Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-08-23)

subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 17 August 2019 47

FEATURES 9/10

BUILD& HANDLING 8/10

METERING 9/10

AUTOFOCUS 8/10

AWB& COLOUR 9/10

DYNAMICRANGE 9/10

IMAGEQUALITY 10/10

VIEWFINDER/LCD 9/10

ItshouldcomeasnosurprisetohearthattheGFX100extractsa ridiculous

amountofdetailfromourstandardtestscene.There’sbarelyanyvisible

differencein imagequalityfromISO 50 toISO400,andit’sonlyatISO 800

thatwestarttoseetheslightesthintofpixel-levelblurring.ByISO 3200

imagedegradationis moreobvious,withalmostallfinedetailblurred

awayanda generaldropin localcontrast.Butthenagain,youhave

somanypixelstoplaywiththatevenISO12,800shouldgiveperfectly

acceptable-lookingA3prints.Howevernoisehasa significantimpacton

theextendedISO settings, and I’dsteerclearofgoing above ISO 25,600.

Noise

RAWISO 50 RAW ISO 400 RAW ISO 3200

RAW ISO 12,800 RAW ISO 25,600 RAW ISO 102,400

Resolution

AtitsbaseISO 100 setting,theGFX100resolves
around8,500linesperpictureheightin ourcharttests,
comfortablysurpassingeventhebestfull-frame
models.Thisdeclinesgraduallyasthesensitivityis
raised, with over 7,400l/ph at ISO 3200.Beyondthis

thingsfallapartmuchmorerapidly,andbyISO

12,800resolutionhasdroppedtoabout6,600l/ph.The

extendedsettingsdeclineespeciallyrapidly,andatISO

102,400resolutiondropsto4,900l/ph.Butthisstill

surpassesthe best that24MPcamerascanachieve.

Thankstoits102-million-pixelmedium-formatsensor,theGFX100comprehensively
outperformsanyothercamerawe’vetestedtodate.Asexpected,it offersconsiderably
higherresolutionthananyfull-framemodel.AthighISOsettingsit alsooutperformsits50MP
medium-formatcousins,particularlywhenitshigherresolutionis takenintoaccount.Fujifilm’s
excellentin-cameraprocessinggivessuperbJPEGsdirectfromthecamera,butasalways
you’ll only be able to fully exploit the sensor’s astonishing dynamic range by shooting raw.

Lab results

AndrewSydenham’slabtestsrevealjusthowthe camera performs

Ourcamerasandlensesaretestedusingtheindustry-

standardImageEngineeringIQ-Analysersoftware.

Visit http://www.image-engineering.de for more details

It’seasyforustogetblaséaboutallthenew

camerasthatpassthroughtheAPoffice.

Whilethey’reconstantlyimproving,they

don’toftenbringsomethingcompletelynew

tothetable.However,justoccasionallyone

comesalongthatoffersa step-changein

capability,andtheGFX100is a perfect

example.It completelyredefineswhat’s

possiblein a sub-£10,000camera.

It’snotjustthejaw-droppingimagequality

thatmattershere,althoughtheresolution

anddynamicrangeareunparalleledfora

cameraof thissizeorprice.It’salsotheease

withwhichyoucantakefulladvantageof

thatastonishingsensor.Shootingwiththe

GFX100andgettinghigh-quality102MP

filesis reallynomoredifficultthanusing

oneof Fujifilm’sAPS-CX-systemmodels.

Indeedwhereultra-high-resolution

mediumformatwasoncethepreserveof

thestudio,theGFX100is perfectlyat home

onlocation.It’snotexcessivelylargeor

heavytocarryaroundandis easytoshoot

handheld,whiletheautofocusis strikingly

quickerthanthecurrentGFX50Rand50S

models.Landscapephotographersshould

findthatit’sperfectlyrealistictotreka

coupleof milescarryingthebodyandtwoor

threelensesin a backpack.

Thecamera’sbiggestdrawbacksrelateto

handling,andspecificallythetinycontrols,

mismatchedgriplayoutsanduncomfortable

portraitgrip,whichfallwellshortof what

we’dexpectfroma £10,000professional

model.Buttheseflawsbecomemore

forgivablewhenyoulookat theextraordinary

output.Thisis a nichecameraforsure,but

forphotographerscravingthemaximum

possibledetailwithoutsacrificing mobility,

it’s an absolute revelation.

Verdict

Ontherightweshowdetails
fromourresolutiontest
(above).Inthiscase,multiply
thenumberbeneaththelines
by 600 togivetheresolution
in lines per picture height.

RAW

ISO 102,400

RAW

ISO 12,800

RAW

ISO 3200

RAW

ISO 100

Recommended

Thecropsshownbelowaretaken
from the area outlined above in red