Fujifilm has recently announced its first ever medium format fixed lens camera, the GFX100RF. (For the record, RF = “Rangefinder style + Fixed lens”.) Priced at $4899 USD, it is also one of the least expensive (relatively speaking) medium format digital cameras on the market. The press release issued by Fuji contains links to all of the technical details and marketing fluff surrounding this interesting, but very niche camera.
Niche?
Fujifilm has made some very bold decisions regarding the design of this camera. Following the mold of the X100 Series, the GFX100RF is a rangefinder inspired fixed lens camera sporting the sensor and processing power of the GFX100SII. The lens is 35mm f/4 (equivalent to 28mm f/3.1 in 35mm full frame) and due to its wide field of view, IBIS was left out of the camera, unlike the X100VI which has IBIS.
One has to realize that medium format is not tolerant of one-hand camera operation regardless of how much IBIS it has. Medium format’s mantra is “details, details, details” and to capture this requires a rock-steady hand or (more often) a tripod.
This excludes most of the masses of photographers who shoot off the cuff. The more bourgeoisie will likely get one because it is very expensive and has lofty air about it and then return it because it actually demands photographic skills to create amazing images. These cameras are likely to be returned and I will be picking up one of those second-hand.
“Anyone can cook, but not everyone is a chef.” – Chef Auguste Gusteau, Ratatouille
I am in no way impinging on the design and engineering skills from the House of Fuji. Used properly this camera makes stunning images. All of the rules for sharp image capture apply here. The camera is ideal for landscape and travel photography, greatly reducing the amount of kit you have to drag around with you. For handheld work, you must be prepared to crank up the ISO to have sharp images. ISO noise is extremely manageable (I have tested this myself with sample RAW files graciously provided by DPReview) and with it turned up, faster shutter speeds can be used to offset hand movement. Due to copyright, I cannot show the images used in the DPReview article, however I can show a before and after crop showing the results of noise reduction on a high-ISO image.
Amazingly, Adobe Lightroom Classic can read the GFX100RF RAF files without issues. The original RAW file is on the left and the noise reduced, color profiled (I prefer ETERNA Cinema for night work) and perspective corrected DNG file on the right.
Traveling Lighter
My travel photo kit is the Fuji X100VI + Fuji Wide/Tele Adapters, EF-X20 Flash, spare batteries, charger and SD cards. It all fits in a small Tenba shoulder bag. The GFX100RF can make for an even smaller kit despite being slightly larger than my X100VI. Fuji has added a digital zoom feature to take advantage of the plethora of pixels provided by the GFX sensor. A rocker switch just below the front dial under the shutter release allows to switch from 35mm -> 45mm -> 63mm -> 80mm by cropping the image. You drop from 102 to 20 megapixels at the extremes, but 20 megapixels is fine for many use cases these days and those are a whole pile of lens adapters you don’t have to buy.
Another interesting feature is the addition of an aspect ratio dial. Following logically from the crop zoom approach, the aspect ratio dial allows you to switch between the aspects various classic Fuji cameras. JPEGs and HEIF files are hard cropped to the selected aspect ratio, but RAW files simply have the crop layered on and it can be modified in post.
Wrap up (for now):
The GFX100RF is quite a statement by Fuji, one of the few camera companies that do things for the love of photography and not just the bottom line. Fuji is not totally impractical, either. Component reuse and design decisions have lowered the barrier to entry in the medium format space. I hope to pick one of these up eventually and provide a more in depth report.
UPDATE
My local camera dealer (AVC Photo in Miami, FL) had a Fuji Takeover Day on April 4, 2025 and I attended. The GFX100RF was present in all of its glory and I got to play with one for a little while.
Fuji has done their homework with this camera. The lack of IBIS and mediocre lens speed (f4) is nicely offset by exposure profiles that favor keeping the minimum shutter speed in the automatic modes to 1/125 of a second. This, coupled with the excellent leaf shutter from the X100 series, does help mitigate hand movement.
Another fun feature I tried was the digital zoom and the aspect ratio dial. The image above was shot at 65:24 aspect ratio (the same ratio as the Fuji TX-1/Hasselblad Xpan) and makes for a quick one-shot panorama without the hassle of the barrel distortion created by panorama modes that involve sweeping the camera. Also, if you record in raw, the crops are an overlay and can be altered or removed in post-production. Please note that raw files are full sized (200 MB) regardless of crop, aspect ratio, or film simulation used. JPEGs and HEIF files are permanently cropped or filtered.
That’s it for this update. I am seriously contemplating this camera now.