Fujifilm GFX100 II: What Features will Really Matter the Most?
Related: camera cards, CFExpress camera storage card, digital sensor, EVF, Fujifilm, Fujifilm GFX100 II, Fujifilm medium format, Fujifilm mirrorless, medium format, noise, Other World Computing, OWC Atlas camera storage cards, reader comment, sensor readout transit time
I will review the GFX100 II as a priority when the B&H Photo loaner camera arrives (late September if all goes well). It is due to arrive September 27 if all goes by plan.
Which features really matter the most in the Fujifilm GFX100 II? I focus here on what matters to me as a landscape shooter which also applies to architecture or similar; if you’re doing portraits or sports (glutton for pain?) then your assessment might be slightly different.
The visual experience
The way I interact with the camera is a big deal: the EVF. A high-res EVF with a wonderful 1X magnification EVF makes everything more enjoyable and easier. Easier to focus, easier to compose/view, much more pleasurable to use. That feature alone could completely change how the camera feels. And feel/enjoyment matter a lot, no matter the task. A blackout-free shutter and half the sensor transit time will all contribute to that feel.
Focus stacking speed
Fujifilm has halved (roughly) the sensor readout transit time. What that means is that automated focus stacking via Focus BKT could in theory go twice as fast. That is a HUGE deal when things are windy, by cutting down the double-image problem of trees and grasses moving in the wind. But it might be that it goes no faster, being dependent upon focusing motor or some such—will know soon.
Of course, Focus BKT remains an ill-conceived disaster of design and implementation that has cost me many many hours of manual work, and whether Fujifilm has an intention of fixing their broken software... dunno. I still don’t know if they are even aware of it, or if they are, whether they just reject it via cognitive dissonance shit sandwich in a cognitive commitment bun.
Sensor noise
Hard to evaluate, but the GFX100S is pretty damned noisy at ISO 100 in things like blue sky, so much so that I now regularly use AI Denoise even at ISO 100. The GFX100 II with its newer sensor and base ISO 80 might make an appreciable improvement. 16-bit images might finally be worth the bother?
CFExpress Type B
Internal card speed with CFExpress Type B such as OWC Atlas CFExpress should be at least 5X faster, so that a 10-frame focus stack can take 2/3 second to write to card instead of 3-4 seconds. Plus, downloads should be way faster than the fastest USB-C SSD, a nice plus at the end of a long day hiking. Plus capacity is up to 2TB and will get to 4TB.
Better image quality?
The “Redesigned microlenses improve light coverage at the corners of the sensor” is interesting. Does this affect noise or sharpness or both or... what exactly?
Autofocus
Fujifilm has a very low bar to raise here—awful performance with the Fujifilm GFX100S, which is terrible on precision and accuracy, frequently claiming focus acquisition when it is obviously not good. Thus any improvement is very welcome, but I’m skeptical that the “surgical accuracy” claim is anything but marketing hype.
IBIS
For handheld shooters and that includes me for landscape, improved IBIS is a big plus. I cannot alway shoot on a tripod, so anything that extends the shooting envelope is very welcome.
Video features
Zero value to me, and marginal anyway: you cannot even get full-frame 8K unless you go all the way to 2.35:1 aspect ratio—or you can get 1.7:1 but only when sensor is cropped to 35mm format. Far inferior platform vs a Sony A7R V or similar.
