Intro

The Fujifilm GFX 100 II is a medium format mirrorless camera with a new 102 Megapixel sensor, improved handling and 8k video. Announced in September 2023 and costing around $7500 or £7000, it’s the official successor to the GFX 100 from 2019, while the more recent GFX 100S from 2021 remains on sale at around $6000 or £5500. 

So while the GFX 100 II is considerably cheaper than its predecessor, the S remains the most affordable way to enjoy 102 Megapixels in Fujifilm’s medium format system. 

I spent several days with a final production sample and in the video below will show you what’s new along with sharing some images; if you prefer to read the written highlights, keep scrolling!

Fujifans will recall the original GFX 100 sported a built-in portrait grip, and while this was thinner than its main grip, it inevitably made for a fairly hefty camera.

In contrast, the new Mark II version is considerably shorter thanks to not having a built-in portrait grip, and at just over a kilogram in weight, is almost 400g lighter than its predecessor. The 100S remains lightest of all at 900g, but the new Mark II is definitely closer to it in size and weight.

For those who want something more to hold onto though, Fujifilm sells an optional battery grip for the Mark II which accommodates two extra W235 batteries in addition to the one in the camera, as well as providing portrait controls. It costs around £480, but you’ll need to provide your own batteries. (GFX 100 II: 152x117x47mm, 1030g)

Since the new portrait grip matches the standard one in thickness, the overall height is now greater than the original model, but I prefer the consistency in look, feel and handling, not to mention the chance to remove it when you need something more portable.

Looking around the new camera you’ll find a lockable exposure mode on the upper left side with six custom presets, alongside a switch to set the camera into stills or movie mode.

The GFX 100 II has access to exposures from 1/4000 to 60 minutes or Bulb using the mechanical shutter, while switching to the fully electronic shutter sees the fastest speed increase to 1/32000. There’s also a wealth of shutter types and combinations, including electronic first curtain, and the fastest flash sync speed is 1/125.

On the upper right side I’m pleased to see the Mark II still sporting a high resolution LCD information screen with 320×219 pixels, allowing it to display a wealth of shooting information, while also letting you reverse the text and background colours if preferred.

It’s context sensitive too, and here’s what you’ll see when the camera’s switched to its movie mode. I really like the black text on the paper white background.

While most of the controls are similar to before, you’ll notice a few extra function buttons scattered around the body, as well as a top surface that slopes down a little towards you. It’s a subtle but stylish design touch, that’s not only fairly unique but also means you don’t need to angle the camera back as far or peer as much over the top to see the upper screen or dial.

Before leaving the top surface, let’s have a look at the viewfinder which, like the original GFX 100 is removeable and supplied with the body. 

While sliding it off will make the body a little smaller if desired, the main reason is to fit the optional tilt accessory inbetween which allows you to, say, angle the viewfinder up so you can compose looking straight down.

The Mark II uses the same tilt accessory as the GFX 100, which means its new viewfinder module can also be slid onto the old camera, but sadly Fujifilm tells me it won’t work as it employs a new, more detailed panel. 

Yep, in a very welcome upgrade, the GFX 100 II joins a fairly exclusive club of cameras with viewfinders boasting 9.44 million dot OLED panels, and in this case, with a substantial 1x magnification too, making it bigger and more detailed than the GFX 100. Shame owners of the old model can’t upgrade to it.

The view when using the full magnification is pretty immersive, but if you prefer, you can gradually reduce the magnification in several steps down to 0.77x to match the old model, at which point you can also double the refresh rate from 60 to 120p. Blackout between frames is less than a second whether you’re using fast CF Express or standard SD cards.

Note that like many high-end viewfinders, the display resolution will temporarily reduce while focusing. You notice this most on the finest details like distant railings which briefly become a little less crisp as the camera focuses. But this won’t affect your actual photo quality, and once you let go of the shutter, you’re also returned to the full viewfinder detail.

Turning to the rear of the camera you’ll find a 3.2in screen with 2.36 million dots and a 4:3 shape, alongside a selection of buttons and a joystick which, in the absence of a D-pad, performs most of the navigation.

The screen shares similar three-way articulation to earlier models which means you can angle it up for waist-level shooting or comfortable composition from low positions. 

Or you can angle it down for easier viewing when held high, and you might have already noticed it can be pulled out further from the camera than before. This is to accommodate the optional cooling fan accessory introduced for the latest X-H models, and you may also see the holes where it screws-in.

Or finally by pushing a button on the left side, you can angle it out sideways for use in the portrait orientation. Sure, it still won’t flip forward to face you or back on itself for protection, but I’m sure the target audience won’t be vlogging.

On the left side of the body you’ll find the ports. Behind the upper flap is a Gigabit ethernet port for quick tethering at a distance or FTP duties; the camera also supports direct uploads over ethernet to the video-collaboration platform, Frame.IO.

Below this are a 3.5mm port that doubles as a mic input or remote jack, followed by full-size HDMI (take that GFX 100S with your micro port), and USB C, the latter performing multiple duties including recording photos or video onto an external SSD drive. 

I tried this with a 1TB SanDisk Extreme Pro drive and it worked fine, although like other cameras which can also record onto external SSDs, you can’t access the internal cards at the same time. This sadly rules out recording files to both internal and external storage simultaneously, and so far, there’s no way to backup existing files from internal cards to an external SSD which would be a really handy feature. Meanwhile on the grip side you’ll find a headphone jack, below which are dual card slots, one for CF Express Type B and the other for SD.

The mount can accommodate a growing collection of native GF lenses, including the new 55mm f1.7 WR launched alongside it and seen here. With an equivalent coverage of 44mm, this will become a popular general-purpose lens with a nice fast aperture. It costs around $2300 or pounds. (Fujifilm GF 55mm f1.7 WR: 95x99mm, 790g)

All lenses benefit from the improved sensor-shift stabilisation which Fujifilm claims is now good for up to eight stops of compensation depending on lens. You’ll need the GF 63, 80 or 110 for the maximum compensation, but as always as the focal lengths increase, IBIS becomes less effective and as you come to models like the 250 and 100-200, you’ll become more dependent on optical stabilisation, typically delivering 5.5 stops of compensation. 

The GFX 100 II employs an improved back-illuminated sensor, sporting the same 102 Megapixels as before, but with light gathering efficiencies bringing a claimed 30% improvement. 

This in turn allows a new base sensitivity of 80 ISO for stills or 100 for movies, as well as faster readout to reduce skewing, and reported better PDAF in the corners. 

I’ll try to test all of these for a future video, but in the meantime will update any findings on my review page at cameralabs.com.

Like other GFX cameras, the sensor measures 43.8×32.9mm, giving it 1.7 times the area of 35mm full-frame, and wider coverage from the same focal length lenses. 

There’s pros and cons to all formats, and you’ll need to weigh-up not just pixel densities, but pricing of both bodies and lenses before finding the right system for you. But the bottom line is the GFX 100 series can produce tremendously detailed images that are among the best I’ve seen from any system under ten grand.

The Mark II continues to defy expectations on medium format speed and handling too, now supporting bursts up to 8fps – impressive given the size of the images.

Understandably while the buffer has been enlarged, you’ll need a fast card to stop it filling too quickly. Hence the addition of CF Express, which allows for much deeper bursts than SD, particularly in RAW.

Meanwhile the subject detection algorithms are inherited from the latest X-series cameras which share the same X-Processor V.

So there’s a separate menu for human face and eye detection, while other subjects are spun-off into a second menu. These can successfully recognise animals, birds, cars, bikes, planes and trains. Although like other X-Processor V cameras, enabling one of these subjects will disable the human option and vice versa. They really should be all on a single list.

From the quality menus you can choose a variety of image sizes and aspect ratios, with the highest quality 4:3 shape at 102 Megapixels delivering files with 11648×8736 pixels. This gives it roughly 50% greater linear resolution than, say, a 50 Megapixel sensor.

You can choose to shoot JPEG or 10 bit HEIF files, and pick from three compression levels, any of which can be accompanied by a RAW file, or shoot RAW alone. You also have the choice of lossless, compressed or uncompressed RAW files in 14 or 16 bit.

As a Fujifilm camera, there is of course the full complement of Film Simulations, including the new REALA ACE mode, described by Fujifilm as being a little like a slightly less saturated Provia without going too far down the retro road. I’ve asked Fujifilm if REALA will come to recent X-series models and they say it is possible, but wouldn’t confirm if it will happen; finger’s crossed! Beyond this, you’re getting the other options familiar to X-series owners including colour chrome and grain.

If 102 Megapixels aren’t enough for you, there’s a pixel-shift high resolution mode which uses the electronic shutter to capture 16 images while subtly shifting the sensor between each. These can then be combined in software later to generate a file with up to 400 Megapixels of information, although you do need to be very careful with your technique, lens and settings.

Sadly the composite process still requires a computer later, but new to the Mark II is an optional mode which captures just four images. This effectively demosaics the colour filter array, eliminating colour moire artefacts but with a more manageable 102 Megapixel image at the end.

Moving onto video, the GXF 100 II can change format from the native GF which uses the full sensor width to smaller format lenses including Premista or 35mm lenses including anamorphic.

In terms of movie quality, you can film 1080 or 4k from 24 to 60p and in 16:9 or wider DCI shapes; I believe both 1080 and 4k are oversampled, albeit not from 102 Megapixels. There’s also Cine 5.8k from 24 to 60p in a wide 2.35:1 shape, as well as 8k from 24 to 30p, again in the choice of 16:9 or DCI shapes. 1080 is also available up to 120p in a high speed menu.

8k is new to the GFX 100 II and incurs quite a substantial crop of 1.42 in DCI or 1.51 in 16:9. The crop factor confirms 8k simply takes a 1:1 pixel crop from the middle of the sensor.

You can encode in a variety of formats from H.264 and H.265 in 4:2:2 10 bit, to external ProRes RAW or BM RAW in 12 bit. There’s F-Log for grading and also the welcome addition of both vectorscope and waveform monitor displays – classy.

The Mark II also supports IDT for ACES Cinema, a standard colour space which allows you to match footage with dedicated pro cinema cameras. Nice.

I hope to make a follow-up video taking an in-depth look at the movie quality, but in the meantime I’ve included examples of each format in my video review at the top of the page.

I was also impressed with my rolling shutter tests which showed the GFX 100 II being very well behaved for both 1080 and 4k footage, even up to 60p. The 5.8 and 8k modes do suffer from more pronounced skewing artefacts though, so use with care.