While mirrorless full-frame systems perfectly serve most professional and hobbyist photographers, medium format cameras, such as the Fujifilm GFX100S ($5,999), use larger sensors that give you a different perspective on the world. The GFX100S is a slimmed-down version of the company’s $10,000 flagship GFX100, with the same 100MP sensor, integrated image stabilization, and speedy phase detect autofocus for $4,000 less. It’s our Editors’ Choice winner for photographers looking to move beyond the confines of the full-frame format—just prepare to carry a bigger kit.
A Back-to-Basics Design
Fujifilm launched its medium format system in 2016 with the GFX 50S, an SLR-style model with an articulating, removable viewfinder. Later, it released the rangefinder-style GFX 50R and the larger, gripped GFX100. The GFX100S takes inspiration from all of these—it handles like the original 50S, has a fixed EVF like the 50R, and uses a five-axis IBIS system to steady its 102MP sensor, much like the GFX100.
The amalgamation is a winner in terms of ergonomics. The GFX100S is as comfortable to hold as a late model full-frame SLR. At 4.1 by 5.9 by 3.4 inches (HWD) and around 2 pounds without a lens attached, it’s not that far off from a Nikon D850 (4.9 by 5.7 by 3.1 inches, 2 pounds). It’s a size up from competing mirrorless models, though—Canon’s 45MP EOS R5 is a little smaller all around, weighs about 1.6 pounds, and works with slimmer lenses.
The GFX100S is a mirrorless camera, but like most successful takes on the concept, it follows the SLR design ethos to a tee. An eye-level electronic viewfinder sits directly behind the lens in the center and an articulating rear touch display supplements it below. A modest grip secures the camera in your hand, and its shutter release rests comfortably under your index finger. It’s a little small for some GF lenses, though—I want a bit more to hold onto when using a bigger zoom like the GF 32-64mm F4.
It’s an exceptionally good camera for handheld work, which is no small feat given its high-resolution sensor and focal plane shutter. The integrated stabilization system plays a role here. High-pixel photos generally require brisk shutter speeds and a sturdy tripod for uncompromising results, but the GFX100S’s IBIS system nets excellent handheld images when pushing the shutter to 1/4-second.
Durability isn’t a problem, either. The GFX100S resists dust and splashes (you can use it in heavy precipitation without worry), and works in temperatures as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit. A leatherette wraps the magnesium alloy frame, which is an especially light, sturdy metal, commonly used in professional cameras.
The GFX100S is sold exclusively in a body-only configuration—you need to purchase a lens separately. That’s in contrast to the entry-level GFX50S II—the same camera body with a 50MP sensor instead of a 102MP chip—which is available for $4,500 with the GF 35-70mm F4.5-5.6 lens or around $4,000 by itself. The GF 35-70mm sells for around $1,000 on its own.
PASM Control Dial Is a Departure for Fujifilm
The GFX100S is the first GF camera to use the industry-standard PASM control dial to set its shooting mode. Following traditional paradigms is a bit of a departure for Fujifilm. Models in its digital line typically use more tactile, discrete controls—the original GFX 50S and rangefinder-style 50R have a dedicated dial for shutter speed and require you to set the aperture on the lens. Swapping to PASM modes for the GFX100S makes the camera a little more accessible to photographers moving over from other systems.
The mode dial is all the way to the left on the top plate and includes a center-post lock toggle to prevent inadvertent adjustments. An always-on information panel dominates the right half of the plate. The monochrome OLED shows exposure, battery, and other details, and includes backlight illumination for better visibility in the dark. You can confgure the display to show exposure information, a live histogram, and a set of virtual ISO and shutter dials. A pair of unmarked and customizable function buttons flank the display.
The shutter release is set at a slight angle atop the handgrip; it rests naturally under your index finger when you hold the camera. Dual control dials on the front and rear enable you to change exposure settings. Both include a push-in function—the front swaps between aperture control and ISO with a push and the rear dial punches in to magnify a portion of the frame for easier manual focus.
The rear controls use a row and column configuration. The row, running along the top, includes Drive, Delete, and AF-ON buttons, along with a switch to swap between single, continuous, and manual focus, and the aforementioned rear control dial. The column lines up with AF-ON and includes the rear focus joystick, and buttons to set autoexposure lock (AEL), open the menu, toggle the display mode, and swap from photography to playback.
An on-screen menu supplements the physical controls. The Fujifilm Q button, which sits a bit away from the rest of the controls, opens the customizable 12-pane control panel. Some of the default settings are useful, including control over the rear display brightness, quick access to film simulation modes, and the self-timer function.
The Q menu is navigable by both physical controls and touch—the 3.2-inch rear LCD sports a 2.36-million-dot resolution, supports touch input, and is mounted on a dual hinge for two axes of tilt. Its 4:3 aspect ratio matches the camera sensor, though you can set the GFX100S for 1:1, 3:2, and 16:9 imaging or 16:9 video if you prefer.
The dual-hinge LCD is a carryover from the original GFX 50S. It’s a welcome design for photography, handy for working from a tripod or handholding at a low angle. It’s an especially good choice for the GFX100S body style—we tend to think of the alternative (flip-out, front-facing ones) as best for videos and vlogs. While the GFX is certainly a capable video camera, it shouldn’t be anyone’s first choice for walk-and-talk selfie footage.
The eye-level EVF is crisp—it’s large to the eye at 0.77x magnification and the 3.7-million dot OLED panel shows a preview of your frame with sharp detail and punchy contrast. Still, it’s not quite a match for the bigger, sharper EVFs in the $10,000 GFX100 (0.86x) and Sony’s 50MP full-frame a1 (0.90x).
GF Lenses
The GFX100S sensor is a bit bigger all around than those of full-frame 35mm cameras, so the lenses it uses are typically larger, too. Of course, some oversized full-frame lenses are larger than the slimmest GF options, but it simply takes more glass to cover a 44x33mm image sensor than a 36x24mm full-frame.
The larger sensor comes with some benefits, though, beyond the pixel count alone. Compared with full-frame lenses of the same focal length, GF lenses capture a wider angle of view. It makes for a slightly different perspective on the world—the 32-64mm F4 zoom matches up with a 24-50mm full-frame in angle of view, but draws scenes with a smidgen more telephoto compression.
Medium format zooms tend to have shorter ranges and smaller f-stops than full-frame alternatives. Prime lenses are available too, and while most are F2.8 or F4, you can get the GF 80mm F1.7 or GF 110mm F2 if you’re looking to net images with as much background blur as possible.
The GF system is mirrorless, with a much shorter distance between lens and sensor than legacy SLRs, but you can still mount vintage lenses via an adapter. The integrated IBIS and focal plane shutter make for a bit better handheld photography with classic lenses than with the Hasselblad X1D II 50C and 907X; those rely on a slow-reading electronic shutter for adapted lenses, one that can introduce skewed distortion to handheld photos. I tried a 1950s vintage Zeiss Planar 80mm F2.8 with the GFX100S and a Fotodiox adapter with great results—the camera’s focal plane shutter eliminates any chance of skewed rolling shutter distortion appearing in photos.
Power and Connectivity
The GFX100S is right at home in a studio. It includes a USB-C connection to plug into a laptop or desktop for tethered control via Adobe Lightroom Classic or Phase One Capture One Pro. It also features a PC sync socket for a wired connection, and works with a wireless transmitter you can attach to the hot shoe.
The focal plane shutter limits the speed at which you can sync with a flash, though. The GFX100S syncs at 1/125-second, a bit more limiting than with full-frame systems, many of which sync at 1/180 or 1/250-second. Hasselblad’s competing XCD system supports 1/2,000-sec leaf shutter lenses.
The sync speed is something to consider if you’re very serious about strobe work, but swapping to the higher power draw High Speed Sync mode on your flash puts all of the cameras on the same footing—HSS works at speeds as quick as 1/4,000-second by firing the flash for a longer duration. It puts off more heat, though, so don’t rattle off too many flashes in a row.
The other on-camera connections are for video. The GFX100S includes 3.5mm microphone and headphone jacks, as well as the lamented micro HDMI port to connect to external video recorders. Video pros often complain about how easily the undersized micro HDMI cables and ports can break when compared with the full-size ports you see on camera models that are more clearly for videographers.
The camera includes dual memory card slots; both support SDXC cards at UHS-II transfer speeds. Onboard Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios let you connect and transfer images to smartphones and tablets. Those tasks require the free Fujifilm Cam Remote app. That app also works as a remote control.
The NP-W235 battery that powers the GFX100S is good enough for around 440 shots on a charge (per CIPA). That’s an appropriate estimate for general photography, but remember that using Wi-Fi, processing images in-camera, and rolling 4K video cuts into the estimate. On the other hand, you can exceed that estimate if you lean heavily on burst capture. That battery life is in line with that of full-frame alternatives like the 45MP Nikon Z 7 II (360 shots), but falls shy of the 800 images the dual-battery GFX100 manages.
Phase Detect Autofocus
The GFX100S matches the larger GFX100 point for point when it comes to imaging features. Its phase detect autofocus system puts it in a class above all other medium format competition. Mirrorless options from Hasselblad and all of Fujifilm’s 50MP entries rely on contrast detection, a method that requires a back-and-forth confirmation before locking in. The GFX100S has on-sensor phase detection, one that finds focus by reading the directionality of incoming light rays; it’s a better method for setting focus on subjects in motion.
You have freedom in where you set the focus point, and the sensor provides nearly edge-to-edge coverage. You can let the camera set focus on its own (with or without the assist of face and eye detection for people) or tighten the area of interest and use the rear focus joystick to move its position. Subject tracking is an option, too—in AF-C mode, the GFX can follow a target as it moves through the frame. You can see the system in action in the video clip above, in which the green boxes follow the flamingo’s head as it moves. The clip was recorded with the GFX100, but the focus experience with the 100S is identical.
You do need to be a little careful when you choose a lens for tracking and the 5fps continuous mode. Most of the lenses we’ve tested focus quickly, but the wide aperture GF 80mm F1.7 has some heavy optical elements inside and is slower to drive focus. With the GF 32-64mm F4 zoom, the GFX100S acquires focus in an instant and drives from its macro to infinity focus in under 0.2 second.
The GFX autofocus is world-class performer for medium format, but lags behind what you can get from a full-frame system, especially if you have a medium format budget. Stacked-sensor cameras like the Nikon Z 9 and Sony a1 recognize more types of subjects, track tenaciously, and have a wider selection of quick-focusing telephoto lenses.
The GFX100S’s buffer size is limiting for bursts of action as well. If you’re working in Raw format, you can likely only take about 18 exposures before the buffer fills. Files can take a while to clear to the fastest 300MBps SDXC media available, too, at 43 seconds for uncompressed images and around 20 seconds for lossless or lossy compressed Raw. If you’re working in JPG format, you can go longer, to around 58 images, with about 25 seconds to commit a full burst to memory. These clear times aren’t surprising given the size of the files—uncompressed Raw files top 200MB, compressed files are closer to 150MB, and JPGs hover around 50MP. You may have to splurge for a RAID drive to go along with your camera.
100MP Imaging With IBIS
The GFX100S is billed as a 100MP camera, though its 11,648-by-8,736-pixel photos come in a little higher, just shy of 102MP. The difference is purely semantic—the camera provides ample room to crop, and its BSI CMOS sensor design nets high ISO performance in line with 26MP APS-C sensors and 60MP full-frame chips.
The sensor covers a wide sensitivity range, ISO 100-12800 in its standard range, with ISO 50 and settings as high as ISO 102400 available in its extended range. Photos are clean, with a fine grain noise pattern through ISO 3200 and only take a slight hit in quality through ISO 12800. The extended options come with some compromise—a bit less dynamic range at both low and high settings, as well as heavier noise at higher ones.
The 5-axis IBIS system is a boon for noise control. For still subjects you can get away with handheld exposures as long as 1/4-second with some lenses, and, when you’re working with a brisk shutter speed to freeze motion, the IBIS helps to wipe away any evidence of handshake-induced blur.
Fujifilm leverages the IBIS for tripod work as well. The GFX100S includes a multi-shot capture mode, capable of improved color sampling and 400MP output. The camera snaps 16 images in succession in its electronic shutter mode, shifting by a half-pixel between each exposure. You need to make sure you’re working with a perfectly still subject and download the Fujifilm Pixel Shift Combiner software to process the photos.
We expect most photographers who use medium format equipment to opt for Raw processing, but the GFX100S sports a very capable JPG engine that’s built around a number of film simulation modes. The looks are varied but include the standard Provia color profile, vivid Velvia, soft Astia, cinema-grade Eterna, and Acros monochrome.
There are some vintage options, too—Classic Chrome, Classic Negative, and Nostalgic Negative. Nostalgic Negative is exclusive to the GFX line, with a warm color tone inspired by the New American Color movement and is in the running with the cooler, punchier Classic Negative look as my favorite from the camera.
The JPG engine supports in-camera film grain, as well as color chrome options to cut back on oversaturated results when photographing flowers and other subjects. In-camera development tools are available to try out any look with a Raw file, and Adobe Lightroom also supports the color profiles for desktop editing.
There’s not much more you can ask for from an imaging engine, at least at this price. Phase One continues to market its high-end IQ4 system, available with a full format 645 image sensor and 150MP resolution. The Phase One system has very rudimentary autofocus, no IBIS or video support, and a $50,000 cost of entry—its audience is decidedly more limited than the GFX.
A Capable 4K Camera
Although it’s not a true hybrid camera, Fujifilm doesn’t hold back on video features with the GFX100S. It supports 4K recording at up to 30fps, with 10-bit 4:2:0 sampling internally and sends out a clean 10-bit 4:2:2 signal via HDMI, useful for videographers who prefer to use an Atomos Ninja V or similar external recorder.
Video features are set completely apart from stills, a good thing since the two formats frequently call for different shutter speeds. The video mode supports all of the GFX’s film look modes, a plus for creators who want to match the look of stills and movies. There’s also a flat profile, F-Log, with lower contrast and color saturation, but it requires you to apply a color grade when editing.
The GFX100S is by no means the best video camera out there, but it’s capable of good results. Rolling shutter can be an issue with fast-moving subjects in the frame (even despite the IBIS system), so you may want to add some sort of external stabilization for shots with camera movements.
Are You Ready to Move to Medium Format?
Fujifilm redefined what medium format cameras could do with the GFX100. Its stabilized sensor, phase detect focus system, and 4K recording added versatility previously reserved for the slimmer 35mm full-frame format. It walked away with our Editors’ Choice award despite its $10,000 asking price.
The GFX100S comes in for $4,000 less and puts all of the same imaging prowess in a smaller body. It makes just a couple of cuts to meet its price—its viewfinder isn’t as impressive and its battery life is shorter—but it’s a bit more accessible because of its use of PASM controls.
If you’re considering the Fujifilm GFX100S as your next camera, the question isn’t whether it’s good—it’s exceptional—but whether medium format photography is right for you. Photographers who lean toward landscape, portraiture, and fine artwork may find these cameras to be a better fit than those who cover sporting events and wedding receptions.
Among its medium format peers, the GFX100S is as good as it gets, and our Editors’ Choice winner. Rival Hasselblad wins out when it comes to stunning industrial design—the X1D II 50C and 907X are both head-turners, but fall behind on practicality.
We also think the GFX100S is worth the premium over its doppelgänger, the $4,000 GFX50S II. The 50MP edition of the camera is more affordable, but doesn’t have any pixel count advantage over more versatile full-frame models and only does 1080p video. It may meet your needs, however, and is a solid choice as a backup. But the GFX100S is better all around, and if you’re going to invest in a medium format system, it’s your best starting point.
