At Photokina 2018, Fujifilm announced that it would grow its portfolio of medium-format cameras with the new GFX 50R, a more compact variant of its GFX 50S.

Now the camera has landed in the Image Engineering test lab for a thorough test, and we have the results.

Full-res files of test visuals for this review are available to download for your pixel-peeping pleasure here. If you’d like to take a gander at the RAW data and charts, it’s here.

GFX 50R Overview

On paper, the GFX 50R is quite similar to the 50S: they share the same 51.4-megapixel sensor and processor.

One of the main differences between the two models is the size and design. The GFX 50R weighs 5.1 ounces less than the GFX 50S, and the body is 25mm thinner than the GFX 50S (which was already fairly compact next to your traditional medium-format camera system).

Despite its slimmed-down build, the camera is weather-sealed in 64 places and capable of operating in temperatures as low as 14 degrees °F. The GFX 50R is equipped with a 0.77x, 3.69M-dot OLED viewfinder positioned to the side so that users can keep one eye on their subject and the other in the viewfinder.

Unlike the 50S, the 50R has Bluetooth Low Energy for automatically transferring images to mobile devices using the Fujifilm Camera Remote app. It also lacks a USB-C port, though it does use USB 3.0.

Additional features of the GFX-50R include:

• dual SD card slots supporting UHS-II
• 400 shot-per-charge battery with Auto Power Save On
• Film Simulation modes
• in-camera RAW development
• full HD/30p video recording with the option to use a Film Simulation mode
• 2-inch tilting touch display

The GFX 50R is available now for $4,500.

TEST RESULTS

Key Takeaways:

• Strong resolving power and very good noise control.
• Very poor automatic white balancing above ISO 800.
• Excellent dynamic range in both stills and video (10+ stops).
• Excellent color reproduction with only reds deviating strongly from where they should be.
• Video quality suffers from heavy artifacting.

Image Resolution

• At ISO 100 and 400, the GFX 50R was able to resolve 100 percent of the theoretical maximum resolution of its sensor. That’s quite good, but according to Image Engineering, that’s actually not the highest possible resolving power a camera can achieve. Based on how they test, the highest score a camera can achieve is 140 percent of its theoretical maximum.
• You can expect consistently strong resolving power as you push up ISO values.

Texture Reproduction

• The GFX-50R only does a decent job with texture reproduction, though it is on par with the results from the GFX 50S. High-contrast scenes tend to produce a lot of artifacts, especially at ISO 400 and above. At the camera’s highest native ISO (12,800), there is a lot of artifacting in low-contrast scenes.

Visual Noise

• When viewing a digital image at 100 percent, noise would be visible in all ISO values above ISO 100. At ISO 3200, visual noise would negatively impact your image quality.
• When viewing images as a postcard-sized print, noise would not be an issue at any of the camera’s native ISO values. That’s impressive.
• When viewing a large print (15-inches tall), noise wouldn’t be noticeable through ISO 6400—above that and noise will appear in your prints.

Dynamic Range

• The GFX 50R delivers a maximum of 10.8 stops of dynamic range (at ISO 100), which is a strong result.
• At ISO 1600, you can achieve 8.7 stops of dynamic range.
• At the highest native ISO, you can expect dynamic range to dip to 7.1 stops. That’s actually a bit worse than the GFX 50S, which achieved 7.3 stops.

Color Reproduction

• Only five colors—all bright reds—were strongly off from where they should be.
• This chart shows you how the camera performed with different colors. For the most part, it’s very color accurate.

Color reproduction is shown here in two ways. The upper figure is a chart comparing a reference color (right half of each color patch) directly with the color reproduced by the camera (left half of the color patch) Below it is a table that lists the DeltaE of each color patch. Red cells indicated strong color deviations, light green cells represent colors with noticeable deviations, and a dark green field represents a moderate deviation.

Automatic White Balance

• Below ISO 800, the automatic white balance of the GFX 50R performs well. But at higher ISOs, Image Engineering found the performance to be extremely poor.
• If you’re going to shoot this camera at higher ISOs, Image Engineering recommends switching to manual white balancing.

Shooting Speed

• Start-up time clocks in at 1.2 seconds.
• You can fire off at 3 fps for 100 images (JPEG) or at 2.9 fps for 6 RAW files before buffering kicks in and slows you down.
• Autofocus speeds with the 63mm lens clock in at .28 seconds (300 lux). In lower light (30 lux), autofocusing is still a fairly brisk .33 seconds. In both lighting conditions, the GFX 50R focuses faster than the GFX 50S.

Video

• You’ll get about 10.3 stops of dynamic range for video if you keep the ISO low, which is quite good.
• The GFX 50R does not do a good job reproducing textures during video recording, with plenty of visible artifacting.
• While automatic white balancing for still images is pretty poor, Image Engineering found it was “fair” during video recording.