The Fuji GFX100 sits in an interesting position for commercial photographers, offering medium format image quality at a fraction of the cost of high-end alternatives. At around $3,000 secondhand, it promises 16-bit color depth and 100 megapixels in a package that could transform your commercial work.
Coming to you from Scott Choucino with Tin House Studio, this honest video breaks down the real-world experience of using the GFX100 for commercial photography over an extended period. Choucino, who shoots campaigns for major brands like Mars, Pepsi, and Johnson & Johnson, doesn't hold back about the camera's flaws. The menu system, he argues, makes basic tasks unnecessarily complicated. Tethering to Capture One proved so problematic that he had to call technical support just to get it working properly.
However, the image quality tells a different story entirely. Choucino demonstrates through side-by-side comparisons with Canon 5DSR and Phase One systems that the GFX100 delivers exceptional results, particularly for still life work where 16-bit color depth becomes crucial. The detail and dynamic range prove especially valuable when working with challenging color combinations like red-on-red gradients that would cause banding issues with lesser cameras. While the electronic viewfinder disappoints compared to optical alternatives, the camera excels in studio environments where you can rely on the rear LCD or computer tethering. The physical controls and build quality suit studio work well, even if they don't match the robustness of professional DSLRs.
What makes this review particularly valuable is Choucino's extensive comparison of actual commercial campaigns shot across different camera systems. He shows work produced with the GFX100, Canon 5DSR, 5D Mark II, and high-end Phase One systems, revealing that camera choice often matters less than lighting, styling, and photographer skill. The GFX100 emerges as his daily driver because it strikes the right balance between image quality and practicality for his specific workflow, offering easier post-production work than the 5DSR while remaining more manageable than a full Phase One setup. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Choucino.
10 Comments
I have the GFX 100S ii and GFX 50s ii.... absolutely love both of these cameras and you can shoot anything with them I've even shot sports on the 100s II. Yep and everyone will reply but it's not about the camera and you're right it's not about the camera but I choose to use these cameras and they produce the images that are just next level in terms of image quality and yep I'm a bit of an image quality snob... And I don't make any apologies for that. The 100 is a lot slower and no IBIS
The level of detail in these cameras is incredible. You actually have to sit in Lightroom on a screen looking at it to appreciate it and then look at a 1.2 metre print to truly get an idea of the power of these cameras. Looking at them on smartphones will not do it justice.
Do you need it no
Do I love it...Yes!
GFX cameras have a pretty solid weakness, which is a weak IR filter, which affects fabrics and materials. They cannot show correct colour on any material which has a high infrared reflection - and also any ND filter will amplify this - so not great for video. It turns greens to brown and blue to purple. Not great for commercial accuracy.
That is complete nutter rubbish and no one really uses gfx cameras for video anyway except for the cinema camera that they made I'm sorry but you wrote absolute rubbish
Sorry Nev, the sensor stack on the current 100mp Fujis (100s, 100sii, 100mkii) all have a flaw where the IR filter does not cut out enough IR light and can lead to contamination on materials the reflect a lot of IR. This causes blues to go purple, greens to go brown etc. So for commercially accurate colour photography they are just not good. ND filters for video amplify this, because they cut out visible light but often not IR, so they make the issue worse.
to be honest we're not caring about correct colour. We care about the colour that the camera produces and honestly my sales for Prince and commercial work quadrupled when I went to Fuji so I'm going nowhere. I think your nitpicking and honestly I've made a lot of money out of my GFX camera with no problems so I'll politely say yes you might be right from a technical point of view but in terms of commercial work, no one cares about what you're saying with all due respect. And that's not a criticism of what you're saying you're nitpicking on a technical point of view and no one looks at that in commercial photography or Prints or anything like that if you saw a print on my gallery that I've produced for the local community which I've sold hundreds of prints from GFX, you would not be able to tell.
I’m guessing you don’t photograph fabrics—if so, you’ll be fine. I shoot interiors and products professionally, and while I really enjoyed using the GFX system, it consistently produced significant colour inaccuracies. Switching to Hasselblad completely solved that issue. And yes, my clients did notice, and they do care about it!
When you say interiors do you mean Real Estate photography and when you say products do you mean like perfume and Coca-Cola and things like that like commercial stuff like that? Because there was another guy on YouTube that was shooting commercial with GFX and he didn't have any problem? I can't remember his name but he's quite a well-known UK photographer and he just recently switched to the 100 S and he has said he had no problems.... I have done billboards. I have done a whole bunch of work of my GFX camera including landscapes weddings and I haven't had a problem but each to the rain I have the GFX 100 SII and I have the GFX 50 SII interestingly I prefer the GFX 50 for some reason the files do look a little bit different out of that camera than the new sensor but that's just a preferential thing for look.
Well you’re correct- I am super nit-picky! I think Real Estate is for marketing houses? I shoot for interior designers (who really do care about getting the fabrics right, as it’s a design choice) and luxury fabric and homewares where if an emerald green goes to sludge brown it’s really a problem. Also tiles, which are multiple shades of greens and blues, the GFX s really struggled.
I imagine with high end fashion this would be an issue, with all the fabrics. When I researched this issue, after using the GFX for about 3 years, I found also archival photographers working in museums were coming up against this too.
Don’t get me wrong though, the GFX is an awesome camera, and I do miss using it. I guess Fuji made design choices to prioritise cool looking colours for most general use cases.
Yeah, I've done a little bit of Real Estate stuff but probably not the high-end stuff that you're talking about. I didn't have a problem with it but yeah, if your clients aren't happy with the images then you have to change. I'm in Australia and people probably aren't as obsessed with that in Australia as they are maybe somewhere else. The reason I went for the GFX 100 SII is that it's the best round medium format camera shooting everything it's actually fast enough to shoot sports and you can't actually do that on a hassleblad.... I wanted a camera that could shoot just about anything and this camera does it all. It's the best all round camera in medium format hence why I still use it. The 100 SII is a lot faster than the previous models. It performs pretty close to a full frame camera.
Agree that when I shot this kind of thing, the GFX was perfection.