Commentary on Fujifilm GFX100 II
Related: Electronic First Curtain Shutter, Electronic Shutter, focus accuracy, focus stacking, Fujifilm, Fujifilm GFX100 II, Fujifilm medium format, Fujifilm mirrorless, medium format, Other World Computing, shutter
I’m working my way towards home. Wow, what a warm autumn, after two snowstorms things are 8°F to 11°F warmer than average, so pleasant, so enjoyable prior to the onset of cold conditions... eg 65°F at 8400' in Colorado, 78°F at 5700' in Nevada, etc. Admittedly, I have been doing a lot of enjoying of that weather, with my strength back after a 2.5-year test of perseverance and the required cognitive commitment to passing through it. It’s just too nice to not to.
ES vs EFC shutter
Is electronic first curtain shutter a vibration issue on the GFX100 II? It is awfully noisy, obnoxiously so, so much so that I am loathe to use it for Focus BKT where it bangs away like a roofer laying shingles, and yet it is a hassle to switch constantly back and forth between it and electronic shutter, which has its own issues. My concern is lower shutter speeds and situations where the tripod itself resonates and/or unstable ground, both of which require zero vibration. Usually that 2nd curtain is not an issue, but if the thing is banging away 5 or 13 or 24 times, the effect might be shutter shake. Note well that Fujifilm forces the shutter to ES when doing pixel shift, which surely is a testament to that risk.
Great EVF, but GFX100 II does not mover forward in its operational credibility
Battery life is outstanding.
Of particular disappointment with the GFX100 II are two things: (1) focus acquisition often beeps to indicate focus but is badly blurred (obviously!), a f*cking joke vs “surgical precision” claims, and (2) Focus BKT is just as broken with the 55/1.7 as other lenses, failing to achieve INF focus. Engineering incompetence in two critical areas and there are more.
- Do not rely on Fujifilm autofocus—it will fail badly to the point of ruin all too often. I watched it do so over and over yesterday.
- Do not relay on Fujifilm Focus BKT achieving a final INF-focus frame. It shows a 90% failure rate vs a carefully manually focused final frame.
Image quality
When home, what I’m keen to determine is whether the Fujifilm GFX100S really differs in detail and overall image quality from the Fujifilm GFX100 II. I need my NEC PA302W back at home to see that clearly. Other than that, the GFX100 II offers one only two features I care about: a vastly improved EVF (best on the market today) and overall improved responsiveness. But it has the same ol' bugs and usability frustrations as the GFX100S.
Check out the detail near to far. A tilt-shift lens could make short work of this scene but wow every crack and dimple in the mud is crisp!
The photographic “opposition effect” can be seen here in the increased brightness at center.
Fujifilm GFX100 II + Fujifilm GF 55mm f/1.7 WR @ 45.3mm equiv (55mm)
ENV: Lunar Crater area, altitude 5700 ft / 1737 m, 70°F / 21°C
RAW: Camera PROVIA, vignetting corrected, WB 5000°K tint 21, +30 Dehaze, +10 Clarity, diffraction mitigating sharpening, +10 Vibrance
[low-res image for bot]
