During the camera film era, Fujifilm battled kingpin Kodak with brighter, more vibrant colors that either photographers loved or hated—perhaps both. That was last century. In the 21st, Kodak is a shadow cast against aged Kodachrome, while its rival has successfully transitioned from print…
During the camera film era, Fujifilm battled kingpin Kodak with brighter, more vibrant colors that either photographers loved or hated—perhaps both. That was last century. In the 21st, Kodak is a shadow cast against aged Kodachrome, while its rival has successfully transitioned from print to digital—and with amazing bravado. Fuji’s transformation started six years ago with the cleverly-engineered, retro-designed X100, which I reviewed in May 2011.
The compact digital camera’s success led Fuji to develop a series of additional bodies and lenses; all are designed with professional shooters in mind. The X series family features compact, mirrorless designs that incorporate digital SLR-size sensors and manual controls—meaning dials and buttons to directly manipulate settings rather than rely on software menus. The X100 line—from the original to the S, T, and now F—remains the most distinctive for how well features and benefits balance set against truly innovative design concepts.
Retro, For a Price
The new model, which released in mid-January—and is backordered most everywhere today—looks little different from its predecessors. But subtle refinements and faster responsiveness make the X100F classic. The retro-rangefinder styling draws attention, too. I get more comments about this camera than any other. Ever. And I started shooting digital in the 1990s. That said, like its predecessors, the compact isn’t for everyone. The lens is fixed, rather than interchangeable, at 28mm (35mm film equivalent) .
Then there is price: $1,299, which will put off budget buyers wanting more for less. Example: For Mother’s Day, Best Buy sells the Nikon D3400 dSLR with two lenses—18-55mm and 70-300mm—for $499.99. The kit is nowhere near as portable, but a whole lot more affordable. Looking for something smaller but powerful? Over at Amazon, the sleek Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II, with 14-42mm and 40-150mm lenses, sells for $599.
Let’s dispense with whom the X100F isn’t best suited:
By contrast, the Fuji could be right if you want to:
Top-Line Benefits
The X100F is an acquired taste, kinda like 95-percent cocoa dark chocolate. The sensory experience is rich but not without giving up some sweetness. The camera can be operated in auto-mode, but the real benefits come from adjusting dials to get what you want from each and every shot. This ain’t Hershey’s chocolate. But with the bitter bar comes robust flavor. From:
1. Retro design. Simply stated, this is one handsome camera that harkens back to 1950’s-era rangefinders. But looks are deceiving. The X100F is no rangefinder, and it has new, and innovative tech, inside. As previously mentioned, I get more passerby comments about this digicam than any other. Okay, excluding its three predecessors.
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2. Amazing balance. In good design, balance is everything —and the X100F delivers in the two ways that matter: How the device feels/handles and the way features combine together. Physical balance is hugely important to digital cameras; more so for those to which large lenses are attached. But same applies to a compact, where buttons and dials are smaller and closer together. The main manual controls balance tremendously (more in Nos. 4,6, and 8) .
3. Compact size. The X100F is 126.5mm wide by 74.8mm high by 52.4mm deep and weighs 469 grams with battery—that’s 4.98 x 2.94 x 2.06 inches and 16.5 ounces. By comparison, the aforementioned Nikon D3400 is 124 x 98 x 75.5 mm and weighs 442 grams—that’s 4.9 x 3.9 x 3 inches and 15.6 ounces with battery, but without a lens. The 18-55mm adds 62.5 mm (2.4 inches) and brings combined weight to 645 grams (1 pound 6.8 ounces) . The D3400 is considered to be a fairly svelte dSLR, but, particularly with lens attached, lumbers over the X100F, which is an easier carry-along camera offering many superior benefits.
I attach the ONA Lima strap, which suits the Fuji’s size while augmenting its vintage style.
4. External controls. Fuji presents topside dedicated dials to change exposure compensation, ISO, and shutter speed—no fiddling with backside buttons or software menu required for the big four settings. Aperture adjusts around the lens. The vintage design ethic brings best of analog shooting to modern digital in practical fashion.
Like interchangeable-lens siblings X-Pro2 and X-T2, the X100F moves rear buttons to the right of the LCD screen, which is hugely convenient and truly enables practical, one-handed operation. And like the other cameras, the compact features an eight-position joystick for adjusting focal point. I tend to shoot almost everything off-center, and this new doohickey makes changing the point of focus super simple and fast.
My one gripe: The Q (Quick Menu) button is too easily accidentally pushed when the camera is used one-handed.
5. APS-C sensor. The X100F packs a full dSLR-size sensor into a compact-size. However, this isn’t as big as the full-frame sensor (35mm equivalent) found on Leica rangefinders. The X-Trans CMOS III measures 23.6 x 15.6 mm and is the same sensor inside siblings X-Pro2 and X-T2. Meaning: Fuji didn’t skimp by providing something less. The X100F is capable of producing IQ—that is image quality—as good as the costlier cameras. All three output 24.3-megapixel images, which should be more than most anyone ever needs.
6. Fixed, f/2 lens. I’m a big fan of prime lenses, and you should be, too. A good fixed-lens will produce sharper images with less distortion than any telephoto. Fuji’s lens delivers—and it lets in a whole lot of light for people like me who don’t often use flash. At f/2, depth of field is super shallow and focus is soft, however. I find the effect appealing, but not everyone will agree. Interestingly, Fuji takes the «if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it» approach to the lens, which is the same as previous generation X100-family cameras.
As previously mentioned, the aperture is set from a ring around the lens, in one-third steps from f/2 to f/16. Placement is super convenient and very tactile.
Auto-focus from the lens is adequately fast—a first for the X100 series. There natively are 91 focus points, which can be bumped up to 325. The camera can capture up to 8 frames per second before buffering is required.
7. Silent shutter. The fixed lens provides a unique opportunity: Place the shutter inside, rather than camera body. The leaf shutter is virtually silent and an additional electronic option is absolutely quite. Combined with the camera’s compact size and unobtrusive lens, the X100F is a discreet shooter, which makes it highly suited to street photography. Can you say paparazzi?
The mechanical shutter is functional from 4 sec to 1/4000 sec and the electronic from 30 sec to 1/32000 sec. Both can be used in tandem.
8. Hybrid viewfinder. While the X100F has the typical LCD screen on the back, photographers are more likely to use it to view rather than to take photos. The X100F’s hybrid electronic/optical viewfinder is a marvel of innovation. Shooters can switch between both views, which offer simply shocking advantages for framing—that is composing—the picture. The concept, as executed, is uniquely Fuji and available on the X-Pro2, too.
A conveniently-placed toggle switch on the front of the body, below the shutter, makes easy and fast the switching between EVF and OVF modes.
