New Fujifilm Eterna Cinema Cam.

[eatstoomuchjam]

Some new details courtesy of Petapixel:

- Will support 4:3 open gate (brace yourself for rolling shutter comments!)
- "Will have an electronic variable ND filter" - 0.6-2.1/2-7 stops - I'm assuming this is in-body, but they didn't specify
- Supports an internal NP-W235, seemingly as a backup
- CF Express type B and SD card slots
- Supports Tascam XLR Microphone handle
- Frame.io support
 

https://petapixel.com/2025/04/06/new-fujifilm-gfx-eterna-details-a-fancy-variable-nd-frame-io-and-more/

If they bring 4:3 to the GFX 100 II, it could be fun for anamorphic shooters, especially if anybody comes out with some decent anamorphics that cover it for under $5k.  The electronic variable ND is a good idea too.

Still, if they don't nail the pricing, it'll be a hard sell vs the Ursa 17K now that it has a $22k (or so?) body-only option (or maybe more now for those of us in freedom-land).  At least the 44x33 sensor is a differentiating factor vs the 56x24mm sensor.

[D Verco]

7 hours ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

- Supports an internal NP-W235, seemingly as a backup

Damn, nice. I've been saying cameras should be doing this. considering you can get like an hour on those batteries, it's a no brainer. 

 

But it doesn't have xlr built into the camera??

[eatstoomuchjam]

Some updates from cined at NAB.

They said they knew before, but I somehow missed that the Eterna will be dual native ISO at 800 and 3200.  I think the GFX 100 II is only single native ISO at 800.  So that's a differentiator - but I also hope they'll bring 3200 to the GFX 100 II since, at least for me, having a higher native ISO is generally more useful in a travel/run and gun camera than on a camera that I'll be using on set.

Also, the electronic ND will indeed be internal which wasn't fully clear before (even though it would be the only thing that makes sense).  It's a mechanical mechanism which goes between clear and ND.

https://www.cined.com/fujifilm-gfx-eterna-camera-development-update-internal-nd-hot-swap-audio-and-more/

On 4/6/2025 at 7:28 PM, D Verco said:

But it doesn't have xlr built into the camera??

This wasn't clear before, but based on the cined interview, it does not.  The camera has a 3.5mm audio input and won't have XLR without the Tascam attachment.

[eatstoomuchjam]

New details dropping today:

https://petapixel.com/2025/06/04/gfx-eterna-sensor-formats-film-simulations-and-more-revealed/

- Will include OLPF
- Adds readout modes including 3840x2880 full sensor open gate (up to48fps), additional anamorphic ff modes, and super35 modes up to 6k.  PP also lists the 5.8k 2.39:1 full sensor width mode as new, but that exists on the GFX 100 II already.
- Codecs seem to match GFX 100 II 
- Supports 3D LUT
- Film simulations which seem mostly to match GFX 100 II
- Custom frame guides
- Remote control of multiple cameras
- Bluetooth LE support for some accessories
- Monitor will be a 5 inch 16:9 panel with 6.22 million dots and a max brightness of 2000 nits, onboard display is a 3 inch 3:2 panel with 1.04 million dots and 700 nit max brightness

For me, it's not differentiating very strongly from the GFX 100 II yet.  Maybe the next tranche of information will distinguish it more.  Otherwise, it's hard to see why I wouldn't just put a cage on my GFX 100 II, put in a dummy battery, and get 90% of the same camera - and a super portable stills camera otherwise.  OLPF could be nice for video, sure, but almost definitely not nice enough to make up the difference in cost.  I can say with some certainty that Super 35 modes are not the thing that would sell a GF Eterna cinema camera to me.  🤣

[eatstoomuchjam]

Latest rumor on the pricing was published today - $16,499.

I think it's going to be a really hard sell at that price.  Red just released a V-Raptor variant with a 40.96mm-wide 8K global sensor for about $15,000 with a global shutter and similar or better dynamic range.  For non-tall aspect ratio use cases, the 43.8mm-wide sensor of the Eterna is not really much wider and unless some change was made for Eterna, suffers strong rolling shutter in many modes including the wide DR mode.
Though 4:3 open gate is certainly a reason that some people might choose Eterna.

Outside of that, for me, at least, I'd almost definitely take 8k with no RS over 4K with strong RS from a sensor that's about 6.5% wider.

I think Fuji said that they were trying to price it in an owner-operator tier, but I suspect that rental houses will be the main purchasers and a lot of owner-operators would go V-Raptor (or FX9 / C400 /Burano) in that price range.

[BTM_Pix]

Here is a run through in the style of a product presentation at a local garden centre.

Most notable for the less than convincing “it’s really almost the same size as the GFX100” comparison.

 

[BTM_Pix]

All aboard the good ship Shill for a BTS about using it for an as yet unreleased documentary.

 

[BTM_Pix]

Here is the trailer for said documentary.

Not sure the title “No Guarantees” refers to the outcome of when you go fishing or the outcome of a using a £17000 medium format cinema camera to film it.

I’m thinking it might be both.

I’ve seen some fantastic footage from the Fujifilm 100mp GFX variants.

This wasn’t it.

 

[eatstoomuchjam]

Looks like Chris got his dream fishing trip out of it so he has that going for him.

Otherwise, I think the footage from the Eterna looks fine.  I'd have graded it differently.  Otherwise, it looks generally like a professionally-shot documentary - and given their crew size, that makes some sense.  In this case, I'm using "professionally" in the sense of "competent and yet uninspired."

As far as Eterna, there really weren't any shots in that documentary that could be said to look different from what would is usually captured on a full-frame camera or even S35.  Some of the wide shots had at least a little bit of an epic feel, but it was nothing spectacular.  I'm in the "there is no medium format look" camp, but if you're making a puff piece to sell people on a medium format camera, I feel like it might be better to prioritize the sort of epic wides that people associate with medium and large format.

Regardless of any technical aspects, story is king.  "Chris Niccols, professional camera reviewer, started fly fishing as a form of escapism from fatherhood" does not seem all that compelling to me.  The trailer definitely didn't pull me in.  It'll probably get some festival play and collect some laurels.  They can celebrate that.

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

People with some memory will find strange he using Fujifilm cameras for stills in the movie, when he always showed that Olympus / OM cameras is what he use when fishing...

[Ninpo33]

On 9/11/2025 at 7:39 AM, eatstoomuchjam said:

As far as Eterna, there really weren't any shots in that documentary that could be said to look different from what would is usually captured on a full-frame camera or even S35.  Some of the wide shots had at least a little bit of an epic feel, but it was nothing spectacular.  I'm in the "there is no medium format look" camp, but if you're making a puff piece to sell people on a medium format camera, I feel like it might be better to prioritize the sort of epic wides that people associate with medium and large format.

Regardless of any technical aspects, story is king.  "Chris Niccols, professional camera reviewer, started fly fishing as a form of escapism from fatherhood" does not seem all that compelling to me.  The trailer definitely didn't pull me in.  It'll probably get some festival play and collect some laurels.  They can celebrate that.

Just curious, if there is no such thing as a medium format look, then why do a lot of the great celebrated filmmakers choose to shoot on it when going for big tentpole films? 

The Joker, Dune, Revenant, Dark Knight, etc… Why go through all the trouble of extra weight, crew, expense if there’s nothing to gain over Super 35? Surely they believe there is a benefit. 

Why do you own a GFX 100ii?

 

 

 

[eatstoomuchjam]

57 minutes ago, Ninpo33 said:

Just curious, if there is no such thing as a medium format look, then why do a lot of the great celebrated filmmakers choose to shoot on it when going for big tentpole films? 

Are you seriously asking me to explain the thought process of other humans?  I'm pretty sure I'm not qualified for that.

57 minutes ago, Ninpo33 said:

The Joker, Dune, Revenant, Dark Knight, etc… Why go through all the trouble of extra weight, crew, expense if there’s nothing to gain over Super 35? Surely they believe there is a benefit. 

None of those films were filmed entirely on medium format.  Are you suggesting that when you watch them, you're suddenly jolted out of your seat when The Joker switches from Alexa 65 to Alexa LF?  Or that you can even tell?

Quote

"What I love about 65 mm is that it removes restrictions for me, opening up so many more lens options. You can work with lenses originally designed for smaller formats, where you see parts of the glass that were never intended to be seen. For me, seeing and feeling those hidden parts is an eye-opener, literally and figuratively. It helps me dirty up the image and give it texture in ways you couldn't do with a smaller format." — Greig Fraser talking with ARRI Rental.

Note that at no part of that does Greg Fraser say "I wanted the medium format look."  Instead, he's talking about how much he liked the look he got from using lenses designed for smaller formats.  It is objectively true that the designers of those lenses never anticipated that the outer edges of the image circle would get used at some point.

This seems like a pretty based and objective take and a reason that somebody might choose to use a larger sensor.

57 minutes ago, Ninpo33 said:

Why do you own a GFX 100ii?

I like cropping, it has fantastic dynamic range, and some of the first-party lenses for the system (particularly the 110/2, 250/4, and 500/5.6) are among the best lenses I've ever seen.

I'll turn this around and ask you these questions:
1) What do you think medium format look is?
2) Is there a FF look vs an S35 look and does a speed booster give S35 the FF look? 
3) Is a sensor size that's just as close to 35mm film as it is to traditional medium format film going to give a medium format look or a full frame look?  Because for photos, at least, 44x33 gives a total area of 1452 where 24x36 gives a total area of 864.  Meanwhile, 6x4.5 (56x42mm realistically) which is the smallest medium format film size has an area of 2,352 and 6x7 (56x72) film dwarfs it at 4,032.
4) To turn around the question above, if there is a specific medium format look, why do tentpole movies like Mission Impossible which have effectively unlimited budgets use smaller formats, even for some of their big, sprawling epic shots?  (And yes, MI Rogue Nation used Alexa 65 for the underwater scene, but the rest was shot on smaller sensors IIRC)