GFX 100RF out of box experience

The Fuji GFX 100RF arrived from LenRentals today for a three-week stay chez Kasson. From the setup menus, it appears to be brand new. I’ll get to the testing soon enough, but I have a few thoughts on the design.

• It’s small. It weighs about the same as a Z7 and a small 35mm Nikkor, and it’s not all that much bigger.
• The on/off switch is too easy to move. I’ll bet some folks are going to have trouble accidentally turning the camera on when they put it into the bag.
• The Q switch is flush. This should reduce the accidental activation of the Q switch, which has happened to me with other GFX cameras.
• Leaving the crop wheel aside for the time being, I love the way most of the controls work. The aperture ring on the switch has an A position which allows the exposure system to change it, which is perfect. The shutter speed dial has a similar A position. There’s an ISO adjust embedded in the shutter speed wheel that is so much better for me than the thumbwheel ISO adjustment of a lot of the other GFX cameras. And there’s huge exposure compensation dial that falls readily to thumb.
• It looks like the lens has two knurled rings, but the front one doesn’t move. Pity.
• The menu structure will be familiar to anyone who has used another GFX camera.
• The focus mode selection dial is flush with the body except for the part you use to adjust it.
• The joystick is not great. Fuji could do some work on the haptics. But the joystick has never been the GFX’s strong suit.
• The front knurled dial is mushy. It needs some crisp detents. Same with the back knurled dial.
• It’s got two SD card slots. I would have much preferred one XCD slot.
• The lens hood is small, and that’s nice. It’s probably less effective than a petal hood, though.
• Now for the most controversial part of the camera, the crop dial. I’m a raw shooter, so I view the crop dial as a compositional aid, and nothing else. If you look at it like I do, it is way more prominent than it should be, and it needs a lock button.
• The LCD tilts but doesn’t swivel. That’s fine with me.
• The latch for the battery door is not self-engaging. Oops.
• There are no detents on the ISO dial. Not great.
• Access to the ISO dial by lifting a collar is brilliant.
• I’m not fond of the way the flash card access door works. Fuji could take a lesson from Nikon on how to do this right.
• It looks like it can accept an old-fashioned mechanical cable release. Extra points for rthat.
• No IBIS, but then you probably already knew that.

To me, this is a modern digital embodiment of the Plaubel Makina 67 with a shorter lens. I would have preferred the lens be around 45mm instead of 35mm, but nobody asked me.