0.87x 3.69m-Dot Electronic Viewfinder – original X1D had 2.36MP EVF
3.6″ 2.36m-Dot Touchscreen LCD – original X1D had 3.0″ 920k-Dot monitor
Leaf Shutter System, 1/2000 sec Sync
ISO 100-25600, Up to 2.7 fps Shooting – original X1D shot at 2.3 fp
Dual SD UHS-II Memory Card Slots
Built-In Wi-Fi, USB 3.0 Type-C
New Processor
build-in GPS
Definitely a good price, but still more expensive than th Fujifilm GFX50R (currently $4,000) and Fujifilm GFX50S ($5,500).
This is a fantastic news for Fujifilm GFX lovers, since the more competition there is in the medium format segment, the more companies will fight for customers and offer more features for less price.
While the images turned out sharper than the competition, some were hoping for an even better performance.
Well, turns out DPReview studio test shots were flawed. In fact they just said:
While we make every effort to provide the most consistent, representative performance in our studio-based testing, it is sometimes very difficult. After further analysis we’ve discovered our GFX100 shots are fractionally misfocused, an issue exacerbated by the exacting resolutions of the 100 MP system. While these images show that the GFX 100 can capture significantly more detail than its 50MP predecessors, they do not show the full extent of this difference. We are planning to re-shoot the scene as soon as a production camera arrives and would like to apologize for any misconception these images may have furthered.
I guess this happens, when you hurry too much. Take your time, DPR, we can wait a bit longer for our pixel peeping. The important is we have a fair test.
The good news: even misfocused, the GFX100 is the sharpness king :)
The third episode of the Fujilove podcast with Fuji Guy Billy just went online (episode 1, episode 2). You can listed to it all at sticher and Fujilove.
Indie Shooter interviewed Fujifilm manager Michael Bulbenko at CineGear 2019. Above the video and down below the main takes:
true 16 bit sensor
ISO 6400 is really really good
14 stops dynamic range
you get 5 stops IBIS also with third party lenses
IBIS does not crop in the sensor
4:2:2 via external monitor, but engineers have not yet decided if they are going to implement RAW or not. They are working on it and it would be simple matter of firmware udpate. It is something Fujifilm is looking into
PL to G mount adapter available by Alpa, Kipon and Fotodiox is working on it
the black line in the center part has been manually added by Bill from Photons to Photos
Fujifilm GFX100
For years, mirrorless cameras lagged behing DSLRs in terms of autofocus speed.
In order to catch up, companies started to incorporate phase detection pixels on their sensors, and modern cameras have phase detection pixels spread all over the sensors, very much to the delight of photographers, who enjoy fast autofoucs, eye autofocus all over the frame and reliable subject tracking.
But no technology is perfect, and so also phase detection has its downside.
When pushed to the extreme (meaning extreme shadow recovery for example), sensors with phase detection pixels can show some banding.
This has been documented with Nikon, Sony and so forth, and of course Fujifilm is no exception. They all use the same Sony sensor at the end of the day :).
It looks like also the Fujifilm GFX100 is (unsurprisingly) showing the same banding issue, when its RAW files are pushed to the extreme.
In fact, the Fujifilm GFX100 sensor has
a total of 3.78 million phase detection pixels
7,776 PDAF pixels every 18 lines
The more phase detection pixels a sensor has, the more you can use phase detection also in lower light.
Bill Claff from Photons to Photos has published a Fujifilm GFX100 sensor heatmap (via dpreview), showing a short black line every 18 rows (see image above).
Should we panic?
I guess not. Or we could just throw any modern mirrorless camera into the garbage that uses phase detection pixels (unless it’s X-Trans ;) ).
It’s, as always, a tradeoff.
Do you want faster autofocus? Or do you want RAW files that even when pushed to its limits and beyond don’t show banding?
The Solution
First off: Fujifilm is fine tuning the firmware for the Fujifilm GFX100, and of course they are aware of banding. They are working to optimize sensor readout and the final firmware will show, how much banding the camera will really have.
But in any case, there is partially a solution to that, even without optimized and final firmware.
As I told you already months ago, Fujifilm is working to bring pixel shift multishot into the Fujifilm GFX100.
The original goal was to have it ready for GFX100 launch, but it needs a bit more time of development.
But pixel shift mulitshot will come, and as we have seen from other phase detection mirrorless cameras offering this feature, pixel shift reduces or even eliminates banding completely.
So, as long as you are shooting static subjects on a tripod and use pixel shift multishot, you won’t have any issues with banding.
