Product test
Is the Panasonic G9 II suitable for wildlife photography?
by David Lee
Fujifilm GFX 100 II review – the ultimate tool
12/9/2023
Translation: Veronica Bielawski
Fujifilm’s new medium format camera is the most advanced of its kind. Like its predecessor, it has a resolution of 100 megapixels – and features several significant improvements.
For a long time, medium format cameras were like old Ferraris – beautiful and powerful, but also insanely expensive, prone to problems and lacking any assistance systems. In other words, impressive machines for professionals who know how to use them, luxurious toys for everyone else.
Fujifilm has now introduced the successor model. The GFX 100 II is no longer a revolution, but an evolution. Its new form factor without a fixed vertical grip makes it appeal to a broader audience than the predecessor – as does the lower price of just under 7,600 Swiss francs. That’s 4,400 francs less than the GFX 100 at market launch, and less than the Hasselblad X2D currently costs.
Together with the camera, the Japanese company has also presented three new lenses. The Fujinon GF 55mm f/1.7 WR is a fast, standard lens. But much more interesting still are Fujifilm’s first tilt-shift lenses: the Fujinon GF 30mm f/5.6 T/S and the Fujinon GF 110mm f/5.6 T/S Macro. With them, the GFX system should become very attractive for architectural and product photography.
Even before the release, Fujifilm provided me with a test version of the GFX 100 II and the Fujinon GF 55mm f/1.7 WR. The hardware was final, the firmware not yet. This means the manufacturer could still improve smaller things before release. Throughout my review, I’ll point this out when applicable.
Design and specifications – a shrunken monster
The Fujifilm GFX 100 II looks like a tool. Its aesthetics fit into a studio between flash units and light stands. The casing is made of magnesium alloy protected with plastic. With the necessary lenses, the medium format system is still bulkier overall than a full-frame camera, even though the body alone isn’t much bigger.
The front and side of the GFX 100 II are covered with textured rubber. It offers better grip than the smoother material of the predecessor. The handle is large and fits comfortably in my medium-sized hand even after several hours of use. According to Fujifilm, the camera is weatherproof. I buy that given the clean processing. However, there’s no official IP certification.
I think leaving out the vertical handle was a good decision. As a result, the camera is more compact and almost 400 grammes lighter – although not quite as light as the GFX 100S, which weighs another 100 grammes less.
Here are the most important specifications:
The casing once again houses a back-illuminated, 43.8 × 32.9 millimetre CMOS sensor. This is a revised version of the predecessor that still comes with 100-megapixel resolution. Improved photodiodes and copper lines should offer more dynamic range.
Operation – complex, but convertible
This customisability makes operating the new GFX not particularly intuitive at first. I had to learn the ropes, program wheels and buttons, configure the camera in depth. The flip side? The controls are then perfectly tailored to me.
At the top of the camera is a gigantic display. In black and white, it displays the most important shooting parameters, even when the camera is turned off. During recording, I can choose to have a live histogram displayed instead. Since the display is angled back quite a bit, I can also glance at it while I’m taking pictures without having to put the camera down completely.
All buttons have clear pressure points. The joystick’s resistance is greater than in the predecessor, which makes it feel more precise. The one thing that annoys me? When I want to push down the joystick to select something, it usually also tilts. As a result, I end up navigating away instead of selecting what I want. This would be fine if the dedicated «OK» button was located directly under the joystick. But it’s not. It’s a whole button further down.
According to Fujifilm, the five-axis in-body image stabilisation (IBIS) enables shutter speeds that are up to 8 stops slower. In the predecessor model, it was only 5.5 stops. I couldn’t reproduce this difference in my test. With both cameras, I manage handheld shutter speeds of 1/4 second with a 55mm lens. At 1/2 second, the shots become blurry – both with the GFX 100 and the GFX 100 II. Mind you, I can’t rule out that this will improve with the final firmware.
Viewfinder and display are top of the line
Overall, the GFX 100 II’s viewfinder is one of the best available. I can scale the size of the image in steps. Even though this reduces the resolution, it’s a blessing for eyeglass wearers like me who can’t press their eye as close to the viewfinder as people without glasses. In many viewfinders, I can’t see all the way to the corners.
When it comes to the 3.2-inch display on the back, nothing has changed. And there was no need for it to change either, because the resolution of 2.36 million pixels as well as the brightness are good. The display can be tilted on two sides, but not folded out. A shame, but not a dealbreaker on a camera that isn’t meant for vlogging.
Autofocus – not perfect, but a milestone
The Achilles heel of medium format cameras has always been the autofocus. The GFX 100 II changes that. Granted, no one will ever rely on it to take pictures at the Olympics; it’s too slow for that. For other applications like portrait photography, however, Fujifilm has set a milestone. The GFX 100 II is the first medium format camera to have an autofocus that I would describe as fully fledged and suitable for everyday use, even for moving subjects.
Only in the backlight of a window does the tracking sometimes get confused and catch the pink chair instead of my colleague Michelle Brändle’s eyes. Switching to a single autofocus zone and placing approximately on the face helps against this. Every single image is then sharp, even with a large aperture. Impressive and very useful. It leaves me more room to focus on the light, composition and subject.
I didn’t try the tracking modes for animals, cars and so on. I’m not a fan of autofocus on generic objects. It somehow never gets right what I want to be sharp. This is anecdotal evidence, mind you, but my reference system from Sony appears more intelligent. With the GFX 100 II, I prefer to switch to manual focus when photographing things other than people.
Even then, full-frame cameras are faster and more decisive. The autofocus of Fujifilm’s behemoth sometimes goes on a bit of a hunt before settling on its target. It especially tends to struggle in continuous shooting mode. But at least there’s a continuous mode at all, which can’t be said for the competition from Hasselblad. And it’s possible that Fujifilm will still improve the autofocus with the final firmware.
Picture quality is a dream
Photography nerd alert: the sensor of the Fujifilm GFX II is an absolute dream! It’s outstanding in every respect. In image development, the files feel like they have more depth than those from full-frame cameras. This may sound airy-fairy, but it isn’t. There are rational reasons for this perception:
As a rough test, I photograph myself against the light in front of a brightly illuminated wall. With the GFX 100 II, I can in fact extract some more detail out of the dark and bright areas than with the predecessor, around the centre of the light cone and on the face. Colours are also better preserved in the shadows.
Other than that, I don’t see any difference between the new sensor and the «old» version in the Fujifilm GFX 100 and GFX 100S. It’s insignificant. These two cameras already delivered bomb image quality. Whether you really need this in everyday life depends on your application. RAW files are fun in any case. But you need enough computing power for image processing as well as a lot of storage space – an uncompressed image takes up over 200 megabytes.
Video – good, but not the best
What’s the situation with the GFX 100 II? It can do 8K at up to 30 fps in 10-bit 4:2:2. At this resolution, the image quality can compete with other 8K cameras. Fujifilm’s flat F-Log2 colour profile captures plenty dynamic range. I can convert the recordings with LUTs to either Rec.709 or Eternea. The latter gives the skin tones a warm hue that I like.
In 8K, however, the GFX 100 II doesn’t capture the image with the full sensor. It applies a 1.51-fold crop. The camera also needs 32 milliseconds to read out the frames. Full-frame BSI sensors with comparable pixel density are similarly slow. 32 milliseconds means a pronounced rolling shutter effect. With 4K in 30 and 60 fps, the readout speed is faster and there’s no more crop either. In these modes, the image is less detailed.
The autofocus of the Fujifilm GFX 100 II is less suitable for videos than for photos. Yes, it reliably finds my eye in my test shots and is usually accurate. But when I move, the camera shifts focus rather jerkily. It often overshoots the mark and has to restabilise. For professional video recording, this kind of focus hunt game is useless. You’d need the sharpness to be on point immediately and to shift more smoothly. Full-frame models are better at that.
If you want to primarily shoot video, there are better cameras than the GFX 100 II. But the GFX 100 II is well suited for mixed projects, for example, if you want to shoot portraits and also film an interview.
The verdict – a fully fledged high-end camera
Compared to the predecessor, the camera is easier to handle while maintaining its sophisticated operation. It does take some getting used to because of its complexity, with the advantage that you can adapt it to your preferences. The good ergonomics, the gigantic top display and the high-resolution electronic viewfinder are also a joy.
However, the biggest unique selling point of the GFX 100 II is its autofocus. The behemoth of a camera doesn’t focus as quickly and decisively as a modern full-frame camera. But it’s the first medium format model with eye tracking that I can trust. In portrait photography, this frees the mind for other things. Only with fast-moving subjects does the autofocus reach its limits. The same goes for videos, where the focus tracking isn’t very smooth.
Samuel Buchmann
Senior Editor
Samuel.Buchmann@digitecgalaxus.chMy fingerprint often changes so drastically that my MacBook doesn't recognise it anymore. The reason? If I'm not clinging to a monitor or camera, I'm probably clinging to a rockface by the tips of my fingers.
