FUJIFILM GFX 100S
Fujifilm packs 102 megapixels res into a camera that’s more compact than the GFX 50S, but matches the GFX 100 for capabilities with a bit of the brilliant X-T4 thrown in for good measure. And it’s priced at under $10,000 too. Happy days.
Fujifilm reset the digital medium format playing field with the original GFX 100, but the GFX 100S takes things a whole lot further and packs 102 megapixels of resolution into a much smaller and light body. What’s more, it’s priced at under $10,000. Given how the prices of high-res fullframe mirrorless camera are creeping up, the GFX 100S is definitely in the mix.
Digital medium format looked to be struggling before Fujifilm came along with the GFX 50S and breathed new life into the category... with, it should be acknowledged, some help from Hasselblad’s X1D. But Fujifilm has kept going; next with the GFX 50R that added real compactness to the mix, and then the GFX 100 which wasn’t at all compact, but had 102MP on tap and did stuff that no other digital medium format camera has ever done before. And now there’s the GFX 100S with the same mega megapixel sensor, but in a DSLR-style body that’s smaller and lighter than the 50MP GFX
50S and with a few of the same capabilities as the current X-mount flflagship, flagship, the X-T4. This is quite a brew and has the potential to make the 100S the best-selling GFX series camera so far, and probably by a considerable margin too.
For starters, it’s the most affordable 100MP camera on the market, and Phase One’s IQ4 100MP Trichromatic back attached to an XF body will set you back… well, let’s just say, a whole lot more, with the price difference easily buying you two or maybe even three juicy GF lenses. In fact, the GFX 100S is also cheaper than the 50MP Hasselblad X1D II 50C which, if you shop around, you
IT’S A LEVEL OF IMAGE QUALITY TO WHICH YOU CAN VERY QUICKLY BECOME ADDICTED, AND THEN ANYTHING LESS STARTS TO LOOK INFERIOR. BE WARNED.
might snag for $10,499 body only – a grand more than the Fujifilm camera. OK, so a big tick for affordability. Size wise, it’s smaller than the Canon EOS-1D X Mark
III or Nikon D6 pro-level DSLRs.
It’s even marginally smaller than the Lumix S1 series of full-frame mirrorless cameras, and about the same size as the Leica SL2 and SL2-S. So, put simply, it’s not an overly bulky camera, unlike the GFX 100, which is a bit of a beast. Not surprisingly, there’s a big difference between these two – the 100S is 30% smaller and a whole 500g lighter – but the reductions compared to the 50S are more modest at around 20g in weight and around 5mm in height. However, there’s quite a big difference in the depth of the bodies – due to the relocation of the battery compartment – and this makes the GFX 100S look a whole lot more compact. It’s definitely closer to the full-frame mirrorless cameras than anything else with 100 megapixels under the bonnet. And Fujifilm continues to cheekily refer to its medium format sensor as “large format” and, to rub it in a bit more, as “more than full frame”.
Significantly, compared to the GFX 50S, the 100S gains in-body image stabilisation that uses a more compact module than that in the GFX 100. When the GFX
100 was launched back in May 2019, Fujifilm was quite proud of this model’s IBIS unit, given the considerable challenges of shifting such a big sensor at ultra-high speeds, but now it’s done even better, not just reducing the size and weight (by 20% and 10% respectively), but also extending the maximum correction range to six stops (from 5.5 or 5.0 depending on the lens). Most of the GF lenses can now have either 5.5 or 6.0 stops of correction for camera shake and, additionally, the IBIS now works in conjunction with the optical stabilisation on lenses, which is currently in four models (including the GF 45100mm f/4.0 R LM OIS WR zoom which came with our test camera). As with the X-T4, Fujifilm’s Sync IS uses both the OIS and IBIS to correct for pitch and yaw. At the ultra-high res of 102MP, image stabilisation is one of the key elements in ensuring optimum sharpness can be maintained, especially when shooting handheld in low-light situations with slower shutter speeds.
The GFX 100S’s mechanical shutter assembly has also been downsized and is 15% lighter.
It’s rated to 150,000 cycles and includes a dedicated shock absorber arrangement to minimise vibrations (another important consideration with such a high resolution). While there’s no change to the speed range or the maximum flash sync speed compared to the GFX 100, Fujifilm says lag has been reduced.
Another reason for the GFX 100S being more compact than the 50S is the adoption of a fixed EVF rather than the latter’s interchangeable module. Of course, the GFX 100 also has an interchangeable EVF and, while we praised the feature on both cameras, we suspect the reality is that not many photographers actually ever take them off, so all that extra engineering probably isn’t getting used very often.
Using a conventional fixed EVF will certainly reduce the manufacturing costs associated with machining the fitting and providing all the necessary connections.
The GFX 100S also adopts the same, more compact battery pack as is used in the X-T4, but the NP-W235 still has a capacity of 2,200mAh, so it’s still good for around 450 shots in the medium format camera. In-camera recharging is available via USB-C, but curiously the 100S can’t be fitted with the 50S’s vertical/battery grip, so anybody planning a long shoot on location will just have to
carry spare batteries. However, the camera can be powered via USB-C as well.
The body covers and chassis are magnesium alloy and there are seals at 60 points to provide protection against dust and moisture. Plus there’s insulation to enable operation in sub-zero temperatures down to -10ºC. The body is reinforced around the lens mount to deal with the weight and stresses created by the bigger and heavier G-mount lenses.
CENTURY MAKER
The sensor is a backsideilluminated (BSI) CMOS chip with an imaging area is 43.8x32.9mm (a.k.a. the ‘44x33mm’ format) and the effective pixel count yields a maximum image size of 11,648x8376 pixels at the standard 4:3 aspect ratio. For the record, this is 1.7x larger than a full-frame sensor. The back-illuminated configuration frees up space on the receiving surface to allow bigger pixels – to benefit the signalto-noise ratio – and, to optimise the resolution, an optical low-pass filter is omitted. Native sensitivity is equivalent to ISO 100 to 12,800 with extensions down to ISO 50 and up to ISO 102,400.
JPEGs can be captured in one of three image sizes and three compression levels, while the
RAW options comprise either
14-bit or 16-bit RGB colour depth and the choice of lossy or lossless compression or no compression at all. There’s a total of seven aspect ratios, a ‘35mm format’ mode
(at 9552x6369 pixels), a bunch of RAW+JPEG combo settings and the in-camera creation of 8- or 16bit TIFFs converted in-camera from RAW files.
The sensor is mated with the current generation X Processor 4 quad-core engine which enables continuous shooting at 5fps as well as uncropped 4K video at 25/30p with 10-bit colour (see the Making Movies panel for the rest of the GFX 100’s video story). Fujifilm has opted to stick with SD format memory cards for the camera’s dual slots, both of which have UHS-II and Video Speed
Class V90 support. While the much faster CFexpress cards are starting to be more widely used, SD is still undoubtedly the universal format that has no doubt influenced Fujifilm’s thinking here. If it was offering 8K video or 4K at 120fps, it would have to go with faster data transfer capabilities, but UHS-II can keep up with what the GFX 100S offers now.
The sensor-shifting facility of the in-body stabilisation is fine-tuned to enable a Pixel Shift Multi Shot function (which has been added to the GFX 100 via a firmware upgrade). This captures 16 RAW frames with half-pixel shifts to record full RGGB colour and boost the resolution to 400MP, but you’ll need Fujifilm’s Pixel Shift Combiner software to finish the job post-camera. Interestingly, Fujifilm provides an adjustment for the interval between each capture – from Short to 15 seconds – but no processing for any slight subject movement – the latter certainly is of more practical use than the former. Consequently, everything will have to be totally still in your multi-shot scene – and the camera mounted on a tripod – to avoid any blurring or ghosting.
With every new mirrorless camera – either X-mount or G-mount – Fujifilm adds to the list of processing options for JPEGs. With the GFX 100S it’s the 19th Film Simulation profile called Nostalgic Neg and it’s another retro-look option, joining Classic Neg and Classic Chrome. According to Fujifilm, Nostalgic Neg replicates the look of colour prints in old photo albums, giving richer colours in the shadows and a softer tonality in the mid-tones and highlights. Presumably we’re talking about a well-preserved photo album here.
THE GFX 100S IS DEFINITELY CLOSER TO FULL-FRAME MIRRORLESS CAMERAS IN SIZE AND HANDLING THAN ANYTHING ELSE WITH 100 MEGAPIXELS UNDER THE BONNET.