Fuji can make very attractive cameras. The upcoming GFX100RF is no exception but have they gone too far?
My background: I bought the Fuji X100 when it came out in 2011. I got a second hand X- Pro1 in 2012 and shot Fuji exclusively from 2016 to 2024. During the years I shot with X100, X-Pro1, X-T1, X-Pro2, X100F, X-H1 and X-Pro3 and I bought and sold most of their lenses. Last summer I got a Nikon Z8 but also kept my X-Pro2 plus three small prime lenses. I think it is safe to say that I know Fuji but also some of its competitors.
Here are my thoughts on the new GFX100RF. A camera that seems to be tailor made for me. Important note: I have not touched the camera yet! So this is not a hands on report.
Body design/Aspect Ratio/Focal Lengths
I think it is an attractive camera and I’m sure it is even more impressive when you hold it in your hand. That said I would prefer the look of a slightly larger X-Pro but the GFX100RF is more square. It reminds me of a Fuji Instax and while I understand that Fuji is proud of the Instax line that brings them a ton of money I’m not sure I like that look. But maybe the boxy design makes it better balanced in hand.
I love the idea of the aspect ratio wheel. I like the idea to explore different formats in camera. I know that you can always crop in post but to see the final image is essential for composition. I would try out 1:1 (the album cover aspect ratio) but most of all I would love to explore the 65:24 format. With 102MP at your disposal you can cut away large portions of the frame and still end up with more than 50MP (65:24) and an 1:1 image would even have 75MP. Great! The top plate is almost identical to my X-Pro2 which means it is perfect. I love that shutter speed/ISO – dial.
I also like the fact that they use the viewfinder lever to let you crop into the image to get from 28mm to 35mm or 50mm (I use the full frame equivalents here). It’s just like that tri-focal lens from Leica. With so many pixels you can crop in but resolution goes down quickly. At 35mm you would still have 65MP but at 50mm only about 30MP. So in reality this is a 28mm camera with the option to also use 35mm. On the bright side: You can see outside your image just like with the X-Pros optical viewfinder. Very handy for street shooting.
Limitations:
The biggest limitation for me is that the lens is not wide enough for my taste. My favourite focal length is around 20mm. I guess that there might be a conversion lens in the future but that thing would be big. So the most obvious limitation of this camera is that you are stuck with the lens. If 28mm is your favourite focal length it’s perfect but if it is 50mm you are trowing away 70% of the pixels. I would not be happy with that.
Another issue is the leaf shutter. It’s very quiet but leaf shutters have a problem with wide apertures. They are not fast enough. That’s why the minimus shutter speed is 1/4000s. It should not be a real problem most of the time as f4 is slow enough that even in bright daylight 1/4000s should be sufficient. There is an electronic shutter but it is not suitable for action. Fuji writes this in their technical data. So read out time of the sensor is too slow to cover moving subjects.
Another limitation is the aperture of f4. I get it. They wanted to have small lens and they achieved that. Compare it to any other medium format lens. It’s crazy small. But f4 is f4 and that is not good in low light. There is no way around that. Subject isolation (for me the most significant benefit of medium format) won’t be impressive either. You will get the same with an f2.8 lens on full frame or an f2 lens on APS-C. I don’t care about subject isolation for street shooting or reportage but f4 in low light still bothers me. ISO will go rather high quickly also because there is no IBIS. Usually I don’t care about IBIS for street shooting either because you can’t shoot with slow shutter speeds anyway but f4 and no IBIS is not a good combination for handheld shooting after sunset.
Compared to
Initially I thought that I have to have this camera but I have bought way to much camera gear so now I always compare new gear to what I already have. I will start with my Fuji X-Pro2 and the three prime lenses. My X-Pro2 with the XF 14/2.8 R attached is about the same size and weight but it is 21mm focal length instead of 28mm. With the XF 23/2 WR it’s even lighter, subject isolation is already slightly better and I can shoot at ISO 3.200 instead of ISO 12.800 in low light. The XF 35/1.4 R gives me even 1 stop more and even better subject isolation. And at 50mm the resolution of the GFX100RF is not much higher than my Fuji X-Pro2.
Nikon Z8: When I attach the Z 26/2.8 I get a setup that is bigger and heavier than the GFX100RF but not by that much. I have a very similar focal length and aperture is f2.8 instead of f4 which means subject isolation is practically identical but ISO will be one stop lower in low light. The Nikon Z8 has no mechanical shutter so it is dead silent too plus there is no limitation regarding the shutter speed. Last but not least the combo Z8 plus the 26/2.8 costs significantly less than the GFX100RF and its AF will run circles around the Fuji. Not the most important feature of a street shooting camera but having a fast AF doesn’t hurt either.
Conclusion
The Fuji GFX100RF is a very attractive but also extremely limited camera. This is not a landscape camera or a camera for architecture, or portraits or for any kind of action of course. The Fuji GFX100RF is a one trick pony. This is a reportage, street shooting camera that you ideally shoot in good light. You need to love the 28mm and 35mm focal lengths which I think are often slightly too long for images with real impact. If you shoot a lot in low light ISO will be high and image quality won’t be much better than on a full frame camera with a faster lens.
Because of its limitations the Fuji GFX100RF could never be my one and only camera. And because of its price and its size the GFX100RF also makes no sense as a small camera for the times when you leave your camera bag in the hotel. That camera would be something like a Ricoh GR.
The only way I could live with its limitations would be if the shortest focal length is 20mm or close to it. 20, 35 and 50 would be ideal but even if that would be possible you would end up with 16MP at 50mm and that is pointless.
I think Fuji put itself in a corner by neglecting full frame. If they would have chosen a full frame sensor for this camera the result would have been much more attractive. The same camera body with a compact 28mmF2.8 or even slightly faster with a 50MP full frame sensor. Such a camera would much likely cost around 3.000 Euro instead of 5.500 Euro and would find much more buyers simply because it would be as good as the GRX100RF in the real world.
In conclusion I will pass on that one but hope that Fuji will incorporate the aspect ratio dial in the next X-Pro body.