Review and Recommendation: Fujifilm GFX100RF

Text and illustrations by Ken Tanaka

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Amidst a sleepy camera world, Fujifilm’s new 100-MP GFX100RF medium format camera has grabbed lots of attention since its launch early this year. (In fact, Fujifilm has been the driver of most camera news for months!) Much of the interest in this camera seems coalesced around two groups. First, fans of the extremely successful X100-series APS-C cameras see a medium-format sibling to the fixed-lens, hybrid-viewfinder X100[x]. Second, fans of Fuji’s interchangeable-lens GFX medium-format cameras see a more compact fixed-lens member of that lineage.

I was among the lucky (non-influencers) who received a GFX100RF shortly after pre-order, somehow avoiding the tariff chaos that halted early shipments shortly afterwards. What follows are some general notes and opinions I’ve made after a few weeks with this camera. You can find many more detailed reviews at the main photo gear sites (DPReview, PetaPixel, et.al.) and on the many influencer reviews on YouTube.

 “Let’s go for a walk!”

Gestalt and style
Fujifilm has long realized that the appearance of cameras in today’s hobbyist market is at least as important as their actual functional fitness. The GFX100RF is a prime example. My first impression of it was that this is a camera cleverly designed to lure you to take it for long walks. The camera feels very good in-hand. Very natural. It’s quite light and sleek for a medium-format camera. Very easy to shoulder all day. Like its smaller cousins, Fuji’s X100 cameras, the RX100RF has a strong "I’m destined to be a classic camera" smugness about it. That’s powerful stuff!

But what is the GFX100RF really? Is it "an X100 all grown-up," as one influencer/reviewer claimed? No, not really. As a long-time user of Fuji’s X100 and GFX series cameras, I can safely say that the GFX100RF is more like a fatter cousin of Fuji’s X100 cameras. Yes, it shares some of the gestalt and features an almost identical control layout as the X100VI. But the GFX100RF does not have its hybrid rangefinder-style viewfinder. It has an OK-but-very-conventional EVF, albeit eccentrically placed in rangefinder-like style to leave one eye unblocked.

Nor is the GFX100RF really a slimmed-down GFX100 model with a fixed lens. Although it produces the same 100-MP image file as its GFX siblings, it lacks much of the capability and versatility of its bigger interchangeable-lens cousins.

I’ve concluded that Fujifilm's GFX100RF is actually a new sub-genre of digital camera—the fixed prime lens digital medium format camera—a genre whose heritage reaches back to photography’s chemical era.

Oddly, my first-glance at the GFX100RF’s top-plate momentarily reminded me of another Fujifilm camera, their wonderful GF670 Professional folding camera—a film camera I still own, that beckons me back with its switchable 6x6 / 6x7 frame sizes and lovely 80mm lens. I might just have to give it a whirl again this summer! (Ugh..film!) Capture Integration’s Steve Hendrix similarly observes that the GFX100RF seems to be a "clearly an inspired facsimile" of Fujifilm’s TX-1 film camera (circa 1998).

Fujifilm GFX100RF and the GF670 Professional folding film camera

Hasselblad’s X2D medium format camera has the closest thin-body style to the GFX100RF. In fact the cameras do share the same 44mm x 33mm image sensor and 100-MP image file size. As you can see, the X2D outfitted with a comparable focal length lens (the XCD 28P ƒ/4) is not much larger than the GFX100RF, although it weighs just about one pound heavier.

Fujifilm GFX100RF and Hasselblad X2D

Conceptually, however, the closest relative of the GFX100RF may be Leica’s full-frame Q3 with its similar medium-wide fixed 28mm prime, its compact size, its tilting screen, and its relatively large files.

Fujifilm's X100 VI and GFX10RF, and Leica's Q3

Both have 28mm-equivalent fixed lenses and are clearly designed as companion cameras.

But there are some significant differences worth considering between them. More later.

[To be continued on Sunday...]

Ken

Original contents copyright 2025 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

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Comments

[Richard John Tugwell]

I enjoyed Ken's overview of the place in the Fuji ecosystem of the GFX100RF, although I don't myself have any need for 100mb files.

But I jumped at his reference to the GF670. I have one of those, although it's called a Voigtlander Bessa III (nice nod to heritage)

I use it fairly regularly - maybe 10/20 films a year. Love the large viewfinder. With digital I always feel I'm sitting in a room taking screencaps from CCTV)

BTW has gestalt become a US term, as opposed to the original German gestalt / gestaltung?

[Herman Krieger]

The Fuji GF670 was my favorite camera-

[David Dyer-Bennet]

I actually had a GS645 for a while, and I understand the interest in the 6x7 or 6x9 fixed lens cameras.

Except...even back then, I couldn't bring myself to drop that much money on a fixed-lens camera. And if I had, and liked it, I'd have had to abandon it and then dig into one of the medium format system cameras.

So when I saw this announcement I was completely floored. Makes utterly no sense to me. I'm sure some people will buy them anyway.

The early MF fixed lens cameras are, I would suggest, a different type of creature entirely. They're basic snapshot cameras of their era, nothing special. Miniature cameras hadn't taken over yet.

[G Dan Mitchell]

Back in the days when making a 11” x 14” print from 35mm film was pushing the boundaries a bit, the existence of handheld 6x6 (and other “6 by” formats) was pretty much a necessity for high quality work.

Today, skillful photographers can produce truly excellent 30” x 45” prints from high end full-frame systems, prints that have at least as much detail as those from the best MF film systems.

Yes, “medium format” digital (including the downsized miniMF 33mm x 44mm sensor cameras) can capture even a bit more detail when used with suitable care — careful focusing, thoughtful lens selection, great attention to camera stability.

But when shooting handheld — particularly with a camera that lacks IBIS — the real-world photographic advantages of using a fixed lens miniMF system compared to an even smaller FF or even APS-C system seem quite limited.