The king of medium-format mirrorless cameras

The GFX 100 II now goes right down to ISO 80 as an alternative of 100 to additional enhance dynamic vary. All of that enables photographers to get inventive with RAW images, or tease element out of highlights and shadows.

It’s not unhealthy at excessive ISOs both, because of the sensor’s bottom illumination and dual-gain design. There’s little or no noise seen at ISO 6400, and images are usable as much as ISO 12800 if publicity is right.

The medium format sensor provides extremely shallow depth of subject in the event you want that for portrait taking pictures. Mixed with a quick lens just like the 80 mm f/1.7, it permits for unimaginable bokeh and topic separation.

For individuals who favor to make use of JPEGs straight out of the digicam, it delivers color-accurate photographs with the right quantity of in-camera sharpening. That’s very best for previews or for folk who need to use Fujifilm’s spectacular movie simulation modes. For the GFX 100 II, Fujifilm launched a brand new one known as Reala Ace that’s primarily based straight on certainly one of its previous adverse movies. With a punchy, saturated and barely nostalgic really feel, it has develop into certainly one of my new favorites.

There’s one high quality concern — the GFX 100 II drops from 16- to successfully lower than 14-bits when taking pictures 8fps bursts so as to scale back throughput. That in itself isn’t an enormous downside, however Fujifilm has been cagey about the way it markets this, which has rubbed a number of professional photographers the incorrect approach.

Video

I’m beginning to sound like a damaged document, however the X100 II can also be Fuji’s greatest medium format digicam for video. It has a number of latest modes, most notably 8K. It additionally provides 6K, 4K/60p and 1080p at 240fps. All these codecs could be captured in 12-bit ProRes, together with 10-bit H.265 codecs. You additionally get entry to Fujifilm’s wonderful F-Log2 seize that enhances dynamic vary.

There are some appreciable compromises, although. 8K is captured with a 1.53 occasions crop, decreasing the efficient sensor measurement to lower than full body — which negates one of many most important medium-format benefits: shallow depth of subject. Different resolutions use the total sensor width, however pixel binning reduces sharpness.

Rolling shutter can also be a problem at 8K, so be certain to not transfer the digicam a lot at that decision. It’s much less bothersome at 4K resolutions, possible because of the pixel binning.

All that apart, video from the GFX100 II has a special high quality than I’ve seen from most mirrorless cameras. The bigger sensor makes it cinematic, particularly with a few of Fujifilm’s prime lenses. And the 8K video is extraordinarily sharp when downsampled to 4K in DaVinci Resolve.

Realistically although, video is extra of a nice-to-have function for infrequent use, as nearly all of consumers will definitely be utilizing it for pictures.

Wrap-up

The $7,500 GFX100 II is a formidable medium format digicam with enhancements in each space in comparison with the earlier mannequin. Extra importantly, what did my professional photographer pals assume and can they purchase one? “What’s most noticeable is the evolution of the autofocus in comparison with the GFX100,” mentioned Nathanael Charpentier. “In our studio we normally work with Sony, and the GFX100 II autofocus continues to be removed from Sony’s degree, however it’s an enormous enchancment.

“It’s not a sports activities digicam, it doesn’t have super-fast burst speeds. It’s extra for studio portrait work. For sure sorts of ‘reportage’ like candid wedding ceremony shoots, if we actually want the additional dynamic vary supplied by a medium-format digicam, I might see utilizing it.” At this level, they’re not planning on shopping for one because of the excessive worth (and the truth that they only laid down 6,000 euros for an A9 III), however it’s excessive on their listing of future tools purchases.

Its most important competitor is the $8,200 Hasselblad X2D 100C, which has maybe barely higher coloration science and picture high quality — whereas additionally bringing a sure status with the Hasselblad identify. Nonetheless, the GFX100 II is superior in most different methods, together with speeds, autofocus and video. If you actually need to nail autofocus in busy or tough conditions, although, full-frame continues to be greatest: Sony’s 45-megapixel $6,500 A1 or Nikon’s $3,800 Z8 or $5,500 Z9 (each 45MP as properly) are higher selections.

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