright 28mm f/1.7 lens with optical image stabilization, the Fujifilm 35mm (28mm equivalent) lens takes a slight hit for having a slower aperture of f/4 and no such stabilization-the absence of both does matter in dim light. After shooting for two weeks, I really enjoyed shooting with the camera, but its price and quirky specs would place it in the category for avid enthusiasts instead of for the general populace.
Fujifilm
Fujifilm GFX100RF
Imagine a world streaked with 100 million pixels and picturized through a box camera the size of your hand. The Fujifilm GFX100RF is not merely a camera; it is a doorway into infinity astonishing detail and creative liberty. The image quality of this wonder is so mesmerizing-a perfect harmony between sharpness and resolution-that before this, only studio giants held that advantage. But be warned: this gadget is for those who can afford it, given that it struggles in low-light conditions. It will never appeal to just anybody; the GFX100RF is for those who settle for nothing less than the highest image fidelity.
Pros
- Incredibly sharp images
- Innovative aspect ratio dial
- Compact for a medium format camera
- Nice design and build quality
Cons
- Poor low-light performance
- No image stabilization
- No hybrid viewfinder
- Middling autofocus
$4,899 at B&H Photo Video
Design and handling
True to its title as the “smallest” medium-format camera, the GFX100RF by Fujifilm actually weighs a solid 735 grams. To give you a perspective, it weighs more than some of the full-frame mirrorless wonders you’ve held in your hands and is almost at par with Leica Q3 with regard to the weight. The control scheme feels very familiar if you have used the X100 VI. Enjoy the tactile satisfaction of having front and rear control dials, along with dedicated dials for exposure compensation, shutter speed, and ISO situated at the top, readily available to immediately grasp the control of your image.
Hold your desire for megapixels. The GFX100RF has blessed us with an unusual evil laugh: an aspect ratio dial disappointingly going through a historical panorama of inches and sizes to great visual drama. From the classic 4:3 to a razzle-dazzle-wide 65:24 (tribute to Fujifilm’s panoramic TX-1), the artist is not shooting; it is more of an experiment. There is no stopping to the crazy fun now. A front toggle allows you to “zoom” through a variety of virtual lenses- 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 63mm- all crops of that mammoth 100MP image plane. It is that resolution playground where you give up few megapixels for a new perspective, further dropping down to 20MP for the tightest crop. Exactly the same cannot fairly be said when it’s a smaller sensor size giving you less bokeh. You really have to pick your poison.
The rear-facing display is a crisp 3.15-inch screen with 2.1 million dots and can turn up and down, quite adequate for street photography. While the 5.76-million-dot EVF is sharp and detailed, it sadly forsakes the iconic hybrid optical/electronic switch adored in the X100 series. What it misses there, it compensates with some neat compositional helpers: a dedicated crop-only view, a full scene display with crop box, and a very smart 50% transparency overlay of the area outside the selected crop – all nicely working in tandem with the aspect ratio dial.
Fujifilm’s GFX100RF includes an innovative aspect ratio dial at back
(Steve Dent for Engadget)
The GFX100RF laughs in the face of any battery anxiety. Squeeze in up to 820 shots or 100 minutes of 4K/30p video after a full charge. All this I put to a true-world test, and it lasted almost two days’ worth of shooting-a huge win compared to any mirrorless camera I have ever put through a rigorous performance road. Following endurance comes connectivity. Dual UHS-II card slots make dumping your data fast and speedy; meanwhile, mic and headphone jacks ensure audio stays clear. Monitoring options are opened up by microHDMI, while USB-C opens up a world of options-fast data transfers, charging, and evil external SSD video recording.
Performance
The GFX100RF is essentially a GFX100S II with some really clever shrinking. It is capable of mirroring the performance of its heftier sibling, with a burst speed of 6 fps. BUT the RAW images take up a massive 150 MB each, and their JPEGs are not far behind at 70 MB! That small number of bursts can swallow up those memory cards faster than Pac-Man on speed. Of course, this isn’t a camera meant for soccer-side action, nor for the depths of the Serengeti. It’s a meditative instrument, really, so shooting hammer and tongs is rarely a consideration anyhow.
The autofocus confidently locks on for the occasional shot. In bursts, however, it has a tough time keeping up. Where the AI really shines for crisp portrait focus is in face and eye detection, finding the subject and maintaining focus much of the time, although it probably takes longer than the systems from Sony or Canon. It also tracks animals, birds, and vehicles very well-I ended up putting this feature to good use capturing ducks gliding down the Seine in Paris, with stunning crispness.
Steve Dent for Engadget
Two modes to capture the moment – a conventional mechanical shutter or a silent electronic one. Beware: this is a trap! Fast-moving subjects may undergo some serious rolling shutter distortion. On the brighter side, using the almost silent mechanical shutter will end any of those scares.
That built-in ND filter? It’s a sun taming beast. It gracefully takes down over four stops of light, granting you creamy bokeh even in the harsh light of day. Shadows tell a different story, however, the fixed f/4 aperture becomes a cage as light fades away. And with no stabilization to help, the blur of low-light shots becomes a constant companion. Own that darkness but take that tripod too unless you want to keep those blurred memories forever.
Image quality
The GFX100RF offers a playful use of special aspect ratios and zooms for uncovering novel perspectives and putting a halt to post-processing drudgery. Classic-minded photographers will scoff at this: their method is never less than a 100MP view with the whole sensor and mundane cropping. But indeed, why should one choose that dull editing process over instant gratification? The GFX100RF is designed with your creative input in mind; experiment with new crops, dial-in your favorite film simulations, and round out JPEGs for immediate sharing. Wanna make any adjustments later? You’re safe, it is all backed by the glorious 100MP RAW file as the beauty of infinite possibilities (just don’t forget to check on your memory card!).
Fujifilm GFX100RF review
Shot at 4:3 aspect ratio, ISO 1600, 1/200th, f/10
Like the GFX100S II, the camera doesn’t merely capture images: It sculpts them conspicuously and with razor-sharp precision in unimaginable detail. Colors just pop from sensors luxuriously vibrant and true to colours, while RAW files provide an extensive dynamic range that boasts potential in Lightroom. The icing on the cake is Fujifilm’s legendary film simulations. From this point, take a deep breath into the nostalgic realism of Reala Ace or wade around in the abstruse expanse of Acros monochrome before you’ve even touched a computer. Essentially it is like a darkroom within your camera and can materialise timeless looks with a mere click.
The magic of medium format procreates bokeh, creating creamy dreamscape backgrounds for these images. Consider the depth of field of an f/3 on full-frame with a special touch. Dramatic effects far beyond full frame’s reach created by the GFX100RF make portraits, landscapes, and street photography unfold into magnificent visions from mere mortal scenes.
But as twilight descended, limitations of this camera would soon show. What with shutter speeds going south and me bumping up the ISOs, I was saddled with one problem after another. The only saving grace is that the GFX100RF handles noise reasonably well up to ISO 8000. Nonetheless, that simply did not seem enough. What options for photography would be left as the light faded were narrowing, and in the process, undermining the camera’s all-round utility.
Video
Steve Dent for Engadget
Laden with power, GFX100RF generates a mad stream of DCI 4K or 4K videos at 30 smooth frames per second. The camera needs only the swiftness of the UHS-II SD card to munch on high bit rates. Yet we still want more? Go for ProRes by recording directly onto an SSD via the USB-C port: speedsters’ delight!
Good-enough autofocus option for video, but don’t hold your breath for lightning shifts. It would be best to keep the subject relatively still to focus well. The AI-driven face and eye detection is definitely a godsend for locking onto people, but erratic movements respawned struggle with it-NO sudden sprinting from your stars!
Slow-motion video possesses that unmistakable large-sensor look: dreamy shallow depth of field with creamy bokeh. The GFX100RF performs the same as the GFX100S II, capturing the full width of the sensor in most video modes, although pixel binning tends to soften the edges a bit. If you want really crisp footage, activate the 1.32x crop mode to sacrifice a little bit of that glowy large-sensor look for super-sharp detail.
The GFX100RF here offers a mysterious weapon absent from its still counterpart: digital stabilization. It reduces the jitters of handheld shooting and gives smooth footage. But beware; if there’s rapid movement, the rolling shutter becomes so pronounced that it can distort that smoothness into a warped reality.
There is more to Fujifilm’s film simulations than just stills. You can apply the Reala Ace, Acros, and others directly to your video footage for beautiful cinema-worthy looks straight from the camera. Post-wise, it’s tempting to use F-Log or F-Log2 10-bit, increasing both dynamic range and the explosion of breathtaking colors during the grading process.
Wrap-up
Steve Dent for Engadget
The GFX100RF: a $4899 wonder in the highest image fidelity in the daylight and a clumsy-guy in the dark. This isn’t a householder X100 VI but a surgical tool, shooting sirens to a few: detail-oriented endowers, those willing to pay the highest price for resolution like never before. But heeding-it-first: this force-needs-the-sun!
Leica Q3 is a formidable rival priced at $6,735 with a full-frame 60MP sensor, albeit smaller. With an aggressive 28mm f/1.7 lens, it kept rolling shutter at bay but lost out with a single SD UHS-II card slot and 8K video. Then comes the largest advantage: the Q3 bears the coveted name of Leica, which acts as a siren call in this premium realm.
GFX100RF: a playful giant. Such innovations, like the adorable aspect ratio dial, are sparks in a dark night, igniting conversations and enticing non-photographers into the dark arts. It knows it will never win the mass market, for its very existence is a rebel “what if?,” pushing the industry forward. I probably will never own one, but I am grateful that it exists to challenge, inspire, and push the boundaries of photography.
Thanks for reading Fujifilm GFX100RF review: A powerful and fun camera thats far from perfect
