So… The Fujifilm GFX100RF: Great… But Is It The Right GFX Camera For Me?
Subtitle: What would Hamish do?
Preface:
None of this is necessary. 100MP. A medium format sensor (Argue amongst yourselves regarding the validity of this claim to sensor size compared to film. I am fine calling it whatever they please.). But here we are. Put plainly I wanted in. Ground rules established that all of this is nonsense and likely just a means of me distracting myself from the world being on fire, here we go.
The heresy and camera nerdery of two recent posts meet here.
As stated in my first post about the GFX100RF I had not been following the rumor mills and was caught off guard by its release. Watched the PetaPixel review opening thinking, “Very funny Chris. <Checked calendar.> A few days early for an April Fools video, isn’t it? That cannot be a real thing… That is a real thing!? Oh no.”
In that initial post I said…
… as far as purchasing one, I am good.
But later in that post I also said.
This is subject to change at any moment, given enough reason to trade like a madman. It would not be the first time I go back on one of these “so…” posts and contradict myself later. The 50mm precious lens above is safe, but other things… Well. Let’s see what happens, shall we?
I am here today to share with you what happened next. Before I get to what GFX solution I chose and why, let me restate what first motivated me to make the move to the GFX100RF.
I said money tree in hand I would have already tried to get on some company’s waiting list on general principal. It had:
- Good looks.
- A 100MP medium format sensor.
- A wonderful Fujinon lens.
- Leaf shutter
- A “reasonable” price.
- Seems absurd to say but it is the lowest sold new entry point to this level of photo specs, even though a lens is included.
I was not bothered by what many called out:
- No IBIS
- Would be nice, but it kind of matches the brief. A mix of new and old. I get it. At this price point one could expect it to come with everything. But, I am not bothered by this. At least not to the point of writing it off.
- f/4 lens
- Does not bother me. Given the sizable sensor, this works out to a depth of field that would match a faster lens on full frame. Plus it likely helps to keep the lens small.
- 28mm full frame equivalent
- With 100MP to spare for post cropping this makes a bit of sense. I can crop a wider image, but I cannot do anything to address a need for a wider scene when using a longer lens. Again. Makes sense.
But then I thought about it more.
No, I did not have a money tree. But I did have gear to trade. Gear that I liked saying I had. Gear I liked to look at and take pictures of. Heirloom stuff. Gee whiz stuff. But gear that I no longer found myself using. So, if I was willing to let go of gear this could happen. So, for each I asked myself:
Which would you rather have, if you could only have one or the other?
And for each the answer was a GFX camera. For me, it was a unique combination of a modern heirloom level and gee whiz tech acquisition.
So what of my reservations?
- I have no need for it.
- I have no need for anything above a smartphone camera often times, so why am I being logical now all of a sudden.
- 61MP is plenty of resolution for me.
- In the vein of Spinal Tap, but this one goes to 102MP.
- I prefer great AF.
- I can forgive a lot for the tech specs of this camera and I have other gear up to the task when I do need top notch speed.
So, I decided upon the gear to trade to get there. Three systems in total. Two digital. One film. Then I reached out to my local camera shop to be put on the GFX100RF waiting list and emailed a friend in camera nerdery. Hamish Gill of 35mmc blog and Omnar lens fame. And all I can say is thank goodness for honest opinions. What did I expect?
Hey! That is great!
What did Hamish say?
“I dunno man, I’m not convinced for myself… I think if I was going to go MF digital, I’d want to be able to mount random lenses to it.”
The record scratch I heard in my head at this moment seemed so loud that I thought others could have heard it in my vicinity. I then recovered and prattled on about a fixed lens saving me from falling prey to another mount to feed, blah, blah or some such nonsense. But the more I thought about it I realized that Hamish was right.
I was not bothered by the lens that came on the GFX100RF. I realized I would likely lament not being able to affix any other lens to it later on. And I have experience in this area. That was the same reasoning I used when I decided upon a dp2 Quattro… before caving like a cheap tent and later purchasing an sd Quattro and faster lens. But here at this price point I only get one shot at this. And I better choose well. This brought me back to something else I wrote in that first GFX100RF post.
Sidebar: Plus there is an easy solution to all three of these “issues”. Buy a less expensive IBIS having GFX100S II and slap any aperture and focal length lens you like on the front. Not necessarily a fault of this camera. May just be that you are looking at the wrong camera.
I was looking at the wrong camera for me.
After some research I realized there was a lens and camera that were a better fit for me, cost considerably less combined used, offered tangible advantages, and allowed me to mount other glass.
Camera.
The GFX 50MP offerings were out for three reasons.
- Less MP than full frame cameras on the market offer.
- If teamed with faster equivalent full frame glass there was not much advantage to be had.
- Contrast only AF.
- Tried a GFX50S II in the camera shop twice and just no.
- Still pricey.
The OG GFX100 body is a bus.
The GFX100 II and GFX100S II both cost as much or more used compared to the new GFX100RF.
The sweet spot in the used line up is the predecessor to the GFX100S II, the GFX100S.
The things that it does not have compared to its successor, the GFX100S II are:
- Only face and eye detect.
- My reaction? Great, it has face and eye detect.
- I have the tracking options added to version II on other cameras and never use them.
- Slower FPS.
- 5fps vs 7fps on the newer model.
- Better video specs.
- Not what I am buying this for.
And while we are here I would like to point out that it has one feature the more expensive GFX100RF does not have. IBIS. While I had made peace with its omission on the GFX100RF I welcome it, especially at a lower price point.
That one was easy. Seems the lens was an easy choice as well.
Lens.
Started at the cheapest and that is pretty much where I stopped. The FUJIFILM GF 50mm f/3.5 R LM WR. Least expensive new and used it is not out of line with the price of full frame lenses. And according to the specs and interweb reviews it has a lot going for it.
- The smaller native GF lens.
- Weather resistant.
- Fast, accurate, and silent AF.
- Sharp.
- Decent bokeh.
The worst I heard was that the colors were a bit muted, but that a tweak of the saturation slider in post should do the trick. It has a couple of advantages over the lens on the GFX100RF.
- A slightly longer focal length.
- A 40mm full frame equivalent focal length, which happens to be my preferred sweet spot for a muliti purpose prime lens, as opposed to 28mm.
- A slightly faster aperture.
- Not a massive difference, but I do prefer an f/2.765 full frame equivalent aperture over the GFX’s f/3.16.
Alone each are not a great difference, but combined I do notice in sample images that this lens is both more versatile and is better suited to portraits than the lens in the GFX100RF.
And even better when purchased used both combined cost far less than the GFX100RF.
So happens that my local camera shop has both this camera and lens in stock. So I decided to pay a visit. That is when something really cool happened. Katherine, a GFX owner, mentioned that:
- You can use M mount glass on the GFX.
- They had a used M to GFX adapter in the shop.
Wait… what? I mean I kind of knew this, but thought it a bit too good to be true. In short order Katerine reconfigured the GFX100S for me and ran me though the basics. And then I took this test shot…
…before cackling in a less than dignified fashion inside my head. This was huge for a major reason.
With the use of the Fuji manual focus aid that uses two windows, one large to frame on the left and a smaller magnified view on the right to focus all of my concerns in letting go my M system went out of the window. At least as effective. And it allowed me to:
- Hang on to two of my favorite M mount lenses.
- Immediately fulfill the premonition of fast glass that Hamish provided.
Sold.
Thank you Katherine.
After a few more pics I informed Chris…
…that he could take me off of the GFX100RF waiting list. Most all of those first pics above were slightly out of focus as I was using focus peaking instead, but once I was brought up to speed on the two window focusing aid all was well after that.
Thank you Hamish. Thank you Katherine.
Those are all with a favorite lens of mine.
Another favorite M lens plays well with the GFX100S also.
And of course there is the aforementioned GF 50mm f/3.5 which is no slouch either.
Once again I am not saying that one should not purchase a GFX100RF. There are advantages:
- A gorgeous thing.
- What? That matters.
- More compact.
- Leaf shutter.
- Flash sync at full power at any mechanical shutter speed.
- The latest shiny thing.
- What? I am not immune to this.
- …did I mention that it is gorgeous.
But to recap the GFX100S/50mm f/3.5 has advantages as well.
- Longer focal length.
- Faster aperture.
- IBIS.
- The ability to use other lenses.
- Fantastic manual focus aids with adapted glass.
- …lower price
There are a few things that confirm the fact that I made the right choice for me.
- It is the first camera I reach for.
- I have taken pictures with this camera, but not a single picture of it.
- This is not normal behavior for me and confirms that this is a camera I am more interested in taking pictures with than of. I do not have a picture of it yet for this post even.
- I have not thought once about the gear I traded for it.
- I have not once considered getting the GFX100RF instead.
You mileage may vary.
I will stop myself here for now. There will be more to come as I gather more images and experience with it.
Happy capturing.
-ELW
Eric L. Woods 
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