Fujifilm GFX100S Review by Matt Granger: Banding Issue Fixed, 5 Stops Shadow Recovery Test, Autofocus and more

Matt Granger tested the brand new Fujifilm GFX100S along with the Fujinon GF80mmF1.7.

Here are his thoughts from his various videos covering it.

Video 1

using the GF32-64mm combined with the GFX100S, he got great handheld sharp results at shutters speeds as low as 1/10th of a second
amazing IBIS
continous AF at 5fps was not great. Did a reasonable job only in 25% of his tracking attempts
it tracked people, lost them, then needed time to lock on the person again
he is going to test AF tracking more in depth and share his findings in a second video
he makes clear that he is shooting a pre-production sample and he is well aware that the firmware will change until the camera is released
AF ON button is more flush then he’d like
file size
Super fine JPEG: 53+ MB (have an insane amount of detail)
Lower Res JEPG: 9 MB
RAW: 200+ MB
he prefers to carry a second battery rather than having a vertical grip. A vertical grip option would just add size, costs and weight
has lower resolution EVF compared to the original GFX100, but it was not realistic that Fuji would give you everything for a much cheaper price

Video 2

in his first test he didn’t really test continuous AF in zone mode and GFX shooters recommended him to set the camera on zone AF
so he did set zone AF
zone continuous AF works quite well actually, with mechanical shutter, boost AF mode with tracking focus priority (rather than release priority)
the camera is doing quite well in this mode, and by far the best option to get best AF tracking results
still it’s not near Canon, Sony and Nikon, but he also would not expect it
with zone AF you have a smaller zone where the camera will focus as opposed to wide tracking, and you’ll have to keep your subject in that frame
for medium format the AF is impressive
changing settings, the camera is responsive, no lags
he could not work with the RAW files, so it does not make sense to look at dynamic range, banding, etc.
probably performance is the same of GFX100
in JPEG he still noticed some PDAF banding but it wasn’t really pronounced
battery life: a full day of shooting, he used only 1 battery
some Zeiss Otus lenses cover the GFX100 sensor. from 70mm up it will cover the GFX sensor
he did not find the EVF laggy. Nice and responsive. Not an outstanding EVF, but also no complaints about it
GFX100S has overall better build quality than the GFX100
GF80mmF1.7 is beautifully sharp, great contrast and falloff in out of focus area. He is impressed. A great modern, well designed and quite good value lens

Video 3

insane image quality
as opposed to the original GFX100, he does not see lots of banding [Note: Fujifilm silently fixed it also on the GFX100 via firmware update… you know, those “fix of minor bugs” things ;)]
handling way better than GFX100
he consider buying GFX100S
AF is leaps ahead of any other MF camera
overwhelming amount of data and details
Fuji is right up with Canon colors
he recovers 4 stops of an underexposed image, and he says normally when you recover that much, the color go wonky, but with the GFX100S they remain beautiful – fairly incredible
he does not see banding issue when he makes 5 stops recovery
at some point it will get noisy (of course), but the colors stay beautiful. Some magenta in the shadow areas, but what can you expect when you push this far
quite impressive
it is not as clean as a 12 MP Sony A7S at high ISO, but it’s incredible how clean it is for a 102 megapixel camera
it’s remarkable to get 102 MP for $6,000
really ergonomic body
lenses are fantastic, but also big and heavy
you can still get shallower DOF with full frame