Howy you again everyone and I'm starting Off the new year with a bang with my First ever test of a digital medium Format camera yes I've been itching to Get hold of one of these for absolutely Years and the arrival of this new Fuji Gfx100 Mark 2 gave me the perfect Opportunity as this is advertised as Being one of Fuji's fastest new medium Format options with excellent video and Auto focus systems while still enjoying A 102 megapixel image stabilized sensor And its price of $7,500 while expensive is actually not Bad in a Land of medium format although Obviously you'll have to factor in the High cost of Fuji's GF lenses also I'd Like to thank Fuji UK very much for Learning me this camera over Christmas For me to test as well as a number of GF Lenses which will be getting separate Reviews on this channel but as usual This is a totally independent video I'll Be talking about both the camera's Strengths and its weaknesses I say that This camera is medium format but the True medium format size from the film Era is considerably bigger than this so If you want to be fuzzy it's more like a Cropped medium format Fuji gfx cameras And their hassleblad competitors have Sensors which are about 33x 44 mm in Size giving a square 4×3 aspect ratio in Your images and instead of the 3×2 in
Most other camera systems but still that Makes this sensor 70% bigger than full Frame giving more room for huge Megapixel counts and an even narrower Than ever depth revealed in your images Well potentially if you can get lenses With bright enough apertures that is so They are especially popular with anyone Who needs or even just wants very high Resolution pictures such as Studio Landscape and architecture photographers Texture artists and so on I really like Fuji's strategy of offering apsc X Mount Sensor cameras on one end of their range A bit smaller and more affordable and Big medium format cameras on the other It's a nice little strategy to offer Really different products in this way And with the price of this medium format Gear slowly becoming more affordable I Can't wait to see what the future holds The camera itself is correspondingly big And heavy weighing almost a kilogram With a battery or just over 2 lb with a Big Fuji GF lens attached and one or two Others in your camera bag it's a Considerable burden to carry around with You but on the upside it feels solid as A rock and features lovely tactile Rubber panels all around it it's an SLR Style camera with a very high quality 9.4 million dot viewfinder on the top But the really neat thing is that that Viewed finder can be removed to reduce
The camera's profile if if you want and I like the way the camera handles Although it's definitely catering for Those who like customization and have Big hands it has two customizable Buttons at the front and four on the top Along with customizable menus and Screen Swiping something particularly Attractive is the large and high Resolution OED screen on the top which Can light up brightly and offers tons of Information on the rear we can see an Autofocus joystick and an AF on button As well as a pressable thumb dial to Match the one on the front with a little Practice there are really no problems Controlling this camera at all the Screen is bright and very high Resolution with pretty accurate colors It can tilt up and down as well as Folding out to the right but Unfortunately it can't be flipped out to Face the front which is a surprising Design Choice considering the extra Video features Fuji have packed into This camera thanks to the camera's fast Processor it's quick and easy to browse And examine your 102 megapixel images And go through all the menus the camera Uses Fuji's npw 235 battery which Provided me with a surprisingly decent Amount of use probably about 600 shots Or so depending on how you use it of Course usefully it can be charged via
USBC the camera accept CF Express typeb Memory cards as well as SD cards which Is my personal favorite little Combination cfx pass for Speed SD for Affordability and compatibility above The SD card slots there's a headphone Jack behind a hidden flap on the other Side of the camera there's a lan Port as Well as microphone USBC and a fullsize HDMI port nice honestly the only area Where I could really fault this camera's Build quality is with these rather Flimsy flaps covering those ports they Feel rubbish honestly but they work and They are rubberized for weather proofing The camera's menus are reasonably well Thought out and quick to navigate and The camera is packed with shooting Features including jpeg or heif image Capture as well as raw files in Compressed uncompressed and lossless Modes and we also get Fuji's rather Dizzying array of jpeg picture effects Tone curve settings and Beautiful film Simulations including gorgeous across Black and white bleach bypass classic Chrome oh they all look gorgeous Especially on those medium format images And they're all available in movie mode Too talking about movie mode the camera Is well featured here 8K footage up to 30 frames per second 4K up to 60 frames And 1080p up to 120 frames per second And all with fast face detection auto
Focus it works great and we'll look at a Video quality a little later but bear in Mind that the 8K footage suffers from a 1.5 times crop which is a shame more Advanced video features include Waveforms vectorscopes and anamorphic D Squeezing modes and F log shooting it Can also output raw footage over an HDMI Cable these are all fantastic and Advanced specs although other cameras Like the Nikon Z8 I recently tested do Offer just a little more The camera is able to capture still Shots at up to 5 or 8 frames per second And the buffer lasts a really long time Again this is a nice little performance For a medium format camera which are Normally slower my gosh the noise that Shutter makes though without a lens on The front that thing is noisy you'll Lose a little dynamic range in your Images when shooting at 5 frames per Second and a bit more at 8 frames per Second due to lowering bit rates but the Finished results don't look vastly Different still always remember to shoot In single shot mode unless otherwise Needed there is of course a silent Electronic shooting mode as well oh and A 400 megap 16 shot pixel shift mode for Owners of very steady tripods honestly I've never had much luck with these very Highresolution pixel shift shooting Modes the end results are always really
Mixed and even the most minuscule Movement causes IM quality issues well Let's take a look at autofocus and I was Very pleased with this camera's Autofocus capability but not super Impressed the autofocus is not up to the Same speeds and accuracy as Canon Sony And Nikon's best systems but it is Getting there and the amount of subject Detection options are great to see also I found the camera's AI working very Nicely to find whatever subject it was In my image and I was largely only Limited by the speed of the autofocus Motor of whatever lens that I was using Oh and the autofocus worked just as well In movie mode so this medium format Camera is one of the first that performs Really well in this regard even if other Camera systems can be faster it'll never Be a camera for sports photographers for Instance oh and of course this camera Features inbody stabilization very Useful here's some footage with it Turned off and now turned on as you can See it's doing a lovely job here Fuji's Image stabilization systems have always Been excellent although just an edge of Vibration is Visible so that sums up the camera's Build quality and nearly all of its Features let's look at image quality now With my brand new very large very Expensive and very high quality test
Chart we'll start with Raw versus JPEG And on the left we can see that the raw Image is absolutely packed with amazing Detail and beautiful color graduation The jpeg images are a little softer but Not far behind if we look to the left a Little we can see that blocks of color Are looking very nice here also that Jpeg engine could be sharper but apart From that the image is looking beautiful Okay let's look at high ISO noise levels While this is a medium format camera the Extremely high resolution of over 100 Megapixels should cancel out that size And advantage and to my eyes we are Seeing about the same noise as on a Topof the-line fullframe camera here so ISO 100 to 800 looks fantastic to my Eyes ISO 1600 introduces a touch of Noise and fine detail is starting to get A little suppressed from ISO 3200 to 12,800 fine details progressively suffer More and more and at 12,800 noise Becomes a clear problem too oh and here You can see the highest ISO levels Actually I'd say that 25,600 is just barely usable just Although I wouldn't bother going any Higher than this so as I mentioned You're basically getting the noise Levels of a decent fullframe camera here But with the extra 102 map detail that Medium format can provide well I'm not Complaining at all one of the camera's
Best image quality features is its Awesome dynamic range the best I've ever Tested quite frankly you can really push Those shadows and pull back those Highlights and still get spectacular Results although of course raw files Look way better than jpeg when you do so Okay let's take a look at video quality Now we will start in 4k where the Camera's footage is detailed and up to ISO 1600 very low on noise although We're seeing some unpleasant artifacts In fine details here especially when Shooting water ISO 3200 is still looking Reasonably good but 6400 and 12,800 Really lose out on detail okay let's see About 8K video work sorry for the shaky Footage here by the way it was on a Tripod but a very windy day when I shot As you can tell by the wild Welsh waves Here anyway the 8K footage up to ISO 1600 looks excellent with fantastic Detail and those weird artifacts are Virtually gone pleasingly ISO 3200 still Looks good and it's only at 6,400 and 12,800 that noise becomes an issue so This is a great camera for shooting 8K Footage if you don't mind the crop Factor or being limited to 30 frames per Second but the camera's 4K footage does Have some Oddities in the fine details Shooting at 21° Centigrade I I couldn't Get the camera to overheat while Shooting in 4k or 8K although Apparently
After 100 minutes or so it will overheat While shooting 8K footage rolling Shutter is a bit of an issue with this Camera too at 4K it's noticeable as you Can see here but at 8K it does become a Major problem so then overall while I Loved testing the gfx 100 Mark I it is Not a camera for everyone well I think You could guessed that by now but it's As close to that as it could be for a Medium format option I did love the Images it produces even straight out of The camera they are packed with detail With a decent enough High ISO noise Performance the auto white balance was Almost always correct and colors looked Lovely in most situations but I did find That I often needed to compensate the Exposure upwards a bit an issue of often Come across in Fuji cameras that a auto Focus system is good enough while not Super fast it's more than enough to keep Up with any shooting job apart from Sports Photography or anything else That's very heavy goinging the camera Itself is quite fast intuitive and Customizable to use it's size and weight Are quite a pain though especially if You're carrying it around in a shoulder Bag with a bunch of big lenses like I Was doing still those 102 megapixel Images though and that amazing dynamic Range this certainly has to be one of The best landscape and Studio cameras
Around and Fuji have also worked hard on Its video features as I say medium Format is not for everyone not least Because of its high cost but this Particular camera shows a maturing and Development of Fuji's gfx system into Something much broader and more capable Than it ever has been before and so I do Recommend this camera to those who can Afford it and its lenses of course Course what a great camera that was to Shoot with over Christmas and a Challenging one too getting Sharp Images At 102 megapixels is no joke I'll be Reviewing a bunch of Fuji's GF lenses Over the coming months alongside all the Other camera systems I review in the Meantime if you regularly watch these Videos and find them helpful then check Out my Pat on page where supporters get All kinds of exclusive bonus content Follow the link in the description below And CIA for now Everyone
