400MP images arrive on Fujifilm GFX 100

400MP images arrive on Fujifilm GFX 100
(Image credit: Fujifilm)

The Fujifilm GFX 100 can now capture gigantic 400-megapixel images, courtesy of newly released firmware announced today by the manufacturer. 

With its 102MP medium format image sensor, the Fujifilm GFX 100 (opens in new tab) was already capable of capturing enormous (and enormously detailed) files, but the new firmware version 3.00 adds the much-anticipated Pixel Shift Multi-Shot feature. This captures and combines 16 images into a single 400MP shot. 

• Read more: Highest resolution cameras (opens in new tab)

This is made possible by the GFX 100's in-body image stabilization system, which is designed to counteract camera shake by making micro-adjustments to the image sensor in order to compensate for movement. 

Pixel Shift Multi-Shot, however, turns this technology on its head, and instead shifts the image sensor by 0.5 pixels between each frame to incrementally record high-resolution RGB pixel information while capturing 16 RAW images. You can then open these files into Pixel Shift Combiner to merge them into a single 400MP image, which can then be outputted as a DNG RAW file in editing software such as Capture One. 

Pixel Shift Multi-Shot shifts the image sensor so that each pixel records image data in red, green and blue (Image credit: Fujifilm)

While we haven't had a chance to test this procedure for ourselves, it appears that this process is not an in-camera one (as it is with cameras like the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III (opens in new tab), which captures 16 files from its 20.1MP sensor and combines them into an 80MP RAW file in-camera). 

Rather, it seems that the file merging needs to be conducted externally on a computer – and this can be performed via the tethered capture functionality that is also facilitated by the new firmware. 

The technology isn't new; cameras like the Sony A7R IV (opens in new tab) can produce 240MP images from its 61MP sensor, and the 100MP flagship Hasselblad H6D-400c MS (opens in new tab) can already produce 400MP images using the same process. 

However, Fujifilm is keen to stress that the GFX 100 offers "unparalleled color reproduction, with next to no false colors occurring, even in the finest of details," making it the ultimate way to record images "that require immense color fidelity and the reproduction of fine details" such as archival photography. 

Firmware version 3:00 for the GFX 100 and the Pixel Shift Combiner software are available to download now. For more information, visit the Fujifilm X website (opens in new tab).

Read more: 

Fujifilm GFX 100 review (opens in new tab)
Best medium format cameras (opens in new tab)
12 highest resolution cameras (opens in new tab)

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James Artaius
Editor

The editor of Digital Camera World, James has 21 years experience as a journalist and started working in the photographic industry in 2014 (as an assistant to Damian McGillicuddy, who succeeded David Bailey as Principal Photographer for Olympus). In this time he shot for clients like Aston Martin Racing, Elinchrom and L'Oréal, in addition to shooting campaigns and product testing for Olympus, and providing training for professionals. This has led him to being a go-to expert for camera and lens reviews, photo and lighting tutorials, as well as industry news, rumors and analysis for publications like Digital Camera Magazine (opens in new tab)PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine (opens in new tab)N-Photo: The Nikon Magazine (opens in new tab)Digital Photographer (opens in new tab) and Professional Imagemaker, as well as hosting workshops and talks at The Photography Show (opens in new tab). He also serves as a judge for the Red Bull Illume Photo Contest. An Olympus and Canon shooter, he has a wealth of knowledge on cameras of all makes – and a fondness for vintage lenses and instant cameras.