Fujifilm GFX100S Autofocus is Garbage-Grade
Related: focusing, Fujifilm, Fujifilm GF 35-70mm f/4.5-5.6 WR, Fujifilm GFX100S, Fujifilm Lenses, Fujifilm medium format, Fujifilm mirrorless, medium format
I wrote this back in 2021, and more than once and years prior I saw the same issues. How did I forget just how bad it can be?
As I started to work with the Fujifilm GFX100S, this was the only series this evening’s shoot that was properly focused—the GFX100S exhibited a strong tendency to front-focus by several meters at this distance. Combined with the forward focus shift of the 30/3.5, it was mostly a disaster. But this series worked out just fine.
Nothing has changed.
The Fujifilm GFX100S is not a pro camera, it is a godamned science-fair project.
The majority of my trip pictures are degraded in sharpness by poor focus placement, some seriously, due to the wildly inaccurate front-focusing of the GFX100S. Beware! See for yourself on my examples page.
Fujifilm GF 35-70mm f/3.5-4.5 Examples: an August Hike from Saddlebag Lake to Twenty Lakes Basin
I am thoroughly disgusted and angry with the Fujifilm GFX100S and the feckless engineering team that releases this garbage to the public. No Sony or Nikon camera would ever perform anywhere near this badly. Worse, I first reported on various problems 6 years ago. They have not been fixed, they are worse than ever.
A strong front-focus bias (too close) all too often leaves the background and sometimes even the subject out of focus. The error was/is consistent and highly destructive to sharpness at and behind the subject, even at f/9.
I had noticed this last year, but forgot about it. What is PDAF good for... fast but inaccurate garbage-focus? Why is there no “slower but accurate” contrast-detect autofocus mode, particularly in spot AF and/or magnified Live View (where I frequently observe major fuck-ups on focus so much so that I am forced to focus manually with the impressively shitty Fujifilm Live View quality).
Add in engineering incompetence for Focus BKT and unreliable AF for an infinity frame and IBIS that blurs half the frame make the GFX100S an ugly joke. The GFX100S is only appropriate only for slower work like landscape where you can verify focus, lest the camera work against you. To rely on it for walking snapshots as I did was a disaster. And these may be personal shots in many cases, but I cannot go back and repeat them: shame on you Fujifilm for your shitty engineering. You suck, you don’t fix anything, you let it ride and hurt your customers—unacceptable.
My Sony has NEVER let me down—i tmight miss once in a while, but not 90% of the time.
Fujifilm GFX100S + Fujifilm GF 35-70mm f/4.5-5.6 WR @ 28.8mm equiv (35mm)
ENV: Twenty Lakes Basin, altitude 10200 ft / 3109 m, 65°F / 18°C
RAW: Camera PROVIA, LACA corrected, vignetting corrected, WB 5500°K tint 21, pull 0.33 stops, +72 Shadows, -100 Highlights, +30 Whites, +10 Clarity, diffraction mitigating sharpening
[low-res image for bot]
