The charming Fujifilm X Half compact camera mixes the fun and unpredictability of film with digital convenience, and is enjoyable to use if you can get past its flaws.
The Fujifilm X Half ($849.95) is a digital pocket camera with an analog soul. It draws its inspiration from half-frame 35mm cameras like the Pentax 17 by aligning its image sensor vertically, so it’s more natural to take portrait-orientation photos. It leans into the film aesthetic with an optical viewfinder, frame advance lever, and a clever Film Camera mode that restricts photo playback until you’ve finished a virtual roll of film. The X Half looks fantastic and proves to be a fun camera to use, even though it is on the slow side and can’t compete with the computational imaging features found on flagship smartphones. The fun factor carries a cost, though; the X Half is priced higher than many mirrorless cameras, but to put it in perspective, our most recent Editors’ Choice among Type 1 sensor point-and-shoot models, the Sony RX100 VII, is $1,700 after a series of price increases.Design: It Looks Like a Shrunken M Rangefinder
The X Half qualifies as a small camera measuring just 2.5 by 4.2 by 1.8 inches (HWD) and 8.5 ounces. It’s thicker than a smartphone, but still fits into the side pocket of a pair of jeans. It’s similar in size to other compact cameras like the Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS99 (2.7 by 4.4 by 1.7 inches, 11 ounces) and the Ricoh GR IIIx (2.4 by 4.3 by 1.4 inches, 9.2 ounces). The X Half is a far different camera than either, though. The ZS99 is an old-school 30x superzoom, while the GR IIIx captures photos that look like they came from a mirrorless camera because of its oversized APS-C sensor and background-blurring 40mm F2.8 prime lens.
The size of the Type 1 sensor inside the X Half positions it between the ZS99 and GR IIIx. It’s a fairly common choice for pocket cameras and photo-focused smartphones, including the Sony ZV-1 Mark II, DJI Osmo Pocket 3, and Xiaomi 15 Ultra. Fujifilm positions it vertically rather than horizontally inside the camera, copying the aspect ratio from half-frame 35mm cameras like the Pentax 17 and Kodak Ektar H35N.
I found it most natural to take vertical images with the X Half, though it’s easy enough to turn the camera sideways for a horizontal composition if you prefer, with one wrinkle: the X Half does not have an orientation sensor inside, so you’ll need to manually rotate images after the fact in Photoshop or another image editor for them to display properly.
Fujifilm’s designers are brilliant when it comes to retro designs that are as functional as they are aesthetically pleasing. I’m more than impressed with the X Half’s design. The camera looks like a Leica rangefinder that’s been run through Rick Moranis’s shrink ray. Its optical viewfinder and prime lens play a big part in that, but it’s the Fresnel-covered LED flash that really matches up, as it looks just like the frame line illumination window in early Leica digital rangefinders like the M9 and film bodies like the M6.
I think Fujifilm misstepped when it opted for an LED flash, however. While fairly bright, the LED doesn’t have the same type of reach or power as the xenon gas flashes that most dedicated cameras use. It does an OK job adding light to a portrait or other near subject when using the camera in dim conditions, but doesn’t have the pop to freeze motion or fill in shadows against a sunny backlight like a traditional flash. And while the camera has an accessory shoe, it does not include any sort of electrical contacts, so you can’t even attach a basic manual flash like the Godox Lux Elf. I have to wonder if external flash support was planned at one point, because as it stands, the cold shoe is purely ornamental, as there’s no reason to mount accessories on a camera that does not support them.
The X Half is available in three colorways. I received the Charcoal Gray version, but it’s also available in two-tone silver-and-black or an all-black finish. While it looks classy and professional, understand that the X Half’s body is all plastic and omits any sort of dust or splash protection. I expect the plastic to hold up over time, and the material feels more sturdy than the flimsy (but super cheap) Camp Snap Screen Free Digital Camera. Even so, the plastic exterior is a reminder that the X Half is a toy camera at its heart.Controls: Is That a Film Advance Lever?
The X Half relies on a mix of physical and touch gestures for on-camera control, and pairs with the X Half App (available for Android and iOS) to support some additional features. On the tactile front, the camera includes a flash toggle switch on its left side, an aperture ring around the lens, and an EV dial, power switch, shutter release, and frame advance lever on the top plate. The controls all work as expected, and I like that the shutter release has a thread that works with a soft release button. However, the shutter does not work with an old-school mechanical release cable.
The Still/Movie toggle switch and Play button are on the rear, along with the X Half’s two touch screens. The camera has a 2.4-inch vertical aspect (3:4) touch screen that works for live view, along with a skinny secondary screen with rounded edges that lets you swipe through the sundry Film Simulation profiles or filters, and also works in conjunction with the main screen to help you navigate menus. The smaller display lets you tab through the different sections of the menu, while the main display is used to access and adjust specific settings.
You’ll use the main screen to access different features via swipe gestures. Swipe down from the top to turn on Film Camera mode or start pairing with the X Half smartphone app; from left to right to switch between Film Simulation and Filter image processing; from right to left to get at the full menu; and from bottom to top for a quick menu to change the focus or capture mode, set the self-timer, and access other shooting settings.
It didn’t take me too long to get accustomed to the swipe interface. I struggled a little bit at first when looking to change menu settings, until I realized that the skinny display lets you scroll down to see more options. Fuji doesn’t quite get it all right, though, as the menu system is a little laggy, and it’s important to keep your finger relatively centered on the screen when swiping, as off-center presses will trigger the wrong gesture. For instance, if my finger is too far to the right when trying to swipe up the X Half frequently launches the full menu (the right-to-left swipe motion) instead. So while I like the concept, the execution leaves something to be desired.
I’ll lodge that same gripe about the advance lever. I like the idea of it. It’s used to start a 2-in-1 collage in the standard capture mode, and in the special Film Camera mode, the lever advances to the next frame. It’s a fun addition that makes the experience of using the X Half distinctly different from a smartphone or traditional digital camera. But in practice, the camera lags for a second after taking an image, and if you advance the lever in that interval, the movement doesn’t register. It’s another thing that I got used to pretty quickly; I trained myself to wait a beat before winding the lever.App: Required for Film Camera Mode, Handy for 2-in-1 Creation
The Film Camera mode is meant to emulate the experience of using a 35mm compact, including taking a trip to the lab (in this case, a smartphone app) to develop your photos. It forces you to use the optical viewfinder (live view to the rear LCD is disabled), and locks you into one Film Simulation for your choice of 36, 54, or 72 photos. If you aren’t up to finishing the roll, you can cancel midway through. You’ll still need to send an unfinished roll to your smartphone to develop it, just as you would if you got all the way through.
The X Half App is quick to download and takes just a minute or two to pair with the camera. It also takes about two minutes to transfer and develop a 36-shot roll, faster than the one-hour photo labs we used back in the ’90s, but a little slow in a world where instant gratification is the norm.
Still, the wait is part of the experience, and the app makes the process fun. It shows an animated contact sheet as images transfer, and slowly converts each image on the contact sheet from a photonegative to a positive. I shot one roll of Classic Negative for this review, but I expect I’d use the feature pretty often if I were using the X Half on an extended basis. I appreciate the roadblocks it puts up—there’s no way to review a photo immediately, and you’re stuck with one film look for each roll.
The app doesn’t just work for Film Camera mode; it also lets you copy photos and videos taken in regular modes and create 2-in-1 diptychs, just as you can in-camera using the advance lever. Sure, you could do this with a template in any basic image editing software, but the app makes it easy and lets you customize the divider between images. You can switch its color between white and black, change its width, and choose between a straight or rough-edged look.
Overall, the app works well, but I can’t help but see the camera’s reliance on it as incongruous. The X Half is meant to mimic an analog camera even more so than other retro-chic Fuji digitals like the X100VI and X-E5, and there’s a good chance that photographers who enjoy using it will do so because it’s not a smartphone. I imagine that Fuji would have to up the processing power to support the Film Camera developing mode and contact sheet creation in-camera.Power and Connectivity: A Nearly Bottomless Battery
The X Half’s battery life is fantastic. It is rated for 880 photos per charge via CIPA standards. Its optical viewfinder and small rear display surely play a part. The optics draw no power at all, and I expect the LCD to be quite efficient. The camera also uses a strong battery, the same NP-W126S that Fujifilm uses for its X100VI, X-T50, and other interchangeable lens models.
To charge the battery, you plug a USB-C cable into the X Half’s only connection port. As mentioned, it also has a cold accessory shoe, but there’s no reason to attach a mic or optical viewfinder to it because there’s nothing to connect to. The X Half has a single memory card slot that works with full-size SDXC cards.
The camera uses Bluetooth 5.2 to pair with your smartphone and Wi-Fi 5 to transfer photos. The app can be slow to copy files, however. It takes about two minutes to transfer 36 images, and I recorded a lengthy 90-second transfer time to copy a 45-second video clip to my iPhone. I also ran into an issue where the camera and app refused to connect on three separate occasions, but force-quitting and restarting the X Half app resolved it every time.Autofocus: Less Than Instant Results
The X Half’s autofocus system is pretty basic, but I don’t see that as a bad thing for the camera. By default, the camera looks for focus in a small box at the center of the image, but you may switch to a 9-area focus mode that lets you tap to move the focus to a different part of the image. The 9-area focus is still bunched around the center of the image, so you’ll need to focus and recompose if you want to put direct attention away from the center.
The focus system is bolstered by face and eye detection for people, which works no matter where they are in frame. Enabling it is a good idea if you’re using the X Half for portraits or candid photos of friends or family.
Autofocus is definitely on the slow side. The lens takes a beat to shift positions and lock focus, even in bright light. I got good, accurate results in daylight, but in dimmer indoor lighting, I noticed the camera was prone to focus on the background behind a subject. You’ll need to take some care to keep your subject under center when using the optical viewfinder, too. I ended up with a few out-of-focus images from the Film Camera mode because I neglected to center the subject in frame.
Manual focus is almost, but not entirely, useless. The screen is too small to get a good idea of accuracy, and there is no way to punch in and magnify it, so you really have to rely on the on-screen distance scale to know the focus distance to which the lens is set. That’s a shame, as the manual focus ring around the lens feels excellent. However, I can see the appeal of using manual focus and a stopped-down aperture for street photography and other scenes where you want the camera to focus into the distance without any shutter lag.
The X Half doesn’t support continuous drive and requires waiting about 4.4 seconds between photos. This lag, combined with slower autofocus, makes it a poor choice for capturing fleeting, candid moments.Image Quality: Film Sims Deliver Analog Aesthetic
The X Half uses a 17.8MP Type 1 BSI CMOS image sensor with a 3:4 aspect ratio and a 10.8mm F2.8 prime lens, which has a 32mm-equivalent full-frame angle of view. The lens proves to be sharp in Imatest, scoring in the excellent range for this sensor class and resolution at F/2.8 (2,550 lines) and outstanding from F/4-5.6 (2,750-3,000 lines). When the camera hits focus, it delivers sharp results. It’s possible to get soft backgrounds when focusing fairly close and using the wide open F/2.8 f-stop, though the bokeh effect isn’t as pronounced as what you get with the portrait mode with a recent iPhone or with a larger-sensor compact like the X100VI or Ricoh GR IIIx.
The sensor supports an ISO 200-12800 sensitivity range, with three Auto ISO modes with different top settings (ISO 800, 3200, 12800) available. By default, the X Half is set to stay in the ISO 200-800 range, so you’ll need to change the sensitivity setting to access the camera’s higher range. The camera delivers its best picture quality at lower ISO settings, so it’s wise to only use the higher register in dimly lit interiors. Pictures show the clearest detail and least amount of noise from ISO 200-400, look quite good from ISO 800-1600, but soften and show grainy noise from ISO 3200-12800.
The X Half does not support Raw capture but includes several Film Simulation profiles to give photos a finished look, plus a fun set of creative filters. I like the ease of which you can change the tone of a photo. The camera has 10 profiles to choose from, with optional film grain if you want, plus more than two dozen creative filters, including the mirror effect I used for the 2-in-1 collage below.
All of the Film Simulations and many filters also work for video. The X Half records vertical 3:4 aspect movies at 1,080-by-1,440 resolution and 24fps. It’s good enough for casual and social media clips—the vertical format is ideal for Instagram Reels and TikTok. There’s no stabilization, so you’ll have to take care to hold the camera steady when recording, and I noticed the focus hunts back and forth on occasion.
On a purely technical level, the X Half pales compared with other Type 1 sensor cameras like the Sony ZV-1 Mark II when it comes to imaging power and prowess. Most cameras marketed to photo enthusiasts include Raw imaging, image stabilization, zoom lenses, and 10-bit color sampling for movies.
The X Half makes its sales pitch more on the experience. So yes, while I can take images with my iPhone that (subjectively) look better than what I can manage with the X Half, that’s not really the point. This camera is for creators who want to get closer to the film experience, and the optical viewfinder, bevy of analog-inspired Film Simulations reinforce that. In that regard, it’s a success. You can even embed a digital date stamp into images, just as you could with consumer 35mm cameras from the ’90s.
