The GFX100RF has finally been announced and it looks good. The design looks amazing, and on the surface, it looks like a no brainer for some people.

But…

And this is a big “but”, I’m not sure I agree with the direction they’ve gone, and I suspect these may end up having a big impact on the camera sales.

My personal view is that sometimes Fujifilm listens to the wrong people. It’s great that the ambassador who gets paid to shoot street loves it, but being the best street camera, may not be a viable commercial model, because most street photographers aren’t going to spend this sort of money.

Some of these will be compared to the Leica Q3. Fujifilm may not have wanted or expected it to be compared to the Q3, but at that price point, it will naturally be compared ot the Q3.

1. f/4 will turn off a lot of people. I honestly expected f/2.8, maybe f/3.2, something that could compete with the Leica Q3 which has f/1.7, the X100 has f/2. I think an extra 1cm for f/2.8 would have been the band to go for, given they are targeting a similar focal length and price point. f/4 puts you into high grain territory fairly quickly, particularly in low light and I suspect anything but brighter conditions, the quality of shots is going to be better on both the X100 and the Q3. At full frame, we are talking about f/1.7 vs f/3 at full frame equivalents. That’s a big jump, and one that I don’t believe the sensor will be able to compare to in the same conditions. The important thing is not that it’s f/4, it’s that at f/4 its still going to be soft, so realistically you’re shooting f5.6-f/8, an absolute killer indoors.
2. Without an f/2.8 aperture, they needed IBIS. I know some people will say that the high resolution gives you leeway, but even that has limits. You can bump up the ISO, but what’s the point in having a 100mp camera, if you are just using the resolution to downsize to get rid of noise. It defeats the purpose doesn’t it?
3. So you have f/4 and no IBIS. Naturally it has a flash? Nope. No built in flash, just something extra to carry with you.

The GFX100RF is too big to carry in your pocket. Adding an extra 1cm for some fstop gains, IBIS or a flash would have been a logical choice. This camera just feels to me like Fujifilm spoke to one of their street photographers, go his needs and went with that.

The problem with the GFX100RF is that it feels like it’s doomed to fail before it started. I want the GFX100RF to succeed because I was the target audience but I feel like there won’t be a mk2 because Fuijifilm played it too safe and made it so niche, that it won’t be commercially viable.

The Q3 is a really successful benchmark of a camera that does well. It works for street, travel and everyday, and it works in a price range that Fujifilm is trying to compete with. More importantly, when you look at the top view of the camera, the lens is substantially larger than the GFX100RF, showing that the succees of the camera is about the quality of the lens, not the size of it. If you can’t fit it in your pocket, it just needs to be compact, not supercompact. When you consider the lens hood on the GFX100RF, it reaches sizes where an extra one of two centimeters would not have made a difference.

The Q3 has neither IBIS, or a flash, but it does have a f/1.7 lens, or f/2 in the case of the 43mm version. f/1.7 is enough for bokeh, low light shooting and good enough not to need a flash or IBIS for the vast majority of your photos.

Right now, when I look at the GFX100RF, the Q3 seems like a more appealing option and that should worry Fujifilm, not because of my needs, but because I suspect my needs mirror a lot of cashed up compact camera user needs. That’s why there will be a lot of confusion over the GFX100RF. I think they have compromised in the wrong areas, and they’re produced a camera that is confusing to everyone. It made still sell to a select few, but it could have been so much more.

But, hey, I could be wrong.