Adventures with the GFX 100S (this thing shoots video?!?!) – Part 2 of A Slew of Similar Sony Sensors

Camera & Technology

May 27, 2021 ·

Dan Wells

Before we delve into sensors and cameras, then take off for Yellowstone National Park with the GFX 100S, there is a bit of financial news that could shake up the camera business completely, or it could affect nothing at all. There have been a couple of mergers announced in the movie and media business lately, and the tech giants are involved. AT&T is trying to unwind its Time Warner acquisition and merge Warner Media (the old Time Warner) with Discovery. More interestingly, since it directly involves a tech giant, Amazon is trying to buy MGM.

Where this intersects the camera business is Sony – Sony Electronics’ camera business is a small piece of a much larger company that is largely in the movie, music and videogame business. If Amazon succeeds in buying MGM, other enormous tech companies will want their own storied content companies. Big consumer-facing tech companies (Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Netflix, etc.) are enormously content hungry. The rest of them will not let Amazon own a movie studio without wanting one themselves, and Sony is an important option.

If a tech giant buys just Sony’s entertainment assets (movies, music and PlayStation), which are a little more than half of Sony, that’s probably a positive thing for the camera business. The remaining half of Sony is largely an electronics company (of which the two businesses that concern us – cameras and image sensors – are a part). They also own some unrelated assets, including a bank and insurance company mostly active in Asia. Half of Sony is probably still too big to be snapped up by a hedge fund or private equity, and a Sony without the entertainment businesses is probably more focused on cameras and image sensors. There are a lot of probablies in there, but I’d tend to greet the split of Sony into an electronics business and a Big Tech-owned entertainment business as good news. The problem occurs if a tech giant buys ALL of Sony to get the entertainment businesses. Microsoft can’t – antitrust regulators will never let Xbox and PlayStation merge (or either one wind up in the same hands as Nintendo). Microsoft might be able to buy the movie and/or music business units, but that leaves a very substantial Sony holding the PlayStation and electronics businesses as well as the bank. The only problem with that scenario is how dominant PlayStation could be in the remaining part of Sony. Similarly, Netflix probably isn’t big enough to buy all of Sony, and their taking the movie and possibly music businesses away matters little to the camera business. This leaves Apple, Google and possibly Facebook as the suitors for all of Sony, assuming Amazon is content with MGM. Personally, I’d welcome Apple buying Sony – they’d be a good, if possibly disruptive, steward for the camera business. Apple has a real problem – they make billions of dollars from photography on the iPhone, but they have nowhere to send people who outgrow the iPhone. Their recent public attitude (since the cancellation of Aperture) has been “you can’t outgrow the iPhone”, but that’s not true. They know that people who HAVE outgrown the iPhone are among the best customers for Macs and iPads to edit images, and they’d probably love to sell them the tools to make the images they’re editing. They are masters of high-end hardware and user interface design.

Would they take all the dials off of Sony cameras, replacing them with giant touchscreens? Probably not – the Mac still has a keyboard and a trackpad or mouse, since Apple recognizes that this is how creative pros are used to interacting with computers. They’ve even been criticized for NOT adding touchscreens as options to Macs. Will they make Sony cameras incompatible with Windows or Android? Certainly not completely (regulators wouldn’t allow it), and probably not substantially – Beats headphones aren’t, and Apple has owned those for years. You can use an iPhone with a Windows computer or a Mac with an Android phone, although Apple does offer additional benefits if you have a Mac and an iPhone together. There might be some positive synergies, but Windows and Android users won’t be worse off than they are now. Will they revamp menus and other user interface elements? Almost certainly – and they could use it. Apple is far better at this stuff than any camera maker! It will take some years to see the full impact, but I would welcome it. If Apple did decide to go for a more touch-oriented interface (not NO dials, but a reduction), Fujifilm and others would still be there offering more traditional options.

The problem comes in if Google or Facebook were to acquire Sony, primarily chasing the entertainment businesses. Facebook has effectively no hardware business at all – they experimented briefly with a phone at one point, sold almost none, and abandoned the business very quickly. They have released a few smart displays (Facebook Portal and variations), but they barely sell. Google keeps trying hardware, but either abandoning it or selling it for almost nothing in order to grab your data. I can’t think of a single Google hardware product that doesn’t transmit data back to Google – is there one? Neither one has any idea how to sell or support something like a $13,000 600mm f4 lens (Apple actually does – many of the people who buy such lenses also own Mac Pros and top-end versions of MacBook Pros and iMacs).

There are four possible outcomes if one of those companies (or someone similar) were to buy Sony. One is that they never buy the electronics and camera businesses at all, or spin them off as a separate company. That’s fine – it may even be beneficial by giving those businesses management that cares more about them. The second is that they resell them to a company that wants them. That’s probably fine – it could result in a consolidation in the camera market, since a few of the possibilities already make cameras (Canon or Fujifilm). Otherwise, the business could go to some other large electronics company like Samsung or LG. They’d probably be decent stewards. What about a computer company like Dell or Lenovo? Again, probably fine… The two problem scenarios are that Google or Facebook try to run the camera business themselves and don’t succeed, or that the business winds up in the hands of hedge funds or private equity owners who strip out R&D and treat it as a cash cow. Google or Facebook might be tempted to introduce cameras with much increased connectivity (good), but obligatory login and tracking (not so good).

The cauldrons are smoking… What’s brewing?

Moving on to what has already happened, 2021 has been a slow year for camera releases thus far, with only nine camera body releases thus far (not counting two tiny revisions to Sony bodies that essentially only replaced the rear screen), compared to 30 in pandemic-ravaged 2020 and 45 in 2019. 2021 has seen 26 lenses, compared to 56 last year and 70 in 2019. The lens releases have actually been slightly faster than last year’s pace (20 by the end of May 2020, although somewhat off 2019’s pace of 36 by the end of May), while the bodies have been slower (11 by this time in 2020, and 22 in 2019). Lenses in particular are hard to measure – do $20,000 Zeiss Master primes for cinema count? On the other end, do $100 Samyang/Bower/Rokinon lenses count, and if they do, only once each, or in every brand iteration?

Will we continue to see a rather placid market?

We’re expecting a few more bodies and some lenses as the year goes on, but 2021 will probably be a light year for bodies in particular. Nikon, Canon, Sony, Sigma and Fujifilm are all likely to continue to release lenses this year, with Nikon in particular having an aggressive schedule of extending the Z-mount’s telephoto reach. Sony and Fujifilm will continue to fill holes in their extensive lines, to replace some older lenses and to add a few truly new lenses. Sigma and Canon will continue to add mirrorless lenses across the board. We should see at least a couple of interesting lenses from each of the major manufacturers, and hopefully a few welcome replacements from makers whose lineups are old enough to need replacement (all Nikon, Canon and Fujifilm GFX mirrorless lenses are relatively recent, while Sony and Fujifilm X have been in the mirrorless business long enough to have some lenses that could use an update).

Or will things start to pick up steam?

Canon and Sigma have both remounted some existing DSLR lenses in mirrorless mounts – essentially adding a permanent mount adapter. Sigma has begun replacing some remounted lenses with native mirrorless versions (85mm f1.4 and 24-70mm f2.8), while Canon’s remounts are very recent long telephotos – lenses that would benefit less from a mirrorless-specific design. Could we see more Canon remounts, or Nikon doing something similar with long telephotos (or tilt/shift lenses)?

Sigma will even remount certain existing DSLR lenses after purchase – it’s a service call and costs a few hundred dollars, but it can let a photographer keep a valuable lens. Could Canon (or Nikon) offer the same service on long telephotos or tilt/shift lenses? Those are the lenses where it makes the most sense! A relatively new EF or F mount 300mm f2.8 or longer is an investment of many thousands of dollars, and a mirrorless version might be optically similar or even identical to the existing lens. A remount service for $500 or less (Sigma charges $150 to $350, depending on the lens) would be much more affordable than a new ~$10,000 lens. Of course, we’ll continue to get a flood of inexpensive manual focus lenses from smaller makers in most mounts (a few have even shown up in medium format Fujifilm GFX mount).

We’re expecting one or two more Sony bodies, with an outside chance of three or four (there are four rumored cameras, not all of which we’ll probably get this year). The most imminent, and probably the least interesting to the Luminous Landscape audience, is a vlogger-focused APS-C camera with the older 24 MP sensor. The other three possibilities are an actually new camera at the top of the APS-C line, the long awaited A7 IV and the A7r V. Two of those three are not only new sensors, but very important new sensors that will set the tone for much of the industry for several years. The A7 IV will probably introduce the new mainstream Sony full-frame sensor (will it be a stacked design)? We should see variants on that sensor from Sony and several others for years to come. The new APS-C camera is similarly likely to introduce a new sensor in that size, which will migrate to a number of makers and exist for years. The A7r V could break new resolution ground, but is more likely to be an “intermediate” update like the A7r III, improving various non-sensor features. The A7r III gained the new battery, autofocus improvements and improved weather sealing – could the A7r V get the new menu system from the A7s III and A1, along with some AF and other improvements?

We’ll probably get a Nikon or two beyond the preannounced Z9, with the most likely being APS-C mirrorless, although a D850 followup is an interesting possibility – could it be the last mainstream DSLR from any maker? There are rumors and mockups floating around of a “Z30” – a mirrorless camera in the D3500 price range, likely viewfinderless. A “Z70” is another possibility – something in the D7500 range – although that would presently face a lens shortage (unless it had in-body stabilization, and owners didn’t mind using mostly full-frame lenses). We may or may not get another Canon this year, apart from the already preannounced R3 – there are a couple of possibilities, including a cinema-optimized version of the R5, and more EOS-M bodies are always possible (although more interesting EF-M lenses, sadly, are unlikely). We’ll probably see one more body from Fujifilm, likely to be a GFX using the older 50 MP sensor while adding some of the non-sensor related improvements from the 100S.

There are some notable “missing” cameras in there. The rumor sites don’t see another Fujifilm X until 2022, although the next higher-end X cameras will probably use Sony’s new APS-C sensor (the timing suggests that Sony may launch that sensor themselves, or Nikon may launch it in the “Z70”, instead of letting Fujifilm release it first). I still can’t figure out why Sony has ignored their own 26 MP sensor, while there are now quite a few Fujifilm cameras (and one Pentax) using it with great success.

The outlook’s a little cloudy for 80-100 MP full-frame, but it’s on the horizon somewhere…

The other development that I am NOT presently seeing in 2021 is a resolution jump at the top of full-frame. Assuming the A7r V follows current expectations for a non-sensor improvement in a fall 2021 release (and/or is a 2022 release), I think we’re at least a year, and maybe two, from a full-frame camera in the 80-100 MP range. If the A7r V is what it’s rumored to be, Sony would be two years away from the A7r VI, the logical vehicle for such a sensor in their lineup. Nikon could potentially bring something out a year earlier (summer/fall 2022) than Sony would be likely to, since the Z7 development cycle is off the A7r cycle by a year – but that’s not a 2021 camera, and Sony might or might not be willing to sell that kind of sensor to Nikon a year before using it themselves (assuming Nikon’s sensor would be Sony-derived). Canon’s cycle is less affected by the Sony sensor development cycle, so a very high-resolution Canon is less unlikely than anything else.

A Panasonic press shot of the GH5 II

Among the smaller makers, Panasonic just released the GH5 II and preannounced the GH6. The GH5 II is a modest update to the original GH5, still featuring the Same Old Sensor. The most important new feature is that Panasonic has updated the processor, speeding up autofocus and allowing capabilities imported from Panasonic’s newer cameras. It adds a variety of features from Panasonic’s newer video-centric cameras, and it accepts a slightly higher capacity battery. Everything from a Canon EOS-R5 to a Fujifilm X-T4,Sony A1 and A7s III, Panasonic’s own S1H, S1 and S5, and even the medium format Fujifilm GFX 100S can currently take better video than a GH5, and most will likely outshoot the GH5 II as well, although often without quite the versatility as a video camera. Even some stills-focused cameras rarely considered hybrids now approach the video quality of the GH5. There are a few pro video tools, notably anamorphic lens support and some specialized displays (vectorscope, waveform, etc.) that only Panasonics (and most true non-hybrid video cameras) have. The S1H has everything the GH5 has and then some, and the other L-mount cameras from Panasonic also have some unusual video tools that most other makes don’t offer.

With the exception of trying to print big from the low-resolution A7s III, any of the above will also take massively better stills than a GH5, and the GH5 II doesn’t look to change that. The three brand-new stacked sensor cameras will near-certainly all outdo the GH5 (and GH5 II) massively, in both video and stills performance, although at a much higher price. No word on L-mount – a S5r would be welcome. JIP (Olympus) has been teasing one or more new cameras, but it’s not clear if they will be 2021 or 2022 releases, or whether they will feature the Same Old Sensor or something new. I’d be very surprised to see anything else new from Pentax (with the possible exception of some Tamron-derived lenses) – they’ve already released their first new DSLR since 2018 this year, and I think two cameras or a camera and a unique lens are beyond the capacity of their small design team. A Leica or two (and/or some lenses – hopefully unique instead of overpriced rebrands) would not surprise me, and I simply have no idea what to expect from Hasselblad. A 100 MP version of the X1D would be nice, but the parts have existed for a while and Hasselblad/DJI hasn’t moved.

Of the cameras released so far this year, only one has been a mainstream design. Three are extremely fast stacked-sensor cameras, presumably clustered around the Sony A1’s $6500 price point. We know very few specifications about Canon’s R3 or Nikon’s Z9, but there is even a possibility that all three use the same sensor or close relatives (Canon has backtracked on the R3 sensor being an internal development, and Nikon has used language that they have previously used to describe a variety of design scenarios). Assuming the Tokyo Olympics happen, I would expect full specifications on both Canon’s and Nikon’s cameras by that time, as small numbers of both should be at the Games. There is no reason to believe that either Canon or Nikon will significantly undercut the A1 on price, especially as both have sports-oriented DSLRs in the same price range and other mirrorless bodies above $3000. Either one being priced as low as $5000 would be surprising, and one or the other being in the $7000-$8000 price range would be less surprising, especially if one of them is even more capable than the Sony.

Another of this year’s releases is also an exotic $6000 camera, but intended for a completely different use than the speedy Sony (and the upcoming Canon and Nikon). It’s the Fujifilm GFX 100S, and it’s no speed demon. It is a 100 megapixel medium-format camera featuring true 16-bit RAW files – a camera for hyper-detailed landscape, studio, location and architectural photography. Until the original GFX 100, this kind of image quality would have meant either a $30,000+ Phase One or Hasselblad modular system or 5×7” or even 8×10” large format film. For what it does, speed is completely irrelevant – it’s actually single-shot only in its maximum image quality mode, although it will do 5 fps for short bursts by stepping back very slightly to 14-bit raw files. If you need more speed than that, the GFX 100S is the wrong tool, although it’s an absolutely spectacular tool for what it’s good at.

Another press shot of the GH5 II – featuring the Same Old Sensor.

Two more of 2021’s cameras (the GH5 II and preannounced GH6) are mostly video cameras with a secondary function in still photography. The GH5 II offers the worst performance as a still camera of any interchangeable lens camera sold new today, courtesy of the Same Old Sensor. The exciting part about the GH6 is that it will finally use a new sensor, and might be competitive with modern APS-C cameras in stills, while offering the superb video typical of the GH series. We don’t know anything about the new sensor, except that it almost certainly has somewhat more resolution than the Same Old Sensor since it can capture 5.7K 60p, and that it is probably extremely fast since it can capture 4K 120p.

We can hope for a much more modern sensor, with performance that comes closer to other modern sensors – Micro 4/3 has performance around a stop behind an equivalent APS-C sensor in noise, dynamic range and depth of field, all else being equal – that much is physics. The Same Old Sensor is costing another stop or so of performance, because of the age of its technology. If Panasonic has gotten ahold of a sensor about as good as current APS-C sensors, they could close about half of the performance gap. Better yet, they could have gotten ahold of a brand new sensor that is about half a stop better than state of the art APS-C (just as an example – it’s possible, largely because the best current APS-C sensor is from late 2018) – if they have, they could get the performance gap down to half a stop or so – close enough that other features might make the difference.

If the GH6 offers still images in the range of a modern APS-C camera with truly exceptional video, it might well be a more video-centric alternative to the likes of the X-T4. The X-T4 will probably maintain some edge in still image quality, since there has never been a time when Micro 4/3 has quite equaled the best of APS-C image quality – but if it’s close instead of night and day, the GH6’s video may be worth the extra cost and a modest loss in still image quality for many users.

Fujifilm may complicate the situation further with an X-H2 (if they call it that), possibly in early 2022. Rumor sites are saying that it might feature a new, higher-resolution APS-C sensor, although it has not been preannounced and there is no other confirmation. If the X-H2 improves on the already impressive still image quality of the X-T4 while also offering improved video codecs and features, it could produce a fascinating race in the expensive crop-sensor hybrid market. What if Nikon (with the “Z70”), Canon (probably with the long-rumored APS-C RF mount camera) or Sony get in there as well? There could be a whole market of full-on hybrid cameras in the $2000+ range that offer a less expensive alternative to the $5000+ stacked sensor full-frame group.

Two more of the cameras released in 2021 are also niche market designs. The Pentax K3 mk III is the most expensive APS-C DSLR released in a very long time, probably since the Nikon D2x? It is also using a very uncommon lens mount, although one with a storied history and a lot of vintage glass. Even if it were a Nikon or a Canon, paying $2000 for an APS-C DSLR in 2021 seems like it should be appealing only to a small fraction of buyers. Both major manufacturers are discontinuing APS-C DSLR glass in favor of lenses that are in mirrorless mounts, full-frame or most often both. Pentax makes the value proposition even more dicey, without the support of one of the major systems.

We’ve seen plenty of pictures of the fp L, and it’s a bit of a duck-billed platypus. Painting by Wilhelm Kuhnert, in the collection of the Wellcome Library, London.

The Sigma fp L is as unusual a camera as you’ll find in current production. I have one in for testing, and it’s about the oddest design I’ve ever seen. Its maximum image quality is enormous (Sony A7r IV, possibly with better colors), and the body is tiny. On the other hand, it has a number of really severe drawbacks. Battery life in my early testing is just a little over 100 images, running a power-hungry full-frame sensor off a tiny battery. I’ll look into this farther in the next week or two, with a battery that has gone through a few charging cycles – but my experience with other cameras has been that this makes a 20% difference in battery life, not the doubling that would result in something barely acceptable. Since the fp L has no mechanical shutter, there is no way to avoid banding in any shot with fluorescent lights, TVs or older, flicker-prone LEDs – it essentially cannot be used indoors in an uncontrolled situation due to the banding. It really can’t be used with flash, due to a maximum sync speed of 1/15 second. It demands either natural lighting or the type of controlled, flicker-free lighting found on a movie set. The accessory viewfinder is not weather sealed, and is nearly essential for many types of shooting. Finally, there is no image stabilization in the body or on most lenses.

There are limited use cases where a 61 mp full-frame camera with impeccable image quality the size of a smallish Micro 4/3 camera is so handy that the drawbacks are worth overlooking, but it’s not a mainstream camera. It really cries out to be mounted on drones, cranes and jibs or placed in a housing and used for long time lapses. It takes power over USB-C, both to run the camera and to charge the internal battery, so battery life may not be an issue in inaccessible mountings. It may also find its niche as a still camera on movie sets – it is tiny, absolutely silent and incredibly unobtrusive (and movie lighting shouldn’t trigger its banding, although I don’t have access to a set to check). For mainstream uses, however, the additional weight for a more conventional camera is almost always worth it. Even for backpacking, having only a non-articulated rear screen, the worst battery life I’ve ever seen and no image stabilization at all is enough of a drawback to make a different camera worth the added weight.

An attractive pair of X-E4s – either the silver one or the black one will fit in your (large) pocket and take very nice 26 MP images.

The one “usual” camera released in 2021 that neither costs over $6000, lacks a shutter, nor is an expensive APS-C DSLR from a niche maker is the Fujifilm X-E4. I haven’t handled one, but it’s likely to be a highly capable little camera (it’s about the size and weight of the fp L, and, while it’s 26.7 MP APS-C instead of 61 MP full-frame, it has both a viewfinder and a shutter)… It’ll probably outsell the rest of the Class of Early 2021 combined, as it should, because it is the only one of the seven that makes sense for the average camera buyer. The average LuLa reader, however, isn’t the average camera buyer – the GFX 100S is a consideration for many of us, and the A1 and, when they come along, its stacked-sensor colleagues are considerations for others of us. There are some of us who experiment enough with camera placement that the very unusual fp L might come into its own.

Is this 8×10” Deardorff the right tool for the job?
Or is this Nikon F3 more the tool you have in mind? Depending on the shot, either one could be the best choice…

While many YouTubers have tried to compare the GFX 100S to the A1, probably because they were announced a day apart and are similarly priced, that is a literally ridiculous comparison (there is an excellent op-ed on dpreview that makes this point very well). How many photographers in the film era would have wondered whether they wanted to take their 8×10” Deardorff or their motor-driven Nikon F3 on a particular assignment? A few may have owned both, especially if they were employed by a newspaper or magazine, but pursued artistic projects in their time away from the paper. Maybe some wedding and portrait photographers used the Nikon for candids at receptions, had a Hasselblad, Mamiya or Bronica for groups and portraits during a wedding shoot, but kept a Deardorff at their studio for high-end portrait work?

There are certainly images for which either a GFX 100S or a Sony A1 would work, but many other cameras (inevitably any full-frame pixel monster, often a good 24 MP full-frame or APS-C camera as well) would also work for any such image. Each excels above other cameras for a specific type of image, and each comes from a long line of specialized cameras. If you need the special feature that makes one expensive, the other won’t do. Both are more versatile than their predecessors – no motor-driven 35mm SLR had anywhere near the image quality or maximum print size of the Sony, and no view camera could be shot handheld like the Fujifilm, nor get the wide variety of images it is capable of – imagine a view camera with a motor drive.

The GFX 100S in Yellowstone.
If these sulfrous steam vents don’t take your breath away,
Maybe this level of detail will… Actual pixels – just to the left of the rightmost vent…

The GFX 100S has been here for a week and a half, and I have taken it with me halfway across the country, from the San Francisco Bay Area to Colorado. Its image quality literally takes my breath away. While I haven’t yet returned to my printer in Massachusetts to make detailed print quality assessments, I pulled one large print from a Canon iPF 8400 at a FedEx Office in Colorado, just to get a sense of what it could do while I was still on the road. Even with a (very) suboptimal print workflow, the detail is the best I have ever seen. Preliminary editing on the road reveals extraordinarily versatile files with Fujifilm’s signature colors – they look a lot like X-series files, except with detail and dynamic range that very few cameras are capable of.

I remember looking at Nikon Z7 files for the first time after having spent years looking at a variety of 24 MP files and at 36 MP files from the older sensor in the D800e. These files are as much better than Z7 files as Z7 or A7r IV files are than a good 24 MP file. There’s the same level of extra detail, the same stop or so of extra dynamic range. It’s also about the same level of quality jump as early 24 MP full-frame was over its 12 and 16 MP predecessors. Those who’ve been around a while may recall seeing a D3x file when they were used to pretty much anything else that was around at the time (except Phase One)! This (well, the GFX 100 first, but the 100S is a much more practical camera) is the first camera since the D850 that makes me say “I haven’t seen a file like THAT before”.

There’s a general quality level inhabited by the A7r IV, Z7, Z7 II and D850, Sigma fp L, 50 MP GFX, Hasselblad and Pentax, as well as probably the EOS-R5, Panasonic S1r and Leica SL2. I am extremely familiar with the Z7 (which is very similar to the other Nikons) and the A7r IV, owning both and having many thousands of images on each. The fp L uses the A7r IV sensor, and it will look very similar when used within the limitations imposed by its design. I looked long and hard at prints from 50 MP medium format (and the D850) before buying the Z7, trying to decide which way to go. I haven’t seen prints from the R5, S1r or SL2, since they are all too new to have had prints at PhotoPlus in 2019 (the S1r was there under glass, but without prints on the wall, and the other two were unreleased), and PhotoPlus 2020 was cancelled – but I have read extensively about all three, and nothing makes me think they are significantly different in general quality.

One reason I am hopeful about the return of photographic trade shows like PhotoPlus and Photokina is that there is nowhere else where a photographer can see large prints from a variety of cameras (plus printers and papers) in the same location. Many of us know how our own system prints; those of us who print seriously are likely to be very familiar with that. Maybe we have a photographer friend who shoots something else and likes to print, or maybe we have a good dealer or a camera club who has samples from a few systems, but none of the above (with the possible exception of the very largest dealers in cities like New York) would have a comprehensive selection. Even Hunt Photo in Boston, a very large regional dealer, doesn’t have very many print samples, especially large ones. No, the print comparisons at PhotoPlus are not perfect – subject matter varies, and some manufacturers use inkjet prints (from a variety of printers), while others prefer LightJet and the like. Still, a big trade show is the one place you can find a print sample from pretty much anything – not just cameras, but printers and papers as well. They’re all chosen to show off the manufacturer’s wares, but they can give you a pretty good idea of what things are capable of. A big trade show is also the place to see a lot of gear in person. Only a very large dealer is likely to have a GFX 100S in store, or a full selection of Sony bodies including the A1, a couple of large-format printers or a 600mm f4 lens. If you happen to live near B&H, they’ll probably have all of the above – but how many other dealers will? A trade show will have all of the above, plus several lines of high-end monitors, tripods and heads (including unusual head designs), and all manner of smaller accessories.

The ~50 MP cameras (including the A7r IV and the 50 MP medium format models) differ in small aspects of image quality – more if you shoot JPEG, because out-of-camera color is one of the most important differences; but they are all in a general category, and it’s hard to call one “better” than another. Some photographers will prefer one, others another. Between the two I know well, the Sony has a little extra detail, while the Nikon is a bit better in the shadows (at ISO 64), and needs a bit less color tweaking. Which one do I take most often? The one that has the lens I need on it! I don’t have a really wide Sony lens, nor a long Nikkor, so the Sony goes birding while the Nikon gets the call for ultrawide landscapes. My flash happens to be Nikon TTL, so I’d take the Nikon for indoor candids. If I happened to own a Nikkor 500mm PF and a Sony 12-24mm G-Master plus a Sony-fit flash, their roles would be reversed, and the only thing I’d miss is the Sony’s tracking focus for birding. I’d curse not being able to keep duct tape permanently over the Sony’s finicky hot shoe with its million tiny contacts – the tiniest drop of water in there (a foggy day can be enough) will cause strange (temporary) errors, although the camera is otherwise well sealed, so mine has the Sony shoe cover on it, with a big piece of duct tape over the whole thing.

From early reviews of the Sony A1 (I have seen neither a camera nor a print, although I hope to see both this fall), my suspicion is that the 50 MP stacked-sensor cameras will be in the same general class. They’ll do some things a bit better, some things a bit worse, but the stacked trio are likely to be a very fast, highly video-capable subset of the “~50 MP pixel monster” category. We suspect, but don’t know, that the Canon is in the same resolution category as the Sony and Nikon – if it’s not, all bets are off. Nikon’s sensor is likely to be a derivative of the A1 sensor we’re beginning to hear about, so it will perform similarly. If it’s exactly the same underlying sensor, the biggest difference may well be in color rendering, since Nikon uses different color filtration and processing from Sony. Nikon may have added a few low ISOs, enhancing shadow performance – it’s one of their favorite modifications.

50 MP medium format is in the same image quality class with the rest of these cameras, from the prints I’ve seen. The ubiquitous 50 MP sensor is larger than full-frame of course, but it’s also a generation or two older (it’s generationally similar to the 36 MP sensor in the D800(e) and the original A7r), and one more or less cancels the other out. Some photographers really like the way that sensor draws, while others bemoan its slow AF and don’t see any real IQ advantage. Few think it’s dramatically different.

Entire image
Actual pixels – grass at center

The GFX 100S IS dramatically different. Zoom into a file and there’s a world of detail that little else can capture – its sibling the GFX 100, almost certainly exotic Phase backs, and large-enough large format film. Color is excellent, as one would expect from Fujifilm – I find myself correcting color somewhat less with (any) Fujifilm file than I do with Nikon, and significantly less than with Sony. There’s additional dynamic range there over anything else on the market (again, possible exception of Phase One). Photons to Photos gives the 100 MP sensor about an extra 2/3 stop over Nikon (D850, Z7, Z7II), Sony (the A1 and A7r IV are pretty much identical), Canon (EOS-R5) and the old 50 MP medium format sensor, with the Panasonic S1r about half a stop behind the pack, and the Leica SL2 about half a stop behind the Panasonic. I haven’t measured it myself, but “2/3 of a stop beyond the best I’ve seen” seems about right by eye. This is image quality good enough to make anyone sit up and take notice… The question that awaits more printing is “how easy is it to see in a print, and how big do you have to print to see it”? That will be part 3 of this exploration.

The GFX 100S is a surprisingly forgiving camera to use, and it’s a joy to shoot with. With about 1200 shots on it, it feels very familiar in the hand, and I rarely find myself groping for anything. The grip is perhaps my favorite I’ve ever used – with my larger than average hand, it fits perfectly. I occasionally knock the focusing joystick as I’m bringing the camera to my eye or as it’s hanging by my side, so I’ve learned to be conscious of the focus point at all times – it doesn’t always start out where I last had it. I always use some form of precision AF on this sort of camera – why shoot for this kind of detail, then let the camera pick where to focus that detail? Every camera has one control or another that tends to get knocked – the Sony’s is AE Lock, and the Nikon’s is (a bit frighteningly in the rain – I’ve been known to tape it shut) the card door lock. The sealing on the Z7 is excellent, but if a door pops open in the rain while getting the camera out of a bag, all the sealing is for nought. I’m not adding sealing with tape the way I do on the Sony’s hot shoe, but preventing accidents.

1/15 seconds

1/10 second

1/8 second – focus is on rock at top… This isn’t supposed to work.

The image stabilizer is at least as good as my original Z7’s, although not in the same category as Olympus or perhaps the EOS-R5 (hint, Canon: I’d love to try one of those someday). I was very surprised that I was getting pixel-sharp images handheld down to 1/30 of a second, so I tried a torture test. These flowing water images were taken handheld, between 1/15 and 1/8 second, using the GF 32-64mm lens and electronic first-curtain shutter (the GFX’s default is to use EFCS on shutter speeds long enough that shutter shock is a problem, then switch to fully mechanical around 1/1000 second). Even at 64mm, I could handhold 1/15 of a second most of the time, getting pixel-level sharpness on the rock I’ve focused on. Closer to 32mm, I have been getting a significant success rate down to 1/8 second or so. No, it’s not an Olympus you can try to handhold at or beyond a full second, but when did you last handhold anything with an 8×10” view camera level of detail at any shutter speed at all, let alone at 1/8 second to blur water? Traditional medium-format DSLRs like a Phase One are essentially non-handholdable in many circumstances because of their mirror recoil. Even unstabilized medium format mirrorless is tricky to handhold, because the high acuity makes the tiniest shake visible. This was notoriously true of high pixel count DSLRs without stabilized lenses as well, which is why most high-resolution mirrorless cameras have excellent stabilization. The 100S is an eminently handholdable camera, even for high-detail subjects.

No, this isn’t a Nikon EN-EL 15 – those don’t say Fujifilm on them… This near-twin is the Fujifilm NP-W 235 that powers the GFX 100S and X-T4 (Fujifilm and Nikon probably buy them from the same supplier…)

Battery life is a bit disappointing, but not horrible. With most of the power conservation (accidentally) turned off, I’ve been getting 300-350 shots. I didn’t realize the previous user had the sleep timer set very long until I took a deep dive into the menus a couple of days ago. With that corrected, I’m hoping to get 400+ and a full day or longer of hiking and shooting. This would be in the Z7 class – I don’t suspect it’ll ever do what the A7r IV can, reaching well over 500 shots and a couple of days of shooting, let alone the 1000+ images many DSLRs could manage (without having to run the sensor and a screen all the time). On the other hand, it’s much better than the really bad cameras – older Sonys that used the tiny NP-FW50 battery, the Fujifilm X-H1 that paired a power-hungry image stabilizer with the inadequate NP-W126, and the Sigma fp and fp L, which have the worst battery life I’ve ever seen (around 100 images in a couple of hours of steady shooting).

And here’s the BC-W235 that charges it. While this one seems to be running impossibly without a power cord (and claiming fully charged batteries that aren’t inserted), it’s USB-C when it does use a cord, which is convenient.

Fujifilm’s dual battery charger BC-W235 is a really nice design. It is a little blockier than the most common Nitecore chargers that charge two batteries on the front of the charger, but about the same weight and volume. It’s a bit bigger and about an ounce heavier than the older Nitecores where the second battery attaches to the back of the charger (but it’s still just a 3.35 oz device…). The older Nitecores are tiny, but they’re also inconvenient with their short built-in cords. Unlike any but the very newest Nitecores, the BC-W235 is USB-C, and it takes advantage of higher power adapters and portable battery packs to charge two batteries simultaneously in a couple of hours. Batteries fit perfectly and easily, as expected from an original manufacturer product, but not always guaranteed from third-party USB chargers.

Apart from super-expensive, non-portable Dolgin Engineering charger/analyzers (which are as good as the stuff Hollywood uses, because they ARE the stuff Hollywood uses), the BC-W235 is probably the best charger I’ve seen for any camera. The only problem with the BC-W235 is that it doesn’t come in the box with the camera. Unless you already own one because you have an X-T4 (or another GFX 100S – other GFX and X models use a different battery), just order the $69 charger with your camera and batteries – you need one, because charging batteries internally on a $6000 camera is just stupid except as an emergency backup plan. Not including an essential $69 accessory that probably costs Fujifilm $15-$20 is nickel-and-diming their best customers.

Another surprise feature of the GFX 100S is the video. I almost didn’t think to test it, because “medium format camera” and “video” simply don’t go together in my mind. Medium format backs have traditionally offered no video capability at all, and the Fujifilm and Hasselblad 50 MP medium format mirrorless cameras offer rudimentary video capability. I knew that the 100S was different, but I hadn’t realized how different. I was in Yellowstone National Park among all the bubbling, steaming and spraying thermal features and I decided “let me get some video – I’ll simply use what I’m carrying”. As I looked at the video modes, I noticed there was a Cinema 4K 17:9 mode at 400 Mbps (choice of 24p, 25p or 30p) – that’s unusually serious for something that’s not really a video camera. It’s capturing as much data as a GH5 or an X-T4, and 2/3 as much as an A7s III (the A7s III may have an advantage in codec efficiency as well). I had a fast card in the camera, primarily because my biggest card is a fast ProGrade UHS-III, so I was able to use the full potential.

The first thing I noticed is that the stabilizer is very effective for video – as good as anything I’ve shot extensively. Yellowstone’s thermal features are nearly impossible places to use a tripod, because there are all sorts of boardwalks to keep people from falling into geysers! The shot was looking very steady in the viewfinder, so I decided to shoot a bunch of clips while I was at Yellowstone – all handheld, and not an originally-planned part of the review. When I looked at it on the laptop screen, my response was “wow, that’s doing a nice job!”. I was shooting with my cinematographer friend Micah, who had our test X-T4 for the weekend. Micah took one look on it on the laptop and said “let’s grab the monitor out of the car”. I’m in the process of driving across the country, and my Eizo CS2740 (see Printing Part VI for the review) is on the back seat. We set up the good monitor on a random motel table and looked at the clips on that, both thinking “that’s REALLY nice – as good as any mirrorless 4K I’ve seen, with a slightly different look”. We looked at it for a while thinking “that’s excellent – why does nobody think of this thing as a video camera”?

The sensor…

I wondered how much the big sensor was affecting the video, and Micah asked “just how big is the sensor on that, anyway”? I said “it’s 44mm across – let’s see how that compares to cinema formats”. Well, it turns out that it’s quite a bit larger than any 35mm derived film format, including VistaVision. Standard 35mm cinema film is run vertically through the camera, and the image goes across the film – the frame size is similar to an APS-C digital sensor. VistaVision is a rare format that runs the film horizontally and uses a frame size similar to full-frame digital (or 35mm still film) – it’s a bit wider and not quite as tall. “What’s bigger than VistaVision”? How about 70mm? It turns out that 70mm cine film has an image about 50mm wide, once you account for the sprocket holes and the audio tracks (the film used in the camera is actually 65mm wide including the sprocket holes and doesn’t have audio, while the projected film is 70mm wide, carrying the audio outside the sprocket holes). Well, Fujifilm has casually built a 70mm digital cinema camera disguised as a still camera. It has about the same resolution as most really good 4K cameras that are gathering 400 Mbps worth of data and capable of 10-bit Log recording, since it’s not doing any fancy oversampling – it’s using the full width of the sensor, but it’s line-skipping, not combining pixels. On the other hand, it is doing that on an enormous sensor, giving a different look to the footage.

While I had the 32-64mm f4 zoom on the camera, there are faster lenses, and those faster lenses can provide truly cinematic limited depth of field. Even the zoom is capable of the equivalent of f2.8 on full-frame and f2 on APS-C. Fujifilm’s fastest lens is an 80mm f1.7, which has a similar field of view and DOF to a 65mm f1.2 on 35mm full-frame. While that particular lens doesn’t exist, 50mm f1.2 lenses are relatively common, and Canon makes 85mm f1.2 lenses for both EF and RF mounts, so there are similar lenses in existence. Step down to APS-C (or 35mm movie film), and you’d need a 45mm f0.7 lens (that doesn’t exist). There have been a few very, very expensive cinema lenses at least close to that fast (the fastest of all was a 50mm f0.7 Zeiss Planar originally made for NASA, but adapted for making movies by Stanley Kubrick). The Fujifilm 80mm f1.7 allows anyone with a GFX 100S to shoot with (a much sharper version of) Kubrick’s oddity.

It’s not a perfect video camera (just a very good and unique one), because the selection of video modes is missing any meaningful slow-motion. Fujifilm has the data rate to do it – 1080p at 120 fps is similar to 4K at 30 fps, and the GFX not only does that, it does it at a notably high data rate. The problem is that the same enormous sensor that gives the video a unique look reduces the readout speed. The X-T4 uses similar codecs, and records at the same data rates, but it IS capable of 4K 60p and Full HD at 120p and even 240p. The APS-C sensor is much easier to read out quickly, and enables the higher frame rates.

While not including EVERY video feature one might want, the GFX has a very high quality basic video image, with the unique look of the large sensor. Apart from the 100S and its GFX 100 sibling, the only other camera I know of that records video on a sensor at least that large is the ARRI Alexa 65. That’s a rental-only camera that is reputed to rent for about $10,000 per day. The RED Monstro is close to the same sensor width, and that CAN be bought (for well over $50,000). The GFX 100S doesn’t offer that level of quality (what does – those are the cameras used on $200 million Hollywood productions), but it offers another path to large-sensor video for a much smaller price tag, one that is affordable to many serious photographer /videographers. I could see the large-sensor look being really appealing to people who want a hybrid camera with a bit of a different flair.

A Camerasize comparison image showing the cameras Fujifilm hopes you’ll pair up…

Fujifilm hopes you will pair your GFX 100S with an X-T4 for faster action and slow-motion video. They share batteries, flashes and a general aesthetic to their images, although the X-T4 has a typical X-Series control scheme with a lot of dedicated buttons and dials, while the GFX is closer to a typical well-designed DSLR with programmable controls and a top screen. It’s well worth considering. The X-T4 is an eminently capable camera, and it is good at most of what the GFX is not. It has one of the fastest frame rates available and very good AF with newer lenses, although the AF is not up to the standards of the latest speed cameras. The fact that it is APS-C makes telephoto lenses behave “longer” than they are, allowing such things as a very compact 70-300mm lens that behaves like a 450mm (although a slow one) on full-frame. It also makes lenses significantly more compact than they would be for full-frame or especially medium format. The files definitely share a Fujifilm “look”, with a specific color rendering that many people like.

The X-T4 also includes the video modes that the GFX lacks. It includes 1080p slow motion up to 240 frames per second, as well as 4K p60. Whichever it is, the owner of a GFX 100S and an X-T4 gets both large-sensor video and slow-motion capability, in a pair of cameras with similar color rendering, whose clips will intergrade nicely. In addition to video, the X-T4 has very fast drive modes, up to 15 frames per second (20 with electronic shutter), with buffer depth ranging from 110 JPEG images to 35 uncompressed raws. The X-T4 is a fast and agile companion to the extraordinary detail of the GFX 100S.

If a GFX 100S owner doesn’t already have a smaller-format system they are committed to, and they shoot a wide enough range of subjects that an exclusively medium format system is limiting, there is a lot to be said for the combination of GFX 100S and X-T4. It does require two sets of lenses, but that’s been medium format’s Achilles’ heel since the film days. Most photographers who shot medium (or large) format film also ended up maintaining a 35mm system for its flexibility, unless they specialized exclusively in a genre where larger formats were a better choice. Even Ansel Adams owned 35mm cameras for much of his career. At least one of his famous photos was made with a 35mm Contax – his wonderful portrait of Georgia O’Keeffe and guide Orville Cox. The GFX would also pair well with Nikon, Canon or Sony, and there is no reason to sell those in favor of an X-T4 when adding a GFX to your bag – but Fujifilm does seem to have made an effort to make two Fujifilm systems appealing.

While the GFX 100S alone is a non-sequitur comparison to the Sony A1 alone, a photographer who shoots a wide variety of subjects may find themselves comparing Fujifilm’s two system approach to Sony. A GFX 100S and an X-T4, while requiring two sets of lenses, combine to do almost everything a Sony A1 can do, adding the extraordinary image quality of the GFX for more contemplative images (and the X-T4 packs down a little smaller than the A1 for travel). The losses are 8K video and maximum detail on fast action or long telephoto images.If you do enough of the kind of photography the GFX excels at, there is a real advantage to having the medium-format camera’s detail and unique look.

The other question that arises is “an A1 and what else?” Most serious photographers want at least two bodies, and the A1 is the first Sony that tries to do everything at a high level. There is no camera in Sony’s lineup that is a true complement to the A1 – it is reputed to equal or exceed the A7r IV in image quality, the A7s III as a video camera, and the A9 II for performance. If you want two bodies, the options are two A1s (more expensive than a GFX 100S and X-T4, possibly even including lenses) or an A1 and something that is a true backup – most likely an A7c or A7 III for versatility. If your shooting tends strongly towards one style or another, that backup might be an A7r IV, an A9 or an A7s III. If that specialty is high-detail landscape, architecture or possibly portraiture, the two-Sony system doesn’t have the peak image quality of the GFX 100S.

And three more from the GFX in Yellowstone

Sony would have to offer a sensor update to the A7r IV that got into the resolution range of the GFX while also offering improved color and dynamic range in order to eliminate the GFX’s advantage for a certain type of work. Even if they were able to do that, which is technically very questionable right now – although it’s fairly likely in a couple of years – the GFX offers a different aspect ratio and a “look” that differentiate it from full-frame cameras.

The GFX 100S isn’t for everyone by any means, but if you really care about detail and print big enough to see it, it offers image quality that nothing even close to its price and convenience can touch. As technology advances, it’s likely that medium format will generally offer some advantages over the best of full-frame for a certain type of more contemplative photography, although it will always come with less versatility for sports, action and wildlife. The challenge, which we’ll look at in Part III, is what we need to do (how big a print, what technology) to see that advantage on the paper. There’s no question that the image quality of the GFX 100S is the best I’ve ever seen, nor that it is a joy to work with – the question is how hard it is to get that image quality on paper so the final result differs from other cameras?

Dan Wells

2021

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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

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Dan Wells, "Shuttterbug" on the trail, is a landscape photographer, long-distance hiker and student in the Master of Divinity program at Harvard Divinity School. He lives in Cambridge, MA when not in wild places photographing and contemplating our connection to the natural world. Dan's images try to capture the spirit he finds in places where, in the worlds of the Wilderness Act of 1964, "Man himself is but a visitor". He has hiked 230 miles of Vermont's Long Trail and 450 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail with his cameras, as well as photographing in numerous National Parks, Seashores and Forests over the years - often in the offseason when few people think to be there. In the summer of 2020, Dan plans to hike a stretch of hundreds of miles on the Pacific Crest Trail, focusing on his own and others' spiritual connection to these special places, and making images that document these connections. Over years of personal work and teaching photography, Dan has used a variety of equipment (presently Nikon Z7 and Fujifilm APS-C). He is looking for the perfect combination of light weight, ruggedness and superb image quality.

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