DEFINITION September 2019

USER REVI EW | FUJ I F I LM GFX1 00

on this compartment, as well as on the lenses (so using a lens adapter without the seal might allow water ingress). Fujifilm calls the camera ‘weather resistant’, but there is no IP rating specified. CAPTURE SPEC The GFX100 captures full DCI 4K (4096x2160) and UHD (3840x2160) down to 1080, at frame rates from 59.94P (HD only) to 23.98P. There are no interlaced modes. The camera supports both H.264 and H.265 (HEVC) 4:2:0 codecs, with long-GOP or intra-frame coding, at 50, 100, 200 and 400Mbps (depending on frame size) with 10-bits per colour in HEVC and 8-bits in H.264. So, that’s not too bad. The codec choice is a bit limited, but with UHD and HD, you can get a clean 4:2:2, 10- bit feed from the onboard HDMI and record externally should you wish. With DCI and 2K, however, you are stuck with internal recording to a pair of UHS-II compliant SD card slots. Image data is taken from the whole sensor width, with just the top and bottom of the 4:3 image cropped to the selected output ratio. Obviously, with this massive sensor (11648x8736 pixels) some data must be discarded to achieve the 4K, UHD or HD output format. This suggests the camera may exhibit moiré, though I didn’t spot any in my tests. What it does mean, of course, is that you get a tiny, tiny depth-of-

“THE BODY WEIGHS IN AT ABOUT 1.3KG WITH BATTERY” for Arri PL. Fujinon’s own lenses have an excellent reputation (I have a beautiful 135mm large format Fujinon for my MPP Mark VII) and, of course, their broadcast box lenses are legendary. The review camera was supplied with a 63mm prime and a 32mm-64mm zoom, both of which were excellent. The autofocus is quick and reasonably accurate for a mirrorless camera – particularly in ‘single shot’ mode, but I just wouldn’t use it for continuous focus… except I might use the face recognition for doing a to-camera walking piece in documentary filming. It’s notoriously difficult to walk backwards as the talent walks towards you and keep them in focus, and the Fujifilm system works well enough to handle this – though it isn’t quite as on the money with a spectacles wearer, and it loses lock if the presenter looks down at their feet! The body weighs in at about 1.3kg with battery and viewfinder. The battery tray, sitting in the (non- removable) vertical battery grip contains a pair of NP-T125 Li-ion batteries. The camera will run on a single battery. There is a weather seal

ABOVE The sensor captures full DCI 4K (4096x2160)

field with wide apertures. The sensor window is a smidge smaller than the Alexa 65 (at 54.12x25.59mm) but it’s close enough that the GFX100 might make a useful B camera to Arri’s monster. Rolling shutter isn’t bad, at 0.6º per 1000 pixels per second – meaning if you pan at 1000 pixels per second, vertical lines will lean over at a 0.6º angle. That’s pretty much along the lines of most DSLRs, but about three times the current class winner, the Canon C300 Mk II. The GFX100 doesn’t have a Raw codec, but it includes a Log capture mode (called F-Log) and some nice simulations of Fujifilm’s positive and negative film stocks. I used F-Log and the Eterna setting, which gave over 12 stops of true dynamic range in our tests. This test looks for the difference between rich detail in

BELOW The full GFX100 video spec

BIT RATE 400Mbps

SETTING (SIZE) DC14K 17:9 (4096x2160) 4K 16:9 (3840x2160)

CODEC / YUV/BIT DEPTH H.265 (HEVC) / 4:2:0 / 10-bit H.264 / 4:2:0 / 8-bit H.265 (HEVC) / 4:2:0 / 10-bit H.264 / 4:2:0 / 8-bit

SHUTTER SPEED 1/4000 ~ 1/4sec

MOVIE COMPRESSION All-intra

FRAME RATE 29.97p 25p 24p 29.97p 25p 24p 29.97p 25p 24p 59.94p 50p 29.97p 25p 24p 59.94p 50p 29.97p 25p 24p

23.98p

400Mbps 200Mbps 100Mbps —

1/4000 ~ 1/24sec

Long-GOP

23.98p

— / 4:2:2 / 10-bit

1/4000 ~ 1/4sec

Uncompressed (HDMI output) All-intra

23.98p

200Mbps

FHD 17:9 (2048x1080) FHD 16:9 (1920x1080)

H.265 (HEVC) / 4:2:0 / 10-bit H.264 / 4:2:0 / 8-bit

1/4000 ~ 1/4sec

23.98p

200Mbps 100Mbps 50Mbps —

H.265 (HEVC) / 4:2:0 / 10-bit H.264 / 4:2:0 / 8-bit

1/4000 ~ 1/24sec

Long-GOP

23.98p

— / 4:2:2 / 10-bit

1/4000 ~ 1/4sec

Uncompressed (HDMI output)

59.94p 50p 29.97p 25p 24p

23.98p

96 DEF I N I T ION | SEPTEMBER 20 1 9

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