A Look at the Fujifilm GFX 100S Medium Format Mirrorless Camera

Few recent cameras have had a more profound impact on the hierarchy of consumer options than the Fujifilm GFX medium format series of mirrorless cameras. Perhaps the most interesting of all is the GFX 100S, offering Fuji's best sensor at a price that competes with top-level full frame options, and this great video takes a look at its image quality and performance. 

Coming to you from Alex Barrera, this excellent video review takes a look at the Fujifilm GFX 100S medium format mirrorless camera. The GFX 100 was quite the notable camera, offering a medium format sensor with a ton of resolution to spare, excellent dynamic range, and advanced features normally only found in full frame cameras, all in a package that significantly undercuts traditional medium format prices. The GFX 100S was all the more impressive, keeping pretty much everything that came in the GFX 100 except for the built-in grip and cutting the price nearly in half, bringing it into competition with upper-level full frame cameras and making medium format image quality more accessible than ever. It certainly is quite the interesting camera, particularly for portrait and landscape photographers. Check out the video above for Barrera's full thoughts on the GFX 100S. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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19 Comments

Yep, it is an awesome camera. I tried it and then wrote about it weeks ago. It gave me the Canon 5d m-iii feel (performance wise).

Gonna be definitely my next one next year replacing my current gfx.

Great review. I think you made the perfect case for not keeping it— big liability and little financial return.

Nice review, thoughtful and straightforward approach. Cameras are tools, nothing more and I'm still somewhat surprised when people complain their wrench didn't do a good job when it came time to pound nails... It's a camera meant for just what the reviewer said, someone that needs big images. I'm glad he mentioned that.

Good review. That camera is a dandy for the landscape/cityscape shooter and a studio portrait shooter. For someone with the budget, it would be a nice camera, especially considering the terrific lenses that Fuji has for it. I'd love to try this camera with the 110mm f2.

It really wasn't a review - more like a short overview. I am thinking about getting this instead of upgrading to d850 (from d810). My phase one is just too heavy to take everywhere and too slow for more of the "action shots" granted, 5fps isn't a speed demon but neither is d850's 8fps (with battery grip). Even though i genuinely dislike feel of a mirrorless camera, i may actually go for it.

I’m curious about the “feel” of a mirrorless camera. I still shoot everything from medium format film to DSLR and mirrorless full frame. Somehow I never got specific “feel” from a camera that lacks a mirror that flops upward and then back down.

It's not a fast camera, and I find the viewfinder blackout to be very disconcerting (it's really slow compared to most mirrorless cameras).

in the "good old days", "medium format" meant a larger negative to work with. Since the film manipulation was a physical set of processes, the larger format made it easier to work with individual negatives.
but with the digitalization of photogrqphy, there is nothing inherent in the size of the sensor that can't be substituted with electronics & sofrwaere

so the gfx and others "medium format" sensors are just one more generation from being made irrelevant to photography - particularly as the world of camera software picks up the "tricks and techniques" of the I-phone and its competition

Lol, yeah, that's why so many photographers still use phase one and Hasselblad... btw, bigger sensors means bigger diod for the same megapixel count (one diod one pixel) and bigger diode meand better sensitivity to light... lol so yeah, lol.

your "so many" is a very interesting number
how many make "so many"

bear in mind, that regardless of the size of diod, the pixel itself will only carry with it a finite amount of information, and it's that information - in digital form - that will determine the output, as interpreted by the software

and, more importantly, how many customers care what the photographer is shooting on

I have a GFX100S, and love the camera, although as a lifelong Nikon user, there are a lot of things about the camera that are reversed from what I'm used to.

Getting lenses for it is another matter. The 23mm has been out of stock for sometime at most stores I've checked. I'll work with the 32-64mm for now.

the number of clients who can consistently prefer images shot on "medium format" over a Sony A7RIV is pretty low

What one gains in light sensitivity, one usually loses in the dozen contra-advantages that are surrendered by moving to the rarefied format

Same goes for APS-C to 35mm format… clients don’t care, meaning money spent on a full frame camera system is a waste of time, or does your bias only work in one direction?

actually, given the way the price points and sizes have evolved, the "best" camera would have the "full-frame" because - as we've seen - you can make as useable a full-frame sony A7C in the same space and weight as a top-end apc fuji

Give me the best of Fuji's in-camera post-processing and film simulations with a slightly-modified (itty-bitty bigger viewfinder) A7c and Sony's incredible selection of its own and 3d party lenses.

for a camera to "feel good" in the hands of an adult male, the advantages of apc goes right out the window

any price advantage for apc is slipping away - nikeon z5 sells for $1k on sale while top-end fuji xt-4 is 500 bucks more

That A7C is a complete piece of junk compared to the X-T4, its not even close... if your ONLY concern is the sensor then sure go and buy the A7C, if you want a professional photography tool, there is no competition.

Here is a link to my Flickr profile, feel free to tell me where my images have fallen over by not being shot with a 35mm camera, where im struggling with noise, or OOF areas, or dynamic range. The only thing that has slipped away is the supposed advantages that gear heads spew about 35mm.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/138087015@N02/

My full kit is as follows, Fujifilm X-T2 with L Bracket grip, 10-24, 16-55, 70-300, 1.4TC, Samyang 8mm Fisheye, round filters, Square filter kit, spare batteries, 3 Legged Thing Winston tripod, Lowepro rucksack, torch, gloves, rain Mac etc... total weight 7.5kg. Tell me a Full Frame kit that covers the equivalent of 10-420mm (15-630mm) with a professional level tripod and filters that comes in anywhere near that weight.

Im not even addressing that Nikon, comparing sale prices to full prices to suit your argument is nonsense.

Then there are people like me who don't shoot for clients, but for the love of what they do. I have the GFX 100S, but I also have the Nikon Z7. Gives me the best of both worlds.

if you have a nikon z7 and a fuji gfx 100s, you are suffering from a severe case of equipment worship

Not really. I've been passionate about photography for 40+ years, with much of that time using multiple formats, although in the 80s I started using mostly 4x5. I did continue using 35mm Nikons though. The GFX 100S is more akin to the 4x5 in terms of my workflow; but no where near as heavy as large format. Not to mention, that I'm at that point in life where I can afford more expensive gear.

Not necessarily. That would be if he keep buying cameras each year.