March 22, 2025

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Fuji just released the GFX100RF and I’m going to state my bias right away:

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This is the camera many of us have been waiting for, for many, many years.

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The fact that it’s Fujifilm doing this is not surprising, since they already produce digital medium format cameras and they were the first to kick-start the whole premium fixed-focal-length-lens camera segment with the introduction of the X100 (with APS-C sensor) in 2010. Others followed: Sony with the RX1 (full frame) in 2012, Ricoh with the GR (APS-C) in 2013, and Leica with the Q (full frame) in 2016.

The furthering of this concept to include a medium format sensor is, in many ways, a natural evolution.  But until now, no one has ventured to do it.

 

Congratulations Fuji!  How’s (some of) the internet liking it so far? …

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Most of the above can be distilled into two main criticisms:

(1) The lens is slow (f/4)

(2) The camera lacks in-body image stabilization (IBIS).

 

“Deal breakers” for many.  These are valid concerns, I get it.  Living in a country (🇨🇦) where it’s dark for half the year, fast (f/1.4) lenses and IBIS are very useful for extracting as much of that scarce environmental light as possible.

So why does Fujifilm have a winner in the GFX100RF?

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Simply put, because Fuji has built a medium format camera that can be easily carried around.

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Period.  That’s it. “It’s the size, stupid“… and the size is stupidly small. 

Fuji clearly made that the over-arching goal in all of their design choices (a.k.a. the aforementioned trade-offs),  and they clearly stuck to their vision.

The people who will buy this camera want it to be part of their everyday life.  They want to carry it with them everywhere they go.

They may own other cameras that do other things, or maybe not.  They may have a lot of money to afford expensive gear, or maybe not.  No IBIS?, no problem.  They’ll make it work.  Slow lens?, that’s okay.  They’ll find a way to create the images they want.  There are enough photographers out there who value what a medium format sensor brings to their photography who will buy this camera in droves and do whatever it takes, with a big grin on their face, to make it work for them.

Am I getting one?  Oh yes.

—Peter.