NewEVFis a wondertobeholdwitha resolutionof5.76
megadotsanda magnificationof0.86x.It canstillbeused
withtheoptionaltiltadapterintroducedwiththeGFX50S.Joystick-typecontrol
servesasthemain
navigator,includingfor
AFpointselection.LCDmonitorhasthree-
waytiltadjustments
withonepossiblein the
verticalplane.Bodyshellis magnesiumalloyandextensively
sealed.Newinternalstructurehasthelens
mount,sensorandIBISassemblyinstalledon
a separateinternalframe.ON TRIAL
Get past both these initial impres-
sions though, and the GFX 100 is
a revelation in terms of balance,
manoeuvrability and ergonomics.
It just doesn’t feel like the
handful that it looks. And this is
really, really important because
the GFX 100 is undoubtedly the
first 100 MP camera that you can
realistically contemplate shooting
with hand-held. Really. There are
going to be plenty of occasions
when it’s still advisable to use a
tripod, but the five-axis in-body
image stabiliser gives up to
5.5 stops of correction for camera
shake which opens up many more
possibilities for hand-held shooting.
Of course, it’s a first for a sensor
of this size and, during a tour of
the GFX 100 production after the
camera’s Tokyo launch, there was
a chance to take a close look at
this IBIS module. Not only is it big,
it’s heavy so it must have been
a fair old technical challenge to
come up with a drive system that
can control the shift movements
with the precision required. Not
surprisingly, IBIS alone had its
own dual-core processor to deal
with the input from a three-axis
accelerometer and three-axis
gyro sensor, as well as the two-
axis input from the OIS-equipped
GF lenses. Also to counter the
shakes, the focal-plane shutter
assembly sits in a module isolated
from the main chassis by a pair
of shock absorbers on each side.
It’s very clear that Fujifilm set out
to design a 100 MP camera that
would be far more flexible than
anything seen before.
JUST ADD MORE
PIXELS...
The sensor itself is again a Sony-
made backside-illuminated (BSI)
CMOS chip with its architecture
and circuitry designed by Fujifilm.
The imaging area is 43.8x32.9 mm
(a.k.a. the ‘44x33 mm’ format) and
the effective pixel count is actually
102 million, giving a maximum
image size of 11,648x8376 pixels at
the standard 4:3 aspect ratio.
The back-illuminated design
clears space on the sensor’s
surface, enabling a higherpixel density without unduly
compromising the signal-to-noise
ratio. And to make the most of all
that resolution, there’s no optical
low-pass filter. The sensitivity
range is equivalent to ISO 100 to
12,800 with extensions down to
ISO 50 and up to ISO 102,400. The
file configuration options comprise
no fewer than seven aspect ratios,
the ‘35mm format’ mode, either
14-bit or 16-bit RGB RAW files
(either uncompressed or losslessly
compressed), JPEGs in one of
three sizes and three compressionlevels, a bunch of RAW+JPEG
combo settings and the in-
camera creation of 16-bit TIFFs
converted from RAW files. The
16-bit RAW capture mode is new
to the GFX 100 and not offered on
Fujifilm’s 50 MP G mount models,
but makes sense when there’s
twice the resolution available,
giving smoother tonal gradations
and enhanced colour fidelity.
The sensor is mated with
Fujifilm’s current-generation
‘X Processor 4’ engine which
obviously has a lot of work to do,IT’S THE MOST
SIGNIFICANT OF THE
GFX MODELS WE’VE
SEEN SO FAR. WHY?
WELL, THERE’S MUCH
MORE TO HAVING 100
MEGAPIXELS ON TAP
THAN JUST A WHOLE
LOTTA RESOLUTION.
FUJIF 00