The FujiFilm X100F – Not A Review

I’ve recently upgraded to the FujiFilm X100F and if you’ve been following this blog closely, you’d know by now that my first camera was the Sony a6000. Having thoroughly enjoyed it for over two years, I started to feel like I was stuck in a photography rut, so I decided it was time to move on. If you’re looking for a technical review, unfortunately, this isn’t going to cut it for you as I’m only going to talk about what worked and what didn’t for me. When Fuji announced the X-T20 and X100F, I was initially inclined to get my hands on the X-T20 but then the idea of one camera with one lens began to appeal to me as not having to think about what lens to use can be quite liberating.

After spending a month with the camera, here’s my take on it

Likes

• Exposure compensation dial – Being a first time Fuji user I cannot tell you how much I appreciate a dedicated dial to tweak exposure and the placement of this is spot on. Furthermore, the dial has a C mode, which lets you adjust from -5/+5 by turning the front function dial, nice touch.
• The Joystick – To be able to select the focus point accurately without taking my eye away from the EVF/OVF helps me navigate with ease from one area to another depending on the scene.
• Viewfinder – Having the option to switch between OVF and EVF clearly gives the best of both worlds however the hybrid mode shows an optical view with an EVF at the lower-right corner, allowing you to digitally determine the exposure and focus. Pure genius!
• Film Simulation modes – This has been an extremely popular option in Fujifilm cameras and with the addition of ACROS film simulation for beautiful monochrome images, it now feels like a complete package. The resulting images from Classic Chrome and Acros are jaw-dropping, to say the least.
• Customisation – The ability to personalise your camera to your own taste is such a boon and Fuji hits the ball out of the park here, sure you need to spend some time doing this but once you’ve programmed the various function buttons to suit your needs you’re set for good.
• Image Quality – Nothing to add, I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Dislikes

• Placement of the Q button – I didn’t think much of it initially but I’ve had my share of hiccups with this when I’ve accidentally hit this button and missed some shots.
• Battery – Everyone’s been talking about the bigger battery, personally I think it’s just average. It could be due to the fact that I have the high-performance setting turned on but I seriously feel the need for a backup
• Weather Sealing – This was probably one of the biggest disappointments for me. To be able to wear the crown for the best “documentary style” camera, this is a must-have feature and not having weather sealing will leave a big void, but then again maybe you should be casting your eyes on the X-T2 or X-Pro2.

All images are shot as jpegs, which I’ve tweaked in Lightroom. I’ve tried to include a variety of images to give you an idea of what the camera is capable of.

PS: Head over to this post to check out the images I shot with the X100F in Dubrovnik, Croatia