When the X100VI became my daily camera, I half expected to find one perfect film simulation recipe and never open Lightroom for my everyday shots again.
Eighteen months on, that hasn’t happened. What I found instead was more interesting than the plan I started with. Here’s what living with a camera with physical limitations has taught me.
One lens takes a decision away
The X100VI has a fixed lens, and I’ve come to enjoy that. With no lens to swap and no zoom to turn, the question of which focal length to use to compose my shot is gone.
It’s also in my favourite range. The lens is 23mm on an APS-C sensor, which gives roughly the field of view of a 35mm lens on a full-frame camera. I’m happiest shooting at around 35-40mm, so for me personally there’s no compromise on a focal length I don’t enjoy. I would say if you tend to prefer longer focus lengths and don’t have a willingness to use a wider angle then straight off the bat you can rule this camera out.
Having this fixed lens also makes me move. I’m very guilty of putting a 24-70mm on my Sony, gluing my feet to the floor and zooming. Taking that option away forces me to step forward, step back or crouch down and rethink the composition. Often the picture is better for it.
Small enough to bring everywhere
The compact size is the other big win. Now this isn’t going to fit in any jean pockets unless you’ve got some jeans from the 80’s, but I can travel lighter with just the camera around my neck and a couple of batteries. I’ve managed to take the X100VI on hiking trips where I’d have hesitated to carry my larger Sony A7R and multiple lenses. Eliminating the need to choose which lenses to take takes a massive weight off your mind and back.
The clearest example for me was last year, when I took it up Scafell Pike via the Seathwaite route. I got some great photos, and I’m glad I chose to carry just and didn’t find myself at any point disappointed on the hike I didn’t have my Sony.
Battery life I’m happy with
With most cameras you end up carrying spare batteries, either because the first one dies quickly or just as a safety backup. With the X100VI I don’t think you’re getting anything terrible here as I think it’s ‘the norm’ to carry some spares and it only takes about 10 seconds to change them.
On a normal day where I’m out for a few hours I use one full battery most the time. I can count on my hand the times where I’ve put in three batteries in a day. The last time was Goodwood as I was shooting from 8am – 5pm, the weather was scorching and I was doing some fast burst tracking shots for parts of the day. For me this question’s a little bit like range anxiety on electric cars, if you do one or two long trips a year I can’t see why that makes the car inadequate the other 363 days.
Autofocus: Am I spoilt from Sony or is it that bad?
This is where coming from Sony shows. In my opinion, Sony has the best autofocus of the major mirrorless brands, so moving to Fujifilm can be disappointing at first. I can definitely say that out of the box the X100VI misses focus more than I was expecting in what I would class as some pretty basic scenarios.
I decided to treat that as a challenge rather than a dealbreaker, and learn how to get the most out of it at least. That sent me down a YouTube rabbit hole, watching a lot of pal2tech, the Fujifilm god of YouTube, to make sure I was maximising what is possible with the Fujifilm AF system.
It helps that I’m not usually tracking fast subjects or shooting anything too demanding with it. If you’re planning on tracking fast subjects or putting the camera in complex situations I’d be sure you take the time to learn manually focusing with this camera, but this camera isn’t suited to sports or wildlife photography due to the fixed lens so you’d mainly be tracking for street.
The price has moved
The RRP in the UK has gone up from £1,599 to £1,749. Before the recent rise in semiconductor manufacturing costs, a camera with technology more than two years old going up in price wasn’t the norm.
Prices for the X100 series haven’t been normal for a while, though. Since late 2022, when the X100V became the camera to own on social media, they’ve been scalped and marked up considerably. I was fortunate enough to get the camera for retail price and think I would’ve struggled to justify much more than £1,599 with some clear limitations I was willing to accept.
Film simulations, and why I still edit
I love the film simulations. They give me a rough idea of how the final image will look through the viewfinder or on the screen, which helps me shoot with the finished look in mind. I sort of use these like my ATOMOS monitor on my FX3.
But I still edit in Lightroom Classic to get the look I want, so the goal of taking pictures straight off the camera and posting hasn’t happened.
I thought taking editing out of the process would make it easier to pick up the camera and feel less like a job for work. What I actually learned is that editing is a big part of what I enjoy about photography. It’s where I decide what draws the eye, and how colour, shape and contrast tell the story I want to tell. Removing that step wouldn’t have made photography simpler. It would have removed the part I like most.
So the film simulations have become a starting point rather than a finish line.
Where I’ve landed
To put it simply, after more than 18 months the X100VI is a camera I’m still excited to use and happy to own one.
Did I ever think it would stop me picking up my Sony Alpha? Not really. The two cameras always had different jobs in my head. But I work in marketing, so I’d be lying if I said we don’t convince ourselves with a list of reasons it will improve your life, or at least make it easier with big purchases.
Would I buy it again? I’d like to think so. But with the retail price moving, I do think I would spend more time in the used market looking at older X100’s & Ricoh GR’s for good deals on a daily camera. In reality it’s a question I’ll never really know the answer answer, and luckily I don’t have to, because I own it and don’t see me getting rid of it anytime soon!