102MP — It was only a matter of time!
It's hard to believe it's been three months already. I've adapted to the GFX 100 so rapidly and seamlessly embraced its features that it seems like I've owned it for a lot longer than I really have. Already having a foot into the system helped me not feel overwhelmed by the upgrade; the leap didn't feel as enormous as when I first embarked on my GFX journey. Though this doesn't mean that the changes that came alongside this acquisition weren't significant. They very much were. I simply was better prepared to handle them.
Hereunder you'll find some impressions both immediate and others formed after a few months of use in various situations including portraiture, concert photography and travel / landscape photography.
Let's first address the elephant in the room:
Why did I choose the GFX 100 classic when the more compact and lighter 100S exists? Well, just like when I chose the 50R nearly two years ago, it all came down to what I would find the most enjoyable and engaging to use and I've always found peculiar-looking cameras intriguing. Plus, I do not know about you guys, but personally, the idea of getting a tilt EVF adapter on the GFX 100 classic sounded like a great deal of fun, not to mention usefulness in plenty of situations I regularly find myself in!
But is the GFX 100 as unwieldy as the interwebs suggests it is? My humble opinion says no. The "Classic 100" is surprisingly well designed and balanced. It can be held easily in one hand and I barely feel its 1.3kg when carrying it. It also complements Fuji's larger GF lenses quite well. The 110mm and 250mm lenses both feel great when used with it because of the counter-balance the body provides. This being said, I've always been quite used to heavier cameras and I can see this is not a camera that will content every set of arms on the planet.
The body of the GFX 100 is surprisingly well balanced with small lenses as well as with big ones.
The tilt EVF adapter is a useful lovely little gizmo, if a bit pricey.
The acquisition and a couple realizations:
In order to ease the costs of the GFX 100 (though already incredibly well priced, below 3k second hand), I had to come to a couple conclusions.
Firstly, as I had already surmised at the time of writing the 50R's review, shooting with APS-C cameras has become more dull with time mainly because of my expectations for the image and file quality.
My X-Pro 2 feels more and more like a glorified phone than an actual camera in comparison to the GFX system. I still prefer using it over a phone of course — for obvious reasons I won't delve into here — but its use cases have become more limited over time. In practice, it only comes out of storage when I require compactness and expect to engage into snapshot-taking rather than thoughtful image-making. This meant that there were lenses left unused, which I realised I could sell. I ended up getting rid of the 100-400mm (because cropping on a GFX 100 is a better option) and the 90mm F2 (because while it is a sharp lens capable of producing pleasant images, the 110 F2 is undeniably superior).
Secondly, due to a change in Belgian laws about occasional artistic work — making getting contracts administratively more complicated and monetarily much less interesting — I've decided that freelance video-making wasn't worth the amount of effort it required on top of my full-time job. I therefore also sold my X-T3 and most of the video oriented accessories I had acquired for it.
The good and the great
Obviously, getting 102MP of resolution was more than a welcome change that further extended my already comfortable cropping ability, but it wasn't the most useful aspect of the upgrade. Although I will say that being able to crop 2x and still retain a hefty 25mp-worth of image has been particularly useful to me in the past few months, especially when using longer lenses, as I love being able to punch into the details of landscapes. As a side note, I also realise that I don't do two/three plates panoramas as much as I used to with the 50R. Now I opt for taking one wider picture and cropping a panorama aspect ratio out of it, most of the time.
The bigger game changers in my experience are the IBIS, making the generally slower lenses of the system much more usable in low-light (a much needed improvement when coming from the older 50-series), phase detect AF making using this camera system much more comfortable and reliable and of course, the newer sensor which makes 6400iso files look pristine without falling apart if you push them further.
The sensor's improved capabilities is probably the most enjoyable part of this upgrade so far.
The GFX 100's sensor takes higher ISO like it's a summer breeze
Are we (still) cooking?
Probably the most important positive outcome of not plunging into the GFX 100 from the get-go was that I could get accustomed to editing GFX raws with the 50R. I walked into this upgrade much more serenely than I would normally have had it been otherwise : I knew exactly what to expect on many levels, including that of post-processing. It was ultimately salutary not to get over-hyped by this impressive machine's promises. I therefore was able to approach post-processing with a certain levelheadedness and found that the files don't require much to get to a satisfactory result, making my time in post more straightforward most of the time, at least for now, in my current state of mind. I also think I've conquered my excitement about the system in general over the last two years and can now go for different types of edits than the very meme-y highlights/shadow slider action. I even sometimes elect to go for crushing edits with some data loss.
Who would have thought?
What about the 50R (and the X-Pro 2)?
I'll level with you. In the first few weeks of owning this, I was ready to sell the rest of the APS-C and the 50R and get my hands on either another 100 or a 100S. It makes sense but it also doesn't. Very quickly, I knew that I wouldn't sell the 50R. I'm too enamored of its form factor, it's rangefinder ergonomics. The 50R has become my family snapshot low-rez camera (I kid you not). It's fairly compact compared to the 100 Classic and it's a joy to use, especially with either the 35-70mm or 50mm 3.5, both fairly short and light lenses. It stays.
The X-Pro almost left the household. I had put it up for sale but removed it a few days later. I decided my wife or children could use it whenever they wanted, but then again I've been put in several situations where the 50R still was a bit too impractical for the task (of being put in a pocket). What I might do though, at some point in the future is getting a Ricoh GR III to really maximize compactness and inconspicuousness in a single camera and permanently leave the X-Pro 2 for others to use.
Not a conclusion, but a comforting feeling:
When I switched to the 50R there were compromises. I was prepared and wholly accepting these drawbacks. But still, some shadow of a doubt remained creeping at the back of my mind. A question sporadically kept asking itself. What if? Not anymore.
After properly stepping into this system, I feel a sense of relief as all my concerns have been permanently lifted (even more so seeing the performance reviews of the newer models). I am confident that I have made the correct decision for the type of photography I am doing and find myself thinking less and less about gear, you know, until the next lens becomes a mandatory pursuit.
Speaking of which, 55 1.7 or 500 5.6? I'm still not sure.
Here's a little gallery of the range of situations I've found myself so far :
