Sony a7RV vs Fujifilm GFX100 II Camera Comparison – Which is Better?

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Hi, this is Jay P. Morgan. I’ve got Dianna here with me today. “Hi”. We’re going to take a look at the GFX100 II versus the Sony a7RV. The reason I chose these two cameras, and I want to look at them head-to-head, is what does a 102 megapixel sensor look like compared to a 61 megapixel sensor? And why do you choose medium format over a full frame sensor? There’s some good reasons. We’re going to show you those. We’re going to do some strobe work today. We’re going to really show you how these two cameras compare with one another and why you might choose a medium format over a full frame. So let’s get started and see where we go.

So let’s take a look at the specs and the camera tests that we did comparing these two cameras, the Sony a7RV versus the GFX100 II. First off, the Sony obviously is a full frame sensor whereas the GFX100 II is a medium format sensor. Sony has a 61 megapixel sensor, which is effective 61, whereas the GFX100 II has a 102 effective megapixel. We’re going to look at a test and just see how those two compare and see what you gain with that larger sensor size.

These two cameras come in at very different price points. The Sony is around $3,900 whereas the GFX100 II is $7500. So you got a medium format and a full frame. Very different price points between these two cameras.

So the full frame camera is a one to one, there’s no crop factor. Whereas the medium format camera is an 0.79. Which means a 63 mm lens is going to give you about a 50 mm view. Which means you’re dividing, it’s reducing the angle of view, 63 down to a 50. It’s going to give you the correct angle of view.

All right, let’s take a look at the picture quality with these two cameras. The GFX100 II has an equivalency of a 50 mm lens but it’s just slightly punched in more than you see with this Sony a7RV. The Sony a7RV is not quite as tight. But these are on the same tripod and same distance. We’re getting beautiful color here from both of these. Look at the bluish color in the background. It’s hard to beat the color on Fujifilm cameras. I think the color is just stunning on this GFX100 II. I think the Sony color is beautiful. Look at those two together. We look at just the image, let’s punch in on this image and just look at image quality. I mean, we’re looking at a 100 megapixel sensor versus a 61 megapixel sensor. And you know what immediately, I mean, we’re much tighter on the eye. You see the contact in each of these eyes. You can see it very clearly. I feel like the Sony is just slightly sharper. I can perceive that, I mean, I’m seeing it. This is a 61 megapixel versus a 100 megapixel, you know, and medium format versus a full frame. But it’s just that Sony is very sharp, very sharp. Now this can have to do with lenses or have to do with a lot of different things. But in this test I feel like the Sony is just slightly sharper than what we’re seeing with that GFX100 II. But both of them have beautiful pictures.

Let’s talk about the ergonomics of these two cameras. They couldn’t be more different. You’ve got the Sony full frame at 1.6 lbs. So it’s very lightweight, a very small camera. Whereas you got 2.271 lbs. for the Fuji. So the Fuji is a much, much heavier camera because it’s a medium format camera. But the Fuji really is a hybrid. They had the 100, then they had the 100s. Now this is kind of the hybrid. So they’ve taken the 100 and then the 100s and they’ve really combined them into a camera that is much smaller and easier to use and starts to compete with the full frame. Which is why this conversation makes sense to me at this point. In the past it has not, but it really does now.

All right, memory card slots. The Sony has two card slots. They’re dual purpose card slots. You can do SD cards or you can do CF Express type A. Whereas the Fuji has one in one. It has an SD card slot and a CF Express type B slot. So you can either do one or the other. So the redundancy there is a little bit of a problem with the Fuji. Because, if you got a really fast CF Express type B you can’t back that up to an SD card without it kind of, it’s going to slow the camera down. It’s not going to work as well. Whereas the Sony has those two card slots that are either the faster CF Express cards or it’s the SD cards. So in that way the Sony is a little bit ahead. There’s so much space in this camera I don’t know why they didn’t give that option. But it’s a technology kind of an advance that Sony has that Fuji hasn’t taken on just yet.

It’s interesting though, monitor wise, on the Sony you have a 2,095,104 dot monitor, whereas on this GFX100 II you’ve got a 2,360,000 dot monitor. Which really is a beautiful monitor. It gives you a great image. You can see exactly what you’re doing. There’s other things that are really interesting. The display is really interesting to me. The Fuji has this kind of pop out display and I don’t love this. It just does one thing, it pops out and over to the side. You can’t get this off to the side. You certainly can’t vlog with it. Not that this is a vlogging camera. Whereas, you see here you have the complete articulation here with the screen on the Sony a7RV. I think this is much more usable when it comes to video and getting the camera in the places that you need to. And it really works in that way.

So on the top of the cameras you do not have a secondary screen on the top of the Sony but you do on top of the GFX100 II. And that screen is large. It gives you a lot of information and you can switch modes on it whether you want dials. So it looks like, kind of dials the dials for aperture and shutter. Or you can just give yourself a readout. There’s several things or waveforms so you have several different readouts on that monitor. That top monitor really is a beautiful piece of real estate. When you turn the camera off though all the information stays on. That caught me off guard the first couple of times I picked the camera up because I’m thinking I left the camera on. I’m seeing all that information on top but that’s not the case. It just stays in that readout.

So some other things about ergonomics with these two cameras. One is on the Fuji you do not have a secondary wheel on the back of the camera which you do on the Sony. Why they don’t have that I don’t understand. There’s a huge place for it back here. There’s plenty of room, plenty of real estate. It’s just a large wide open space back there and it would be an advantage to be able to have that. Otherwise you’re doing everything with the small joystick which for my thumb, sometimes is difficult for me to be able to make that work and it becomes a little hard. I do love the integrated straps on this camera. You have just the place to put your strap on here. I don’t love this, these flopping out here. I feel like they get tangled and I just don’t love it for video, trying to put it in a cage and get it out of a cage. I love this integrated style holder for your, any kind of a strap. That just makes this so much easier to use.

Also this tilt back is wonderful on the Fuji. You just get that tilt back and it just ergonomically tilts back towards you so you can see the screens on the top much better and works really nice. On the Sony you just have that flat, same surface, same as we’ve always had. And it just doesn’t have quite the same feel in your hand. So the hand grip and the material that they’ve used here is really a nice feel. It is really great in your hand. The vertical hand grip, I think is really, it gives me a nice firm spot to be able to hold onto with this camera, which is part of what makes it heavier. But at least it’s not, you don’t have the battery built in. Like the GFX100 did have that big large battery plate on the bottom. But when you don’t have that large battery plate on the bottom now you’ve got a battery that’s not going to give you as much life.

For battery life this is more of the style of the GFX100s so you just have a single battery which you don’t get the same battery life you’re going to get with that large battery, built-in battery grip. But it makes this camera smaller, lighter weight and easier to use. You still get great battery life. You get about 540 shots on a battery with a GFX100 II. Whereas with the Sony you’re getting about 440. So you’re really in the same category or slightly better, obviously on the GFX100 II. So battery life really makes a big difference.

I do think it’s interesting, I love the three buttons they put across the front here for the GFX100 II. Those three buttons correspond to the viewfinder on top, that little LCD screen. And you see exactly what you program those for. If you want it to be on white balance on your compensation dial you can program those three little buttons. They’re angled in so when you put your finger here I can tell which one’s on the outside, inside and back out. I can feel those three. So they kind of move you towards the center and it makes it very easy for you to figure out exactly where you are at. Sony has no lack of buttons and the ability to program because they’ve got several different buttons you can program and allow them to do what you’d like to. So those three there are just in a nice place. It’s right off from your thumb. And I think that’s an advantage. That Sony’s are kind of all over the camera and a little more difficult to get to. We do have a stills and a movie mode switch on both these cameras which allows you to have your settings for each and not change them, which really is nice. So this GFX100 II has that. You can either be in stills or movie and certainly has it on the Sony a7RV.

Our viewfinder resolution here is very similar. On the Sony you got 9,437,184 whereas on the GFX100 II you got 9,440,000. So they’re basically in the same world with regards to that. You get a great view in both of these cameras. Part of what makes this nice is that you do have this removable on the GFX100 II. You have a removable viewfinder which allows you to put a tilting screen, tilting device on here that allow you to tilt this up if you want to look straight down. So it gives you the option to be able to do some other things with this viewfinder mode here. I do love that viewfinder. I think it really is great to use. It’s in the right spot for me. It’s out enough that my nose doesn’t push against the back. Sometimes with that Sony I’m pushing my nose onto the screen. I got to make sure I have the touch screen off so I’m not changing things with my nose. So this just gives us a little more real estate. But when you get more real estate, more distance, more weight, you know. And that’s the difference here. The quick menu button on the GFX100 II is right on the side here. So it’s very easy to get to and to hit that quick, quick menu button. I’ve always loved where it is on the Sony because it’s right between the joystick and the wheel. I can just drop my thumb over and hit that quick menu button and I can see immediately what I need to see. So both these have a different approach for that same kind of solution or problem. But they both give you quick access to be able to see your quick menus.

My first camera, a beautiful Pentax ME with interchangeable lenses. And everything looked magical in that camera. It was fantasy land. And I thought, man if I could make a living doing this, how crazy, fantasy! And then, you know, to go and work with all the great artists that I have been working with is just, you know, incredible. So my advice for young photographers out there, find your voice. Find what it is you really want to tell the world with your art. Try not to copy everyone else. It’s okay to, like Mick Jagger said, “It’s great to steal from other artists, but make it your own.” Like they did with all the great blues songs that the stones covered. Hey, I’m Rob Shanahan. I’m a drummer, a photographer and endorser of the SKB Case. They get all my gear and my drums safely to where I need to go.

So let’s look at autofocus with these two cameras. The Sony has 693 autofocus points whereas your Fuji is around 425. So the autofocus on these two cameras is still a little different. It’s interesting to see how that is in real life. So let’s take a look at that test and you’ll see what we learned there. When it came to autofocus in stills, this is an area that the GFX cameras have struggled a lot with in the past. But in this case it has become, it’s come a long ways. The GFX100 II is much better. Is it as good as a Sony a7RV? When I shot through these, Sony a7RV, just about 40 images there isn’t one of them that isn’t just sharp as could be. She’s not walking very fast. She’s coming towards the camera. I mean, these images are just sharp throughout. It’s pretty amazing to see. When I go to the GFX100 II I’m losing definitely about four just out of focus and two or three that are close. Not near what you have with the Sony but way better than anything we’ve seen from the GFX series. I mean, this actually is, this is shooting at 8 frames a second. It’s giving us beautiful images. We are missing probably, four or five, somewhere around that. Which is really good. Kind of what I expected to see from this camera. But so much better than what it’s been in the past. I think it competes now more than it ever has when it comes to focus. But when it comes to autofocus the Sony definitely beats it. So there’s the autofocus test. Sony was spot on in every single frame. The Fuji GFX100 II did not get every frame. It was about four or five frames short. But still in a very respectable category. I think a very reliable camera. The autofocus has improved so much. I think it’s really a great camera, just not quite at that 100%.

Let’s talk about frames per second and continuous shooting. The Sony gives you 10 frames per second in mechanical shutter at 61 megapixels and up to 583 frames in raw or 1000 in jpeg. It’s interesting, the GFX100 II is 8 frames a second. It’s going to give you up to 76 images in raw but unlimited in jpeg. So you can just shoot all day long. If we switch to electronic shutters the Sony is going to give you 7 frames per second at 61 megapixels. Switching to electronic shutter on the GFX100 II, if you go down to 5.3 frames per second it’s going to give you 390 frames in raw and still that same unlimited jpeg. So going to electronic shutter allows you to shoot more raw but a little slower shutter speed. With these numbers Fuji is trying to compete in that full frame market. As a sports camera, as a camera to do wildlife it’s not quite there. You just don’t have the frames per second. You don’t have the refresh rate. You can’t shoot enough. Now if you’re just shooting jpeg you can shoot all day long. That’s great. I don’t think the lens support is there when it comes to longer lenses to be able to accomplish or turn this into a sports or a wildlife kind of camera. But the frames per second are certainly respectable. They’re in that full frame category now. I think we’ll see this improve in the future and I think eventually this is going to become a strong option that will compete in most categories.

When it comes to the autofocus in the video mode the GFX100 II struggles a little bit. When she turns around it kind of searches for her. She comes out of that turn and it catches right back up with her. I’ve never seen one of these cameras do as well as this has. This is actually the best I’ve seen when it comes to video. But then the Sony a7RV is much better. The focus is much stronger. It stays with her the whole time. When she turns around it’s right with her. I think you get a much better performance when it comes to video mode, actually in both stills and video. The Sony a7RV is definitely performing much better. But the GFX100 II is way better than what we’ve seen and becomes in a range that feels acceptable to me. It’s not like it’s out of focus. It’s not like it didn’t follow her. It loses her a little bit but catches right up to her. The Sony definitely is better but the GFX100 II is in an acceptable range for this type of video. So there’s the autofocus video test. I think the Fuji is not quite there in this autofocus category. It just doesn’t hold the focus as a person turns as well as the Sony does. I think the Sony definitely edges it out when it comes to the autofocus video test.

So let’s take a look at the video capabilities of these two cameras. The Sony is a strong camera. It’s got an H.265 and H.264 in 10-Bit 4.2.2. It gives you a great recording. It’s got a log, the S-log which is a gorgeous log with a gamma and an HLG. You have a raw recording out 16-Bit via the HDMI. You can do 4K and 24, 30 and 60 frames. So it’s a solid video camera. The GFX100 II is really trying to get into the high end of video. They want this to become a high-end video type camera. You get an H.264, an MPEG-4. You also have ProRes, ProRes 4.2.2, ProRes 4.2.2 high quality and ProRes 4.2.2 light. You have those three versions and when you go to an HDMI out you can get 8K 24 and 30 and 4K 24, 30 and 60. So the GFX100 II is giving you the codecs to really become a strong video camera. The Sony a7RV is a great video camera, a great companion to the FX6. A lot of people use it that way. Those two together as an A and B camera because it gives you great codecs and it gives you a great support to a full on video type camera. I think the GFX100 II is going to be a contender when it comes to video. So when it comes to recording limits there’s no recording limits on the Sony. But you get about 60 Minutes in 4K on the GFX100 II. They both have full-size HDMI ports which makes it really easy to use external recorders.

Both of these cameras have sensor-shift, five axis image stabilization. So let’s take a look at the image stabilization mode in video. When it comes to stabilization and video mode. Here’s these two side by side. Take a look at them. They’re very, very similar. The GFX100 II and the Sony a7RV are just very head-to-head in this category. They’re not as smooth as say a Panasonic, but they certainly give you a nice smooth video. I think maybe the Sony’s slightly better but only slightly. So there you have it, the image stabilization on these two cameras. I think it’s head to-head, it really is.

Now let’s take a look at the ISO test and just see how these two cameras stack up with regards to ISO. When I look at 400 ISO I don’t see much difference here. There’s no reason to stay on that very long. Let’s jump over here to 800 ISO. Take a look. I see a very similar noise pattern in each of them in that gray and face as well. Not a lot going on at 800 ISO. We go up to, 1600 ISO. Jumping up to, 1600 ISO, at 1600 I start to see maybe a little bit starting to build. Certainly noise is starting to build up in the background. It’s still very similar. When we go to 3200 ISO let’s see where we go at 3200. At 3200 ISO I’m seeing quite a bit of noise in each of them. And the noise is very similar size and pattern. It’s not that different. Maybe, no, I just, it’s not that different. If we go to 6400 ISO, now take a look at the kind of the transition on her nose. Let’s see what that’s looking like. That red banding is starting to show up. I’m starting to see that red banding a little bit in the Sony. I certainly see quite a bit of noise. Oh boy, the noise seems to have jumped up a lot on the GFX100 II. It’s jumped up quite a bit at 6400 ISO. Certainly more than the Sony. Let’s jump over to 12,800 ISO. And at 12,800,, in that background we have quite a bit of noise in both of these. Interesting, at 6400 I felt like they were, the GFX100 II maybe was starting to gain a little more noise. But at 12,800 ISO they again look very similar to me. We see it in the nose transition I’m starting to see some of that red kind of highlight starts to, banding starts to form between the highlight and the shadow. And I’m seeing that on the Sony and I’m seeing a little bit of that on the GFX100 II as well. Very similar, these things are very similar. Now when it comes to the last, 25,600 ISO we couldn’t go all the way to 25,600 on the Fuji. It would only go 2/3 so was a third off. And so at this point we’re not exactly on the same ISO. We’re at all the way up to 25,600 ISO for the Sony but on the GFX100 II, and it definitely looks a little better, but it’s a third off. Man, these two are very similar with that and that surprises me because you got a large sensor there. And I expected to see a little, a little tighter noise than we saw. But very similar to one another. So the ISO test was really head-to-head. Very interesting. So there’s the ISO test. I think these two were really a tie, head-to-head, almost all the way through. They both looked beautiful. The color didn’t shift. It looked pretty darn good to me.

So let’s take a look at the dynamic range between these two cameras. So we did our dynamic range test a little differently. We had no sun and it was raining so I put several stops of light in the background to make it very bright to try to pull those two together. If you look at normal here both of them are having a hard time holding all those whites in the background. So just had a normal exposure that was way beyond them. So it’s about four stops too bright in the background. So both of them are struggling right here. But when we go to minus one it’s interesting what happens at minus one, which is probably the best place for both of these sensors. You look here in the background on that GFX100 II, you get beautiful color rendition into that bright white area. It’s holding the reflections in the white. I’m seeing that as well in the Sony. I’m seeing a little bit of definition. Each of them is holding the background pretty well. When we go to minus two it doesn’t hurt either of these sensors to be at minus two. I can still get a nice skin tone on her. But we get great detail in the back. You see all of the reflections on the white countertop which is hard to hold. I feel like the GFX100 II is holding just a little better as far as the dynamic range goes. When we go to minus three it’s interesting our color is still clean. We’re not getting a lot of color shift. I mean, look how clean that looks on her face. The Sony might be shifting just a little bit kind of yellow. That’s at minus three. That’s bringing things back a long ways. But minus 4 we’re still holding a lot of detail in the back. Our color isn’t shifting. But look at the red banding that starts to happen around her nose. We’re not, you’re getting that on the Sony but not so much on the Fuji. But these, both these cameras are holding this really well. I think the GFX100 II is giving me just a little more detail in the shadows and holding the highlights just a little better. Let’s see what happens when we go to plus one. For most cameras this is going to be a train wreck. I mean, because I think with my base exposure I think I was off maybe by about a half a stop. My base exposure was probably a little too bright. So we go to plus one here. Look at the detail in the background. I see no detail on the whites whatsoever. You can’t see the shadows on the counter in either of these images. You can’t see it. They’re just, it’s blown out. Our color on the face is still pretty good. I’m starting to see a little bit of banding. I’m starting to see a little bit of banding. Let’s go now to plus two. At plus two the background, we’ve just lost all detail in the highlights back there. I mean it’s just a halo around her. We still have shadow detail but the color is starting to shift. Look how yellowish kind of orange she’s looking. She’s starting to look orange as well. So it’s like a plus three and wow she is just orange. I had to go on a long exposure to get this plus three. So both of these are kind of out of focus. But you can see that it’s just, the color is terrible. We see no detail around her whatsoever. Everything is blown out. Boy if I had to make a conclusion on which one of these, I think maybe the GFX100 II is slightly better. But they are head-to-head. I’m finding they are very much head-to-head in most of these categories. In this one I think maybe the GFX is slightly ahead. But they are so similar. So there’s the dynamic range test. I think the GFX100 II barely edged out that Sony, just barely. But I think it did.

All right, let’s wrap this up. These are both workhorses when it comes to professional photography. A full frame is going to lean more towards your frames per second sports, wildlife, those kinds of things. It has the lenses to support it. Whereas a medium format really becomes a great camera because of that shallower depth of field. And here’s an example of that that we shot earlier. That shallower depth of field in that medium format is great for shooting people, for shooting fashion portraits. It also gives you great image quality. You get so much image with that 102 megapixel sensor. You get so much detail that doing landscapes and any kind of copy work, anything like that just gives you a beautiful image that you can blow up to make large prints to be able to give yourself just really gorgeous images. So there’s different reasons for each of these cameras. It is fascinating when it comes to strobes and shooting the Sony a7RV, it will give you up to 1/250th of a second when syncing. Where I think you can only get up to like 1/125th of the second when it comes to strobe sync on the that GFX100 II. Which is really a disadvantage. That’s unfortunate. I think it needs to be faster. It would be nice if, that’s why you put the leaf shutters in all these medium format cameras. That’s a big shutter to have to move around and it just makes it a lot harder to sync. Whereas leaf shutters, every shutter speed, but most of the time you didn’t get much above a 1/500th of a second. Sometimes 1/1000th of a second with that leaf shutter. Two great cameras, great ergonomics. I think Fujifilm has really brought this camera in to a competitive market when it comes to professional cameras. It’s not too big like the GFX100 with that big battery pack. The autofocus is much better than the GFX100s. It really combines all those things and it starts to be a competitive medium format that really is not a terrible price. I know $7,500 may sound like a lot, but I think that becomes more achievable and really a camera that works for those who want to do professional work and have a larger medium format. Which of these cameras would I choose? I love that medium format and the depth of field. I love doing imagery for landscape. It’s just beautiful. But I do love the speed and ease and lens choice of that full frame. So different cameras for different purposes. So I hope you enjoyed this. Take a look at some of our other camera comparisons and keep those cameras rollin’ and keep on clickin’!