Eye AF question: 100 vs 100s

[vivaldibow]

Used 100 seems to sell a little less than the 100s. I am not sure if the AF with human eye detection is the same between 100 and 100s. I came from a 50sii. I can live with the eye AF but wish it could be better.



Thanks for any input.

 

[green_badger]

They're the same in that department. I imagine the 100 sells for less because a) it's enormous and b) it has the least comfortable vertical grip known to man.

 

[GeoffHarris]

Used 100 seems to sell a little less than the 100s. I am not sure if the AF with human eye detection is the same between 100 and 100s. I came from a 50sii. I can live with the eye AF but wish it could be better.

Thanks for any input.

I own neither but have been looking at the GFX lineup for a long time in hopes of eventually saving up enough to buy in to the system. So feel free to overrule me, anyone, if I say something untrue...

My understanding is that the GFX100 and the GFX100S have the same internal performance: same AF behaviour, same responsiveness.

Both of them have much faster basic autofocus speed than your 50Sii. They'll jump into focus on a clear target if you use a single-point focus, for example. But their eye-AF performance is not the same as that - it is still far from perfect. It's not so much (or just) the speed, as the consistency in recognising the eye, and accurately genuinely focussing on it. The 100 II and 100SII got a lot better at recognising and locking onto eyes reliably than the first-generation 100 and 100S. And they're much better than the first gen at continuous, rather than AF-S, focussing.

I think a 100 will be an upgrade but you might want to try-before-you-buy somehow before you pay any money, since your own personal "good enough" level is hard to guess at.

The GFX 100, of course, is probably rarer and harder to try out in a shop since it has been superceded as a flagship and tends to no longer be on sale. The 100S, however, is often still sold and stocked in stores as the "budget" GFX offering that is perceived to still have a place in the market... and its autofocus behaviour and performance is identical to the GFX100... so, if you are considering a 100, try out the 100S in a shop, maybe, before buying the 100 used. Just a suggestion.

I go against the popular sentiment - between the two, I would rather have the 100 than the 100S. I want that tilting viewfinder above all else, it's one of the key draws of the GFX system to me (and that it's a higher-resolution viewfinder is not unwelcome either)... size is irrelevant for what I want a GFX for, and I feel that a grip for portrait shooting and increased battery life is nice to have - though, were I to obtain a 100 and use it a lot for portrait shooting (I'm pretty sure I would), I think I would want to modify the grip's ergonomics somehow, such as by using the famed RRS L-bracket for this model, if I could find one for sale somewhere.

But, as a 50Sii user at present, maybe you would prefer the feel of the 100S body? It's basically the same as your 50.

I'd feel more comfortable buying a 100 II than a 100 mark 1, if the price difference were not so gigantic, as I suspect that the mark 1's autofocus will hold me back at times, and in ways, for portrait shooting, and I think I would vastly prefer the II's autofocus. But if I ever do finally hurry up and buy, the 100 may be all that I can afford, so I may end up using slow, deliberate selection of single-point focussing methods instead of eye AF. If that doesn't sound 'good enough' to you, use caution on laying out money for this upgrade (or test somehow).

 

[vivaldibow]

They're the same in that department. I imagine the 100 sells for less because a) it's enormous and b) it has the least comfortable vertical grip known to man.

Thanks. 100 does look quite large, although I am ok with all kinds of ergo.

 

[vivaldibow]

Used 100 seems to sell a little less than the 100s. I am not sure if the AF with human eye detection is the same between 100 and 100s. I came from a 50sii. I can live with the eye AF but wish it could be better.

Thanks for any input.

I own neither but have been looking at the GFX lineup for a long time in hopes of eventually saving up enough to buy in to the system. So feel free to overrule me, anyone, if I say something untrue...

My understanding is that the GFX100 and the GFX100S have the same internal performance: same AF behaviour, same responsiveness.

Both of them have much faster basic autofocus speed than your 50Sii. They'll jump into focus on a clear target if you use a single-point focus, for example. But their eye-AF performance is not the same as that - it is still far from perfect. It's not so much (or just) the speed, as the consistency in recognising the eye, and accurately genuinely focussing on it. The 100 II and 100SII got a lot better at recognising and locking onto eyes reliably than the first-generation 100 and 100S. And they're much better than the first gen at continuous, rather than AF-S, focussing.

I think a 100 will be an upgrade but you might want to try-before-you-buy somehow before you pay any money, since your own personal "good enough" level is hard to guess at.

The GFX 100, of course, is probably rarer and harder to try out in a shop since it has been superceded as a flagship and tends to no longer be on sale. The 100S, however, is often still sold and stocked in stores as the "budget" GFX offering that is perceived to still have a place in the market... and its autofocus behaviour and performance is identical to the GFX100... so, if you are considering a 100, try out the 100S in a shop, maybe, before buying the 100 used. Just a suggestion.

I go against the popular sentiment - between the two, I would rather have the 100 than the 100S. I want that tilting viewfinder above all else, it's one of the key draws of the GFX system to me (and that it's a higher-resolution viewfinder is not unwelcome either)... size is irrelevant for what I want a GFX for, and I feel that a grip for portrait shooting and increased battery life is nice to have - though, were I to obtain a 100 and use it a lot for portrait shooting (I'm pretty sure I would), I think I would want to modify the grip's ergonomics somehow, such as by using the famed RRS L-bracket for this model, if I could find one for sale somewhere.

But, as a 50Sii user at present, maybe you would prefer the feel of the 100S body? It's basically the same as your 50.

I'd feel more comfortable buying a 100 II than a 100 mark 1, if the price difference were not so gigantic, as I suspect that the mark 1's autofocus will hold me back at times, and in ways, for portrait shooting, and I think I would vastly prefer the II's autofocus. But if I ever do finally hurry up and buy, the 100 may be all that I can afford, so I may end up using slow, deliberate selection of single-point focussing methods instead of eye AF. If that doesn't sound 'good enough' to you, use caution on laying out money for this upgrade (or test somehow).

Thanks for the long post. For me, I care about the AF accuracy, not the speed. It is true I'd better try it out before buying. Maybe I'll rent one first

100 can be had at around $2k used; while 100s would be shy of $3k used.
With $3k spent, I would probably add $2k to purchase the 100s ii, to have the latest AF, which is always a good thing.

Thanks again.

 

[Dan_168]

Used 100 seems to sell a little less than the 100s. I am not sure if the AF with human eye detection is the same between 100 and 100s. I came from a 50sii. I can live with the eye AF but wish it could be better.

Thanks for any input.

I don't own the GFX100 but I have the GFX100s, but I have shot with both side by side many times when shooting out with friends, especially at the beginning when I got 100S and few GFX100 friends want to go do shoot out and see if they want to upgrade/downgrad so I have little bit of experience with it.

In terms of AF, I feel there is zero improvement in the GFX100s, at least it's so little and both are so poor I didn't feel there is any, Eye tracking is simply a joke when compare to my FF bodies, I understand it's a Medium Format and it's a 4 year old camera but it's still pretty frustrating to shoot with such AF system in 2025, so I normally turn off Eye Detection Focus and just use the Face Detection, that works a little better, but still have a lot of room for improvement, the GFX100S II ( which some of my friends have now so I have also have the chance to play with) would be more close to a normal FF model in terms of AF/Tracking.

With that being said, my GFX100s is mainly a landscape camera for me becasue I have Nikon Z9 and old 1DX for anything that moves, I just love the image quality the Fuji offers and have no plan to upgrade to 100II or 100S II for AF improvement any time soon.