Fujifilm the original GFX100S was a popular alternative to GFX100because it offered the same picture quality in a slimmer body at a lower price. It had some drawbacks, especially the autofocus, which did not always match the subject. In a similar vein, the company recently released $5,000 GFX100S II As a smaller and cheaper alternative to the $7,500 flagship GFX100 II. It looks the same as before, but with an updated sensor, processor, autofocus, and more.
Both cameras are clearly aimed at professionals, but is the GFX100 II worth the extra $2,500 or is the S model good for most?
Fujifilm
Fujifilm’s GFX100S II is a huge upgrade over the original, offering the same image quality as the GFX100 II for $2,500 less.
- Superior image quality
- Improved autofocus
- Good management
- Decent battery life
- Poor video capabilities
- Lowered quality for burst shots
Body
At 1.9 pounds, the GFX100S II weighs an ounce less than its predecessor, and its case design and controls are nearly identical. As before, it comes with a mode dial and focus selector switch, dual control buttons, drive selection buttons and a quick menu. At the top is a small, always-on display that shows settings, simulated mode dials, and a histogram. So you can see all your key settings while shooting at hip level.
It feels more like a mirrorless camera than a classic medium format camera. It handles well, but after spending time with both models, I prefer the GFX100 II’s larger body and additional controls, despite being five ounces heavier.
The rear 3.2-inch, 2.36-million-dot display is fixed, tilting up, down and right, but not rotating. However, Fujifilm has increased the viewfinder resolution to 5.76 million dots, so it’s noticeably sharper than the last model’s 3.69 million-dot EVF.
The GFX100S II has dual SD UHS-II card slots, but no high-speed CFexpress port like the GFX100 II. Although it uses the same battery as before, it can now take 540 shots on a charge, up from 530. Other features include USB-C, microphone and headphone ports, and a micro HDMI connection. A new feature is USB-SSD connectivity, which allows for faster burst shooting and ProRes video recording.
Performance
The GFX100S II shoots at a faster 7fps than its predecessor, compared to 5fps in manual shutter mode. Without a fast CFexpress card, you can only shoot about 30 frames of compressed RAW before the buffer fills up. There’s also a slight image quality penalty when shooting bursts, as the camera downscales 16-bit RAW images to 14-bit images. Fortunately, thanks to some big autofocus improvements, most shots are likely to be sharp. Even with faster burst speeds, I noticed a huge increase in the percentage of sharp photos when shooting fast-moving subjects.
The AF improvements don’t stop there. AI-powered face and eye tracking is smarter and more accurate, meaning your subject’s eyelashes are more likely to be in focus, rather than their eyes – something that’s important with 100-megapixel resolution. Fujifilm also introduced new subject tracking modes for animals, birds, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, planes and trains.
In-body stabilization is also improved with eight stops of shake reduction compared to the previous six. This allows you to capture dimly lit scenes or blurred motion at shutter speeds as low as half a second without the need for a tripod. As with the previous model, shutter distortion is a real problem with this camera in electronic mode, so neither you nor your subject can move much when using it. Otherwise, you’ll get some nasty bends that spoil your image.
Image quality
For professional photographers who can afford it, the GFX100S II offers unparalleled image quality. The 100-megapixel sensor delivers sharp photos with 14 stops of dynamic range and 16-bit RAW pixel depth, ahead of other mirrorless cameras. This means you can shoot in very dark, bright or contrasting conditions and retain detail in all parts of the photo.
Fujifilm’s color science is ideal for portrait work with accurate and pleasing skin tones. The level of detail means that prints can be blown up to very large sizes, around 40 x 30 inches, at 300 pixels per inch (PPI). The resolution and accurate color rendering make it ideal for landscape photography, art archival work and more.
Excellent RAW quality allows photographers to perform detailed post-production without compromising image quality, even on underexposed shots. In low light you will start to see quite a bit of noise at ISO 8000 or above. However, most of this grain disappears when you zoom these 100-megapixel images down to a more reasonable size.
At the same time, JPEG images look great straight from the camera. Like other Fuji models, the GFX100S II comes with a range of film simulations, from the new Reala Ace to Velvia, Acros and more. Most professional photographers like to edit their images, but many can shoot both RAW and JPEG with film simulations so they can show their clients something immediately and make detailed adjustments later.
Video
Unlike the more expensive GFX100 II, video is this camera’s weak point. Resolution is limited to 4K 10-bit, and while there’s no cropping, there’s a fair amount of pixel crowding that reduces sharpness. You can shoot 10-bit 4:2:2 ProRes video at 30 frames per second, although this requires an SSD drive to be attached. Since both 4K and 1080p recordings are limited to 60 frames per second, there’s really no slow-motion mode.
While video lacks the sharpness seen in other mirrorless cameras like the Sony A1, color rendering is excellent. You can also improve dynamic range by shooting in Fujifilm’s FLog or FLog2 modes and then applying a LUT in post.
In video mode, the rolling shutter is reduced compared to stills due to pixel stacking, but you still need to be careful not to move the camera too much to avoid excessive shake and tilt. In-body stabilization is only effective for handheld shots without much movement. If you try to walk while vlogging, you will notice some strong shaking. I would say that the Fujifilm GFX100S II is primarily a stills camera, with video only available for emergency use.
Collection
The $5,000 Fujifilm GFX100S II gives professionals superior image quality at a significantly lower price than the $7,500 flagship GFX100 II. It even goes beyond what buyers expected by offering reasonably fast burst shooting with more reliable autofocus than the original GFX100S. Video isn’t a strong point, but that won’t matter to its target market.
The GFX100S II is also the cheapest camera in the mainstream medium format space, with its main competition being the GFX100 II or Hasselblad’s $8,200 X2D100C. I would highly recommend it for portraits and other types of photography where detail is key. However, burst speeds and autofocus are still not good enough in fast-moving scenarios.
Those who need more speed and reliability for things like weddings or live events would be better off with higher-quality full-frame models. $3700 Nikon Z8, $6500 Sony A1 or Canon is new $4300 EOS R5 II.
