Fujifilm GFX100 Phase Detection Pixel Banding and Pixel Shift Multishot Solution

the black line in the center part has been manually added by Bill from Photons to Photos
the black line in the center part has been manually added by Bill from Photons to Photos

Fujifilm GFX100

For years, mirrorless cameras lagged behing DSLRs in terms of autofocus speed.

In order to catch up, companies started to incorporate phase detection pixels on their sensors, and modern cameras have phase detection pixels spread all over the sensors, very much to the delight of photographers, who enjoy fast autofoucs, eye autofocus all over the frame and reliable subject tracking.

But no technology is perfect, and so also phase detection has its downside.

When pushed to the extreme (meaning extreme shadow recovery for example), sensors with phase detection pixels can show some banding.

This has been documented with Nikon, Sony and so forth, and of course Fujifilm is no exception. They all use the same Sony sensor at the end of the day :).

It looks like also the Fujifilm GFX100 is (unsurprisingly) showing the same banding issue, when its RAW files are pushed to the extreme.

In fact, the Fujifilm GFX100 sensor has

  • a total of 3.78 million phase detection pixels
  • 7,776 PDAF pixels every 18 lines

The more phase detection pixels a sensor has, the more you can use phase detection also in lower light.

Bill Claff from Photons to Photos has published a Fujifilm GFX100 sensor heatmap (via dpreview), showing a short black line every 18 rows (see image above).

Should we panic?

I guess not. Or we could just throw any modern mirrorless camera into the garbage that uses phase detection pixels (unless it’s X-Trans ;) ).

It’s, as always, a tradeoff.

Do you want faster autofocus? Or do you want RAW files that even when pushed to its limits and beyond don’t show banding?

The Solution

First off: Fujifilm is fine tuning the firmware for the Fujifilm GFX100, and of course they are aware of banding. They are working to optimize sensor readout and the final firmware will show, how much banding the camera will really have.

But in any case, there is partially a solution to that, even without optimized and final firmware.

As I told you already months ago, Fujifilm is working to bring pixel shift multishot into the Fujifilm GFX100.

The original goal was to have it ready for GFX100 launch, but it needs a bit more time of development.

But pixel shift mulitshot will come, and as we have seen from other phase detection mirrorless cameras offering this feature, pixel shift reduces or even eliminates banding completely.

So, as long as you are shooting static subjects on a tripod and use pixel shift multishot, you won’t have any issues with banding.

Fujifilm GFX 100: B&H Photo, AmazonUS, Adorama, Focuscamera

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Full set of "false color" images where the colors are just used to help show structure as opposed to randomness.
Full set of “false color” images where the colors are just used to help show structure as opposed to randomness.

Fujifilm GFX 100 Pixel Shift Multishot Just a Matter of Time, says Trusted Source

Fujifilm GFX100 Pixel Shift

Back in October 2018, I told you the Fujifilm GFX100 will have pixel shift multishot. However, in March 2019 here, I got an update from a source, that pixel shift multishot won’t be ready for launch.

I have asked sources about this feature again, and they told me it is high on Fuji’s To Do list, but it will be only released once working perfectly.

I asked for a time frame, but the source could not give it to me. All it said is that it’s “just a matter of time“.

Pixel shift multishot is easier to achieve with Bayer CFA than with X-Trans CFA, which is why the Fujifilm X-H1 still does not have it, and I would not be surprised to see it coming first to the Fujifilm GFX100.

FYI: Another advantage of Bayer, is that also the electronic image stabilization (available in Fujifilm X-T100) is easier to achieve than with Bayer.

On the other hand, the recently awarded X-Trans sensor, has other advantages. We have written about the Pros and Cons of Bayer vs X-Trans here.

A bit out of topic, but Google just shared a white paper and video explaining their multi-frame super resolution feature that is what powers the Pixels’s night mode for example.
A good reminder that technology is not waiting and will always continue, and that Fujifilm should take note of it!

Fujifilm GFX 100: B&H Photo, AmazonUS, Adorama, Focuscamera, CalumetDE, ParkcamerasUK, JessopsUK, PCHstore

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Cambo Actus Fit for Fujifilm GFX100

In case you were wondering about Fujifilm GFX100 and Actus GFX, Cambo said on their facebook page:

“During the last couple of weeks we received a lot of emails regarding the Fuji GFX-100. Will it fit on the Actus-GFX? The answer is yes.

The new GFX is substantially higher than the current 50mp models. We’ve just machined the parts required to fit the 100mp body to the Actus. And as demo cameras are still sparse in Europe, we took the opportunity to try the combination during the grand opening of Calumet’s new store in Frankfurt.

Q: Does camera rotation clear for portrait orientation?
A: In portrait orientation you could actually use the Actus-GFX as it is. Only when used in landscape orientation the new GFX-100 requires more space
.”

Fujifilm GFX 100: B&H Photo, AmazonUS, Adorama, Focuscamera

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via cambo

Inside the Fujifilm Factory, Eye AF Demo and a Confusing Fujifilm GFX 100S Rendering

Fujifilm Factory

The Straits Times posted a short video, with clips from inside the Fujifilm factory in Sendai.

Interestingly, at some point they display a rendering of the Fujifilm GFX100S, basically a Fuji GFX50S marked as 100S. I don’t know if they were confused and just made an incredible error, or if they just wanted to hint something to us :)

Anyway, here are some facts we hear in the video:

  • 227,000 sqm
  • 2,000 workers
  • 18,000 cameras manufactured each month
  • 30,000 to 50,000 lenses manufactured each month
  • the first room they visit is a room, where the “image sensor is produced“, as well as some of the lenses assembled
  • the IBIS of the GFX100 consists of 110 pieces. It takes surprisingly little space around the image sensor
  • the camera is assembled from close ot 900 pieces [to be precise, 860 pieces, as we reported here]

When he says about “image sensor being produced” he probably means “assembled on the GFX“, since it is produced by Sony.

Hasselblad Teases New Camera Launch on June 19: 100 Megapixel Hasselblad X2D Coming to Compete with Fujifilm GFX100?

The timing could not have been better!

Fujifilm has just announced the Fujifilm GFX100 and is about to ship it on June 27, and now Hasselblad has published a teaser of what looks like the successor of the Hasselblad X1D.

Hasselblad says the launch will take place on June 19.

There are no further details. All we can see is an image showing a shutter button that looks just like the one of the Hasselblad X1D.

This indicates that the Hasselblad X2D (or Hasselblad X1D Mark II) could be on its way, maybe with the same 100 megapixel sensor of the Fujifilm GFX100.

And it would be high time, since the Hasselblad X1D is discontinued since a while now.

This is a fantastic news especially for Fujifilm GFX lovers, since the more competition there is in the medium format segment, the more companies will fight for customers and offer more features for less price.

So, dear Hasselblad, we all look forward to June 19!

via Fujifilm GFX group via Hasselblad facebook via dedicated Hasselblad launch page

Fujifilm GFX 100: B&H Photo, AmazonUS, Adorama, Focuscamera

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