Tag: GFX

Link: Interview of Fujifilm’s executives about the GFX100RF

DPReview has an interview of Fujifilm executives about the GFX 100RF.

Part of the reasoning is that the GFX100RF is a much more expensive camera than the X100VI, which means it needs to feel more premium. “At the beginning, when we discussed how we should design the camera, we already knew about the price point. So this camera should be more luxurious to match the price point,” said Oishi.

There is one way to avoid the supply problems: make it unaffordable. This sounds tongue in cheek, but the X100VI is still unobtainium, so is the X-M5…, the latter being one of the least expensive models.

A major factor in its luxury design is the top plate, which is milled out of a single block of aluminum—it’s the first time Fujifilm has used this type of manufacturing process.

Later, during the Fujikina event, Yoneda told us that turning an aluminum ingot into a GFX100RF top plate takes around five hours.

For so much I love well built devices, made out of metal, this looks like overkill to make it cost CA$7,000. This doesn’t make it a bad camera, but the law of diminishing returns clearly applies here.

To me, the unique feature of this camera, that also applies with the other GFX 100, is the possibility to shoot in 65:24 (or any other) aspect ratio and still have a large amount of pixels. And the GFX 100RF offers it in a smaller package. Fujifilm could offer the crops in the viewfinder for X-series and I’m sure it would work for many people with about half of the 40 Megapixels that the X100VI do offer.

News: GFX 100RF

The long rumored medium format fixed lens camera from Fujifilm was just announced.

It is called the GFX 100RF. RF stands for Rangefinder style, Fixed lens.

This camera will naturally compare with the Leica Q3 that is in a similar market segment.

The GFX 100RF has a 102 Megapixel sensor, larger than full frame (43.8mm x 32.9mm) like the one on the GFX 100II, and a newly developed fixed 35mm f/4 that is a 28mm equivalent FoV with a leaf shutter, and built-in ND filter. The lens can focus as close as 20cm front the front. The electronic viewfinder has a x0.84 magnification and 5.76 Megapixels, and it is complemented by a 3.15 in 2.1 Megapixel tilting LCD.

It has a dial that allows selecting 9 differwent aspect-ratios that, in addition to the usual ones, feature crops like 17:6 and 65:24 which are the Fujifilm G617 and T-X1 panoramic cameras respectively. There is also a vertical 3:4, that would allow taking a cropped picture in the portrait orientation. The aspect ratio dial will change the viewfinder to offer proper framing guides but the raw file will contain it all.

The digital teleconverter is a digital zoom similar to the one found on the Leica Q3 that will crop to any of 43mm, 63mm or 80mm field of view (in 35mm equivalent these are about 36mm, 50mm and 63mm respectively). The crop is done at the cost of less pixels, but since you start at 102 Megapixels, there is plenty of room to work with. Like with the aspect ratio crop, if you shoot raw, the whole image is still captured but it will be marked as cropped by default in your photo processing software (if it supports it).

There is no image stabilisation whether it is lens or in body. High speed flash sync is possible with the leaf shutter, up to 1/500 sec. There is also a dual SD-card slots and the camera is weather sealed if you install the included protective filter PRF-49.

And of course, all the usual film simulations are available.

Video

It wouldn’t be a Fujifilm without video. It doesn’t offer everything but you can shoot 4K in 30 fps, in 10 bits 4:2:2 and F-log2 with a digital images stabiliser, and there are both a headphone and a microphone jack.

Availability

The GFX 100RF is to the GFX-series what the X100 is to the X-series, albeit the latter showed up first.

MSRP is €5,499 / US$4,899 / CA$6,999, less than the Leica Q3 and available in April 2025.

Afterword

Please Fujifilm, bring these crops to the X-series. No need for a dial. Just allow assigning to a button. I want the frames in the EVF of my X-T3.