Earlier today, Fujifilm announced the GFX100RF, a fixed-lens medium-format camera. There’s plenty of excitement over the camera, but those interested will have to wait a little longer, as it isn’t available for purchase until the end of April. However, accessory maker SmallRig has already announced cage kits for the GFX100RF, so you can get your cage or case before the camera even arrives.

SmallRig offers two different kits in two colors for the GFX100RF. The more minimal option includes an L-shaped mount plate with a dual-sided wooden grip. Unfortunately, the grip’s back thumb pad portion is a separate piece that attaches with 3M adhesive. The baseplate offers Arca-Swiss quick-release plate compatibility and easy access to the battery compartment, card slot, and focus controls. It’s available with either a black or silver L-shaped plate, though the wood is the same color with both. The kit includes a concave shutter button cap, though it doesn’t come with a strap of any sort.

Photo: SmallRig

SmallRig also released a leather case kit for the GFX100RF, available in black or brown. The leather case covers the bottom portion of the camera, though retains full access to the battery card compartment, focus controls and card slot. It features a front foam handle, and, like the kit above, a separate back thumb pad that requires attachment with a 3M adhesive strip. A microfiber lining helps provide a snug fit on the camera and should also help protect it from scratches. It comes with a matching leather shoulder strap with an adjustable length of 100-110cm (3.3-3.6′) and a concave shutter button cap.

Both kits are now available for pre-order and are expected to ship on April 15. They are each priced at $70, though you can get $10 off with the discounted early-bird pricing.

Pre-order now:

Buy at SmallRig



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Leica has announced that the L-Mount Alliance is growing. Chinese lens and accessory maker Sirui (pronounced “Sue-Ray”) is joining the alliance, becoming the ninth company to do so. The addition of another lens maker means more options for those who use L-mount cameras.

Sirui is perhaps best known for its reasonably priced anamorphic lenses, which offer cinematic looks at a much more affordable price than traditional options. The company already has a fairly healthy lineup of lenses in multiple series. That includes the relatively new Aurora series, which currently only features the Aurora 85mm F1.4, the company’s first full-frame autofocus lens. More recently, Sirui launched the Vision Prime Series, a lineup of full-frame cine lenses. Outside of lenses, the company also makes a few tripods and lighting options.

For its part, Sirui says it is “set to significantly enhance the L-Mount Alliance lens ecosystem.” The lens maker already offers four L-mount lenses: two cine lenses and two anamorphic lenses. Joining the L-mount Alliance means that more are on the way, and, given what Sirui currently makes, it should add greater variety to the L-mount lineup. “Our aim is to introduce a broader range of outstanding, high-value L-mount lenses to the market,” said Li Jie, Founder and CEO at Sirui Optical.

Leica, Sigma, and Panasonic are current members of the L-mount Alliance producing L-mount lenses, but none of those offerings are anamorphic lenses. Plus, while there are options that work well for cinematography, none are dedicated cine lenses. Given that Blackmagic Design joined the alliance in 2023, it is likely a welcome addition to have the promise of more cine lenses on the way. The two companies didn’t share any specific product announcements along with the reveal of the partnership, though, so only time will tell what will eventually be on the table.

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The Fujifilm GFX100RF is a 100-megapixel medium format digital camera with a fixed 28mm equivalent F4 lens.

Key features

• Medium format (44 x 33 mm) 102MP sensor
• 35mm (28mm equiv) F4 lens w/ leaf shutter
• 5.76M dot OLED EVF
• Weather sealed when using filter ring and filter (included)
• Subject recognition autofocus
• Aspect ratio dial
• 3.2″ tilting rear touchscreen
• 4K video up to 30fps
• Built-in 4EV ND filter
• 14 film simulations

The GFX100RF will retail for $4899 and will be available starting April 24th. It will come in either black or black and silver, and includes a braided strap, filter ring, filter and a color-matched square lens hood.

Index:

• What’s new
• How it compares
• Body and handling
• Initial impressions
• Sample gallery
• Specifications
• Press Release

What’s New

Fixed lens medium format body

The GFX100RF occupies a new space in Fujifilm’s lineup and comes with a new design. It’s essentially the long-rumored ‘medium format X100,’ in that it takes the formula of classic styling, direct controls and a wideangle prime lens permanently mounted on the front.

Don’t take the rangefinder implications of the letters ‘RF’ too seriously though: this is essentially the world’s most ambitious compact camera, lacking not just a rangefinder but also the X100/X-Pro hybrid viewfinder that gives the appearance of a classic rangefinder camera. Instead, the RF’s EVF is a relatively standard 5.76M dot affair located in the top left corner of the back of the camera.

While the body is nowhere near as large as the interchangeable lens GFX cameras, it still has a lot of presence. You’ll never forget that you have it on you and would be hard-pressed to fit it into a pocket. That’s especially true when it’s fitted with the included square lens hood, which adds style points but has to be mounted on the adapter ring, adding a substantial amount of depth, substituting flare for flair.

Like the X100VI, the GFX100RF can be weather-sealed when the adapter ring and a filter, though this too makes it bulkier. The hood can still be fitted to the adapter ring when the filter installed.

The fixed lens

Fujifilm says it went with a 28mm equivalent for two reasons: to make the camera as compact as possible while also letting users shoot with relatively lower shutter speeds without the aid of IBIS or optical stabilization. That ability – which will largely depend on how still your hands and subject are – will come in handy given the lens’ relatively slow F4 (F3.2 equiv) 9-blade aperture.

The lens is made up of 10 elements in 8 groups, with two aspherical lenses. It has a minimum focus distance of 20cm (7.9″) and can accept 49mm filters when fitted with its adapter ring.

The fixed lens also allows the provision of a leaf shutter, allowing the GF to sync with flashes up to 1/2000 (technically, it can sync all the way up to 1/4000, but you risk cutting off some of the flashes’ burst using such a brief exposure).

Aspect ratio dial

Looking at the back of the camera, the first thing that sticks out is the large dial above the screen. Its singular purpose is to let you apply various crops to your image, changing your JPEG’s aspect ratio – and reducing how much of the sensor’s area and resolution you’re using.

There are nine options to choose from, and the camera gives you a few ways to preview your chosen aspect ratio. It can use black borders, a bounding box or raise the opacity of the portions of the image that will be cut off.

Amusingly, the label for the XPan-emulating 65:24 aspect ratio is a bit too wide for the window; you can see the labels for neighboring aspect ratios peaking through.

There’s also a “C” setting that lets you control the aspect ratio via one of the camera’s command dials or the menus. If you decide you’re unhappy with the crop after the fact, you can use the in-camera Raw reprocessing feature to change the aspect ratio, assuming you’ve been shooting in Raw + JPEG, as the camera maintains the full sensor Raw file and saves the intended crop as metadata.

Crop zoom

28mm equiv.	35mm equiv.	50mm equiv.	63mm equiv.

In addition to its choice of aspect ratio crops, the GFX100RF has a crop mode that punches in to give the impression of using a longer lens. You physically control the crop using a toggle switch situated under the power switch and front control dial.

As always, cropping reduces the area of the sensor being used, meaning a reduction in resolution and of total light capture. This has a consequent reduction in tonal quality if viewed at the same scale as full-sensor images. The table below indicates the equivalent focal length that each of the crops gives, both with reference to the camera’s 44 x 33mm sensor, which is how the camera reports the ‘focal lengths’ of the crops, and in terms of their full-frame equivalents for reference.

As you can see, hitting the lever once essentially turns the camera into a “full-frame” camera with a 35mm F4 equiv lens, before dropping down to nearer APS-C and Four Thirds image quality.

As with the aspect ratio crops, the zoom is only applied to the JPEG, leaving your Raw untouched. You’re also able to remove it using the in-camera Raw reprocessing feature, though you can’t select a different crop in-camera, though: it’s the crop you shot the image with or the full sensor, only.

How It Compares

The fixed-lens camera market is small but has several strong competitors, especially if you’re willing to spend this much money on one. Leica’s Q3, with its high-resolution full-frame sensor and 28mm focal length, is the most obvious point of comparison, but Fujifilm’s X100VI is also a potential competitor for those who prefer the 35mm field of view or want a substantially smaller, less expensive option.

We’ve also included the Hasselblad X2D, which has a similar sensor but with an interchangeable lens mount. The Fujifilm GFX 100 S II is perhaps a more direct competitor in both specs and price, but the Hasselblad’s size and use of leaf shutter lenses prompted us to include it instead.

The GFX100RF’s sensor may appear to be in a class above many of its fixed-lens peers, and in good light, we’d expect its larger sensor to give it a proportionate image quality advantage.

But it’s worth considering raw light-gathering ability if low-light shooting is a big concern for you. Wide-open, the Q3’s much faster lens gives it a 1.7EV potential advantage despite its smaller sensor, and there are lenses substantially faster than F4 available for the X2D (though they do come at significant expense). Even the APS-C-equipped X100VI* can gather a bit more light per-whole-image than the GFX can in its 35mm crop mode.

While the difference in focal length is a deal-breaker for some photographers, those who like 35mm equiv may find that Fujifilm’s smaller offering provides a more engaging shooting experience thanks to its standout hybrid viewfinder – the GFX100RF, meanwhile, has a good but otherwise standard EVF. It’s also the only camera in this lineup without any form of stabilization, which further reduces its capability as light level drops, even if you take into account the reduced risk of shake from its leaf shutter.

*It’s impossible to mention the X100VI without acknowledging that, over a year after its announcement, it’s still extremely hard to get. Persistent stock issues mean you’ll have to be patient or willing to pay a reseller a substantial premium over MSRP if you want one.

Body and Handling

The GFX100RF is relatively wide and boxy, though a small grip helps make it easier to hold. While it’s undoubtedly large for a fixed-lens camera, it’s not particularly heavy, making it easy to tote around all day.

The rear touchscreen display can be tilted up and down, though not left and right, as with some of Fujifilm’s other cameras. The EVF is bright and crisp, making it easy to compose your shot.

From the top, the family resemblance to the X100VI is obvious. Though that top plate sits on an appreciably larger camera.

The GFX100RF is brimming with controls. There are two programmable command dials: a knurled barrel on the front and a conventional dial in the back, with the rear one being clickable to cycle through functions. There’s also a dedicated exposure compensation dial and autofocus mode control.

Shutter speed and ISO control share a dial, with the latter requiring you to pull up on the bezel before rotating. The lens has an aperture ring, which includes an automatic setting and two opposed nubs that make it easy to turn.

On the left of this shot, top-to-bottom are the camera’s power switch, the barrel-style front command dial and the ‘digital teleconverter’ toggle at the bottom. To the right is the front plate lever (designed to look like the self-time control on a film camera). This can be flicked in either direction to access two functions or held in either direction to access two more.

Also fixed in function is the zoom toggle on the front, as well as the aspect ratio dial; neither can be reconfigured. The lever on the front plate, however, is entirely customizable, and you can assign up to four functions to it, as it can differentiate between a flick and a pull and hold. The latter action takes around three seconds to activate. It also has a customizable button in the center.

The Q button, which by default brings up a customizable, on-screen control panel, is on the edge of the grip, which makes it difficult to press without adjusting your hand. This sort of placement makes a bit of sense on smaller cameras where there’s nowhere else to put it, but is baffling on a camera that has so much room on the back. Also hard to hit while using the camera is the small, unlabeled button on the top plate right above the exposure compensation dial, which can be customized. As with many of Fujifilm’s cameras, you can also have up to four settings that are controllable by swiping up, down, left or right on the touchscreen.

You can also use the touchscreen to position the autofocus point, though the camera has a dedicated joystick for that purpose.

The dual UHS-II SD card slots live on the right-hand side of the camera, while a door on the left opens up to reveal headphone and microphone sockets, the USB-C port, and a micro-HDMI port.

Battery

The GFX100RF uses the 16Wh NP-W235 battery, the same that powers cameras like the GFX 100 II or X-T5. It’s rated to get 820 shots in its normal mode, which is a frankly stunning performance. We consider ratings – which rarely reflect the number of shots most people get but rather act as a standard benchmark to measure cameras against each other – of around 400 shots or more to be sufficient for a heavy weekend of shooting, and the GFX100RF almost doubles that figure.

Initial Impressions

By Mitchell Clark

Sometimes, it’s just nice to see a swing for the fences. To an extent, the GFX100RF is a variation on the X100-series’ winning formula, though the changes it brings may mean it’s destined to be a cult classic rather than an immediate blockbuster. It has a different focal length – Fujifilm’s 28mm fixed lens cameras historically haven’t set the world on fire – isn’t quite as pretty, doesn’t have the hybrid viewfinder, comes in a much larger body and, of course, has a much larger price tag.

It’s also a camera with plenty of quirks, though that could make it more appealing to a certain audience. The biggest are the two non-programmable controls, the zoom toggle and the aspect ratio dial. There is a cleverness to the former in that, in conjunction with the medium format sensor, it adds back a little bit of the flexibility fixed-lens cameras usually give up. It’s not only a 102MP camera with a 28mm equiv. lens, but also effectively a 62MP full-frame camera with a 35mm lens, a 31MP ∼APS-C camera with a 50mm equiv. lens, and a Four Thirds-ish camera with a 63mm equiv. lens.

As fans of the RX1 series are likely to attest, a fixed lens camera with the a7R V’s sensor and a 35mm lens could certainly be attention-grabbing. In some ways, the GFX100RF can become that with the flick of a switch – or, at least, a version of that with a lens that’s substantially slower than what you’d normally find on a fixed-lens camera.

Fujifilm says it went with an F4 lens to make the camera as small as it could. And indeed, the GFX100RF isn’t all that much larger than some of the company’s ASP-C cameras, though it certainly weighs more.

That’s where the camera’s footing starts to wobble a bit. With the zoom and aspect ratio choices each cropping into the sensor, you’re utilizing less and less of the light-gathering ability you paid so dearly for. The chart below shows just how much you’re giving up: using an admittedly extreme aspect ratio and crop, you can get down to a 9MP image from a 19x7mm region of the sensor. The lack of sensor or optical stabilization also means that, even when utilizing the whole sensor, you have to be cognizant of lighting conditions and shutter speed if you want sharp images.

Realistically, though, none of that is really what this camera is about. It’s about being an object that proves to yourself and others that you are a ‘Photographer’ and about giving you direct control over the image-making process. And, yes, it’s about being able to create some gorgeous, high-resolution shots while still having the freedom to crop away that resolution if it fits your vision.

In some ways, this camera feels like peak Fujifilm. It’s a culmination of everything the company has been doing for the last few years, with its physical controls for the camera’s key features and focus on creating the image you want in-camera without the need to crop or color grade in an external program. It’s also one of the most photo-focused releases we’ve seen from the company in a while. Because while it has the same video capabilities as the GFX 100S II, in this instance, they almost feel vestigial; the company isn’t really talking about them because that’s not what this camera is about.

We’ll have to wait until we can get our hands on a production model to fully evaluate its autofocus and image quality performance, but one thing is already clear: this camera is anything but boring.

Sample Gallery

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