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Fuji GFX 100 II... had a play


Andrew Reid
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Obviously the price makes this more a dream than reality but goodness me am I impressed with it. Some observations:

Very light, much smaller than GFX 100, much better build quality and top screen vs GFX 100S, feels like the sexiest camera ever made to be quite honest and really has a beautiful look and finish.

Autofocus is much improved over prior GFX cameras especially original GFX 100, it seemed closer to X-H2, maybe not quite as fast but MUCH better than before, although I only tried it with the 50mm pancake.

Video mode has so many crop modes. Rolling shutter in 8K is not great. 5.8K mode is interesting. 4K mode is plenty detailed even though it's pixel binned. There is a 2.35:1 crop mode, which looks like cinema on a stick. Anamorphic modes. Fantastic codec too with ProRes. I was able to try out the Full frame 35mm crop mode, also a PREMISTA one for your 40 grand cinema lenses from Fuji. Didn't see Super 35mm? I don't think I did anyway.

EVF is still detachable. Very very good view of the action through it.

Ergonomics and outstanding. The chunky high quality feel of everything about it and that top LCD panel is just incredible. Absolutely enormous and dominates the top plate of the camera.

I want to pick one up but at 8000 euros, will have to wait.

The Sony a1 does have a few advantages but I do love the look of the larger GFX sensor especially with vintage glass.

The a1 has a faster rolling shutter at full resolution, and in 8K. It has a more flexible lens mount with a wider range of adapters including the lovely Leica M Autofocus adapter. In general, it is the autofocus king really, whereas GFX 100 II I would be mainly sticking to just one or two Fuji lenses for autofocus and the rest manual focus Canon FD / Minolta MD / etc.

You can now pick up a Fuji GFX 100 about 4 years after it was released for $3500 / £3500 and going down further with the release of the new one. This was £10k when it was announced!

So hopefully in 2 years we can pick up a GFX 100 II for around £4k or something, which is still a lot for most people, but it absolutely will make sense for many, it's just so good.

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I’d really like one for stills but would rather have the Hassie X2D

I will own neither due to 💰 

As in lack thereof.

MPB have one at ‘only’ 7.5k euros, but then lenses…

I’m struggling a bit with Z8 and Z9 prices so never mind these medium format beasts.

The GFX could be a compromise and meet in the middle, but I think I’ll stick with full frame.

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I own the original GFX 100 and a GFX 100 II.  I don't own a Z8 or a Z9, but I feel confident in saying that if video is your main use, you're better off with the Nikon.  The II is a huge upgrade over the original GFX 100 for video, and the image is really gorgeous, but even after almost 2 months, I still get annoyed trying to remember how much any given mode crops and which ones have decent vs which have severe RS, etc.

But yeah, for stills, I love it - and I love that it fits easily into a camera bag (and is pretty light) unlike my original 100.  😃

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I think Fuji could do well with making a GFX digital cinema camera body at this point and add the processing for full sensor readout for 8K. The only limitation I could see is the rolling shutter, however, other cameras have been made with plenty of rolling shutter and they still did well. However, if they could tame the rolling shutter somehow then I'm sure such a camera would be a hit.

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15 hours ago, MrSMW said:

I’d really like one for stills but would rather have the Hassie X2D

Why would you rather have that, even for stills? 🙂

Apart from the lack of any video mode (which is completely nuts) No mechanical shutter, and a very slow electronic one, which rules out so much nice glass and adapters.

And the price is also a bit nutty.

The GFX 100 II does so much more, with better ergonomics and lenses too. I can't think of a single area where the Chinese DJI X2D is better.

It looks pretty though!

 

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3 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

It looks pretty though!

Plays a part as in the whole ‘photographer/history/kudos’ thing/myth. 

Plus in every side by side comparison I have seen, the results from the Hassie are ‘better’.

It’s purely speculative hypothetical though as lottery win aside, I am going to own neither.

Well actually, maybe the Hassie in 2-3 years when any investment would be sub 50% of what it is now…

But that is not a plan, just one of many possibilities.

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11 hours ago, BabsDoProd said:

I think Fuji could do well with making a GFX digital cinema camera body at this point and add the processing for full sensor readout for 8K. The only limitation I could see is the rolling shutter, however, other cameras have been made with plenty of rolling shutter and they still did well. However, if they could tame the rolling shutter somehow then I'm sure such a camera would be a hit.

It's probably not a question of "processing" (and even if it were, it'd be a hard one to overcome and very expensive for a niche camera)

https://www.sony-semicon.com/files/62/pdf/p-13_IMX461ALR_AQR_Flyer.pdf

Unless I'm mistaken, GFX 100 and II are both based on IMX461 AQR.  The maximum readout speed in full resolution is 10 fps with 12-bit color.  Lines up nicely with the GFX 100 II dropping to 12-bit mode when shooting at 8fps.  If there's an 8-bit readout mode, maybe they could get close to (or even reach) 12k readout from the sensor at 24fps, but what's the market?  People who want enormous files, but shitty dynamic range?

The GFX 100 II is almost certainly doing as much as it can with a sensor that is now like 4-5 years old (most of their wording around "new sensor" was really in "new circuitry to read from the sensor as fast as possible").  My guess is that we won't see a dedicated "cinema" GFX until Sony release a newer medium format sensor which is better optimized for video.  I'd love to be wrong, but for now, I don't mind having one of the best stills cameras in the world which also features some really nice video modes.

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2 hours ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

It's probably not a question of "processing" (and even if it were, it'd be a hard one to overcome and very expensive for a niche camera)

https://www.sony-semicon.com/files/62/pdf/p-13_IMX461ALR_AQR_Flyer.pdf

Unless I'm mistaken, GFX 100 and II are both based on IMX461 AQR.  The maximum readout speed in full resolution is 10 fps with 12-bit color.  Lines up nicely with the GFX 100 II dropping to 12-bit mode when shooting at 8fps.  If there's an 8-bit readout mode, maybe they could get close to (or even reach) 12k readout from the sensor at 24fps, but what's the market?  People who want enormous files, but shitty dynamic range?

The GFX 100 II is almost certainly doing as much as it can with a sensor that is now like 4-5 years old (most of their wording around "new sensor" was really in "new circuitry to read from the sensor as fast as possible").  My guess is that we won't see a dedicated "cinema" GFX until Sony release a newer medium format sensor which is better optimized for video.  I'd love to be wrong, but for now, I don't mind having one of the best stills cameras in the world which also features some really nice video modes.

Based on current technology from Sony Semicon, increasing readout speed inevitably compromises image quality, measured by higher readout noise, thus reducing DR. This would directly hit medium format's main selling point.

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10 minutes ago, androidlad said:

Based on current technology from Sony Semicon, increasing readout speed inevitably compromises image quality, measured by higher readout noise, thus reducing DR. This would directly hit medium format's main selling point.

I don't think IMX461 is a stacked sensor.  Moving to a stacked sensor should allow for faster readout speed with minimal/no impact to image quality.

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4 hours ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

Unless I'm mistaken, GFX 100 and II are both based on IMX461 AQR.  The maximum readout speed in full resolution is 10 fps with 12-bit color.  Lines up nicely with the GFX 100 II dropping to 12-bit mode when shooting at 8fps.  If there's an 8-bit readout mode, maybe they could get close to (or even reach) 12k readout from the sensor at 24fps, but what's the market?  People who want enormous files, but shitty dynamic range?

8fps is not the main reason to use the GFX 100 II though. Plenty of faster cameras for burst shooting.

It is 14bit when it matters.

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2 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

8fps is not the main reason to use the GFX 100 II though. Plenty of faster cameras for burst shooting.

It is 14bit when it matters.

Oh yeah.  The only reason that I commented on 8fps was in reference to the idea that a faster processor in the camera would allow for it to do full-sensor readout and downsample to 8K for video.  If 8 fps at 12-bit is as fast as it can read out, it's not going to hit 24fps at 10-bit and probably still not at 8-bit (and by the time it's 8-bit, nobody's going to want it anyway - based on another thread, even an action camera which is recording at 8-bit is becoming undesirable for some 🙂 ).

When shooting stills, I'm always in single shot - or if it's dark and I think camera shake will beyond what stabilization will cover, I'll fire off a few with the lower-speed burst and at least one is usually sharp enough.  I'll be surprised if I ever use the high speed stills mode - it's a pretty weird option (kudos to Fuji for pushing the envelope with it, though).
 

4 hours ago, androidlad said:

Every single stacked sensor has reduced DR compared to their standard BSI counterpart, for example, X-H2s vs X-T4


I'm no expert on the X-?? line, but I thought the X-H2S was both BSI and stacked... and the 14-bit mode on it has some of the best DR in video mode of any APS-C camera (cined database says that SNR=1, the only "affordable" S35 cameras with better DR are the Canons with dgo).  Anyway, I'm glad to be wrong if stacking the sensor reduces the DR.
 

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Mine is sitting in the next room.  If what you want is relatively straightforward, I'd be glad to shoot something small.  Keep in mind that the outdoors are pretty grey at this time of the year in Minnesota so "bright outdoors scene" won't be possible.  If you just want any footage at all, I have some random uninteresting tourist stuff that I shot in Turkey.

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14 minutes ago, androidlad said:

Thanks for sharing this.

If only more people would share valuable info and stay on topic.

@eatstoomuchjamlooking forward to seeing your experience of the GFX 100 II play out 👍

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8 minutes ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

Mine is sitting in the next room.  If what you want is relatively straightforward, I'd be glad to shoot something small.  Keep in mind that the outdoors are pretty grey at this time of the year in Minnesota so "bright outdoors scene" won't be possible.  If you just want any footage at all, I have some random uninteresting tourist stuff that I shot in Turkey.

Pretty much anything will do. I'm trying to get a handle on color grading its footage in DaVinci Resolve. My usual workflow doesn't work in this case because there's no F-Log input transform in Resolve for either ACES or DaVinci wide gamut. Looks like the only option is to use a LUT.

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53 minutes ago, Jedi Master said:

Pretty much anything will do. I'm trying to get a handle on color grading its footage in DaVinci Resolve. My usual workflow doesn't work in this case because there's no F-Log input transform in Resolve for either ACES or DaVinci wide gamut. Looks like the only option is to use a LUT.

Sure, you're welcome to play with some of my tourist footage from Turkey.  I refuse to pay google or other cloud providers for space (I have plenty here) so mine are all full all the time.  Do you have a google drive/dropbox/whatever where you'd like me to share it?  I could also share with something like Resilio if you use that.

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