Mega! FUJIFILM GFX 100

IT’S BEEN EASY TO DISMISS the image quality benefits of 100 megapixels worth of resolution because, for most photographers, the available options simply weren’t viable economically. “I don’t need 100 mega-pixels” really meant “I can’t afford it”.

Well, you can now and, what’s more, it comes packaged in a camera that is more ergonomic, more efficient, more capable, faster, superior in its key camera control systems such as autofocusing and exposure metering, and equipped with features that have never been seen at this level. The GFX 100 exploits the benefits of the mirrorless configuration to the hilt, so Fujifilm has built a 100 megapixels digital medium format camera like no other. In fact, in a nutshell, pretty much everything you’d expect to find on a competitive full-35mm or ‘APSC’ mirrorless camera is available on the GFX 100, including in-body image stabilisation and 4K video recording in both the DCI and UHD resolutions. Consequently, it can boldly go where no other 100 MP digital medium format camera has ever gone before. Sports and action photography with a 100 MP camera? It’s quite feasible with the GFX 100. But there’s much more to having 100 megapixels on tap than just a whole lotta resolution. It is a whole lotta resolution, of course, and that means details, details, details; but it also means a huge amount of flexibility when it comes to cropping – a 35mm format frame is still 60.8 megapixels in image size – untold opportunities for manipulating depth-of-field (one of the reasons for Fujifilm targeting video-makers with this camera), and crackling-crisp definition down to what might be termed, in Aussie parlance, a gnat’s dick.

All this in a camera with the useability, durability, capability and flexibility of anything of a lesser resolution (including the 50 MP GFX models) or a smaller format. The GFX 100 is a big deal in many more ways than one.

Handed Up

Physically, it’s definitely a big camera and it also looks fairly awkward alongside the more cohesively-styled GFX 50S and the simple-but-appealing appearance of the boxy GFX 50R. Get past both these initial impressions 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