Fujifilm GFX 50S Review | 108 Data compared

The DPReview evaluation of the Fujifilm GFX 50S highlights the camera as a groundbreaking medium format system, praising its exceptional 51.4-megapixel resolution, high dynamic range, and superior color output, ultimately earning it a Gold Award. Key ergonomic advantages include a comfortable grip, versatile EVF, and a lightweight, mirrorless design ideal for studio and landscape photography. Conversely, the review identifies significant limitations in autofocus speed, particularly in low-light scenarios where it struggles to lock focus, alongside a slow 3 fps burst rate. Additional downsides include a problematic rear dial, limited native lens options at launch, and noticeable rolling shutter in silent, hand-held shooting modes.

In his review of the Fujifilm GFX 50S, Don Craig highlights that the camera's primary strength is its exceptional image quality, producing rich, finely-detailed, and textured files with a dramatic focus falloff and massive dynamic range that allows for extensive shadow recovery. Despite being larger than standard X-series models, it offers excellent handling, a highly comfortable grip, and a functional, utilitarian design that shares enough DNA with cameras like the X-T2 to make it immediately familiar and usable. Furthermore, the G-mount features five high-quality native lenses—with the GF32-64mm f/4 zoom heavily recommended for landscapes—while the focal-plane shutter design opens the door to using adapted legacy lenses via third-party adapters.

Here is a specific summary of the Fujifilm GFX 50S review: Review Summary The Fujifilm GFX 50S is a 51-megapixel medium format mirrorless camera designed with a 44x33mm sensor, making its surface area roughly 1.7 times larger than a standard full-frame camera. It provides outstanding resolution and a high dynamic range that excels at shadow recovery, particularly when paired with the Fujinon GF 32-64mm f/4 zoom lens which delivers corner-to-corner sharpness and minimal distortion. The camera benefits from modern feature sets including a highly responsive touchscreen, focus peaking, an electronic shutter, and physical top-plate exposure dials. Furthermore, its focal-plane shutter adds system flexibility by allowing users to adapt and shoot with third-party lenses like Zeiss Otus or Nikon PC-E optics. Despite these clear advantages in image quality, the camera leaves the reviewer somewhat underwhelmed due to a lack of extended shooting versatility. Its primary downsides include a relatively basic, contrast-detect autofocus system that lags behind modern mirrorless options and exhibits hunting issues when utilizing native "PRE-AF" or "Rapid AF" settings. The lack of built-in image stabilization and the camera's physical...

The reviewer tests the Fujifilm GFX 50S mirrorless medium format camera and highlights its incredible image quality and surprising portability. It features a large 51.4-megapixel crop sensor that offers massive dynamic range, rich colours, and superb sharpness, giving photographers plenty of room to crop images. Unlike older, bulky digital medium format systems that are confined to tripods in a studio, this camera brings a portable design that is highly versatile. It uses a contrast-based autofocus system with up to 425 points that locks focus fast enough to handle everyday documentary and street photography. The user interface mimics the Fujifilm X-Series, utilizing familiar dials and a 3-way tilting touchscreen that makes the physical layout highly intuitive for existing brand users. Additional highlights include a crisp 3.69-million-dot detachable OLED electronic viewfinder (EVF) and a robust, weather-resistant body. While the camera is praised as a "gamechanger," the review reveals a few drawbacks. A notable hardware limitation is its focal plane shutter, which causes a rolling shutter effect on moving subjects when using the electronic shutter mode. The review also touches upon the high...

The Amateur Photographer review highlights the Fujifilm GFX 50S as a groundbreaking, portable mirrorless camera that makes 51.4MP medium-format photography accessible, featuring excellent ergonomics and versatile shooting ratios. Key strengths include exceptional image quality, dynamic range, and a comfortable deep grip. Conversely, the camera is limited by a slow 3fps continuous shooting rate and contrast-detection autofocus, making it unsuitable for fast-paced action. Additionally, it lacks in-body image stabilization and 4K video, representing a high-cost investment for specific photographic needs.

In a review for The Slanted Lens, Jay P. Morgan tests the Fujifilm GFX 50S during a stylized fantasy portrait shoot, praising the camera's intuitive 35mm-style design and accessible controls. Key advantages highlighted include fast contrast autofocus in good light, a useful side-mounted LCD screen, and versatile aspect ratio options. Conversely, the review notes significant performance limitations when handling large 50-megapixel files, resulting in a slow internal buffer that hinders rapid shooting. While expected for medium-format, this data bottleneck limits the ability to capture quick, consecutive actions.

The Fujifilm GFX 50S is a 51.4-megapixel mirrorless medium format camera praised for its excellent detail, wide dynamic range, and vibrant colour reproduction, making it highly effective for landscapes and portraiture. Its body design adopts DSLR principles, featuring a substantial front handgrip, programmable buttons, a top ISO dial, and a helpful settings window, which altogether lower the learning curve for photographers transitioning from DSLRs. Testing the camera handheld with the GF32-64mmF4 lens yielded pleasing, smooth bokeh at f/4 that visually outperformed full-frame alternatives, while the system's overall menu navigation remained simple and highly logical. However, the reviewer noted distinct limitations, particularly for spontaneous shooting styles like street photography, where the camera and lens combination proved large, bulky, and too noticeable to pedestrians. For indoor and outdoor studio setups, the camera is restricted by a relatively slow maximum flash sync speed of 1/125. Because it operates as a specialty tool that is not ideal for every fast-paced scenario, the author concludes that the GFX 50S is best utilized alongside a secondary, more versatile X-T series body to complete a professional kit....

In a comprehensive review, Julia Anna Gospodarou praises the Fujifilm GFX 50S for delivering professional, high-resolution 51.4-megapixel medium format quality at an accessible price point. The camera is noted for exceptional dynamic range and low-noise performance during long exposures, making it ideal for fine art and architectural work. While hailed as a transformative tool, the GFX 50S is designed for a slow, deliberate workflow rather than high-speed action, limiting its suitability for sports or quick street photography. Additionally, despite being cost-effective compared to traditional medium format, the significant investment required for the body and specialized GF lenses remains a barrier for some photographers. Julia Anna Gospodarou

The Digital Camera World review highlights the Fujifilm GFX 50S as a beautiful and surprisingly affordable entry point into medium-format mirrorless photography. Lab tests reveal a mixed but generally impressive performance. The camera's major pros include an outstanding raw file signal-to-noise ratio at ISO 100, which holds its lead through most of the ISO range. Additionally, while lab tests showed a slightly disappointing low-ISO dynamic range, its real-world execution dramatically recovers by ISO 400 or when employing its built-in Dynamic Range expansion mode to unveil vast shadow and highlight detail. Digital Camera World Conversely, the review exposes several notable cons and limitations to consider. When compared to rivals like the Canon EOS 5DS, Hasselblad X1D, and Pentax 645Z, the GFX 50S showed more wayward colour accuracy in controlled environments. The review also points out that laboured autofocus speeds make it significantly less responsive than traditional full-frame or APS-C DSLRs. Finally, despite being labeled "affordable" for its medium-format class, its premium price tag and a few cramped or poorly placed physical controls remain distinct drawbacks for everyday shooters.

In this review, photographer Paul Pichugin evaluates the Fujifilm GFX50S mirrorless medium format camera during a multi-month outdoor commercial project on the South Coast of Western Australia. The prominent advantages of the camera center around its 51-megapixel, medium-format sensor, which delivers roughly 14 stops of dynamic range—outperforming standard DSLRs and greatly simplifying the extraction of shadow details and highlight recovery without the constant need for exposure bracketing. Despite its large sensor size, the camera body remains remarkably comfortable, ergonomic, and less bulky than traditional medium format systems, especially when paired with an essential battery grip. Furthermore, the reviewed GF-series lenses, particularly the exceptionally sharp GF23mm F4 R wide-angle lens, proved to be standout performers for expansive, high-detail landscape shots and stitched panoramic imaging. Conversely, the review highlights several distinct drawbacks and physical limitations of using the GFX50S system for rugged travel. A significant workflow issue is the massive size of the raw files (around 115 MB each), which rapidly exhaust storage and generate files up to 350 MB when converted to TIFF formats. From an ergonomic standpoint, the reviewer frequently...

The KEH Camera review of the Fujifilm GFX 50S highlights its exceptional image quality and user-friendly experience that mirrors a traditional full-frame DSLR, making it surprisingly suitable for daily shooting. While offering a responsive touchscreen for image review, the medium-format camera's main strengths lie in delivering superior, large-format-capable files. KEH Camera However, the review notes significant performance limitations, including slower autofocus and lower burst rates compared to typical full-frame cameras. Furthermore, the touchscreen is not optimal for direct shooting, and the system is deemed unsuitable for fast-paced street photography, prioritizing image output over speed.

The Fujifilm GFX 50S is a highly capable medium format digital camera equipped with a 51.4-megapixel CMOS Bayer sensor, designed for both commercial professionals and passionate hobbyists. The reviewer praises the camera for its exceptional image quality, excellent ergonomics that fit well in the hands, and an intuitive dial setup and menu system that allows seamless switching from smaller X-mount bodies like the X-T2. Additional positive features include the highly detailed top LCD setting monitor, a versatile tilting touchscreen, dual SD card slots, a durable weather-resistant build, and a long-lasting NP-T125 battery capable of surviving a full day of shooting. The camera's dynamic range proves outstanding for complex interior photography, allowing users to comfortably push shadow details without needing multiple exposures. Despite the camera’s premium status, the reviewer notes very few limitations with the hardware itself, stating that any personal hesitation relates strictly to their own financial budget rather than the camera’s highly competitive market pricing. On a technical level, a notable drawback for multimedia creators is the lack of 4K video capability, as the device is restricted to 1080/30p...

The Photography Life review of the Fujifilm GFX 50S highlights the 51.4-megapixel, 44x33mm sensor as a major pro, offering superior low-light shadow recovery compared to top-tier full-frame cameras. Its focal plane shutter, responsive CPU, and excellent firmware support are also noted as key advantages, allowing for versatile lens adaptation. Conversely, the review notes significant cons, most notably a half-second viewfinder blackout after each shot due to slow sensor readout, which limits the camera to slower shooting scenarios. Other considerations include potential pixel-level inferiority to lower-resolution full-frame sensors and, in some cases, a rattling internal focusing element in native lenses when powered off.