Fuji X100 series cameras tend to polarise users.
People who like them tend to express that liking in emotional terms using words such as “love”. Some of these Fujilovers can become very protective of their favourite brand and have been known to react to negative reviews with personal attacks against the faithless reviewer.
Many Fujifans are able to say they like the appearance and style of the camera.
Some say they like the “direct” controls or at least the idea of them. Of course none of the controls is direct in the old fashioned mechanical sense but that seems not to matter.
On the other hand there are many camera users who don’t care for the Fuji way of going about things at all. Fortunately there are plenty of alternatives.
Several initial reviews of the X100V were fulsome in their praise so I bought one when it became available in Australia and have been using it for several weeks. Unfortunately testing opportunities have been drastically limited by the Covid-19 shutdown but I have still had enough time with the camera to acquire a decent understanding of what it can do and the user experience.
What is it
The Fuji X100V is a fixed single focal length advanced compact camera with a high level of specification and image quality.
Who is it for
Enthusiast photographers who appreciate the appearance and style of the camera and who feel comfortable using the controls provided, which are different from those found on most cameras.
The camera is often promoted by enthusiasts as being particularly suitable for street photography. I don’t know where this idea came from but I did not find it any more suitable for the street than many other models from a range of makers, including many of the smaller ILCs available.
What I appreciate about the X100V
* Compact size with minimally protruding pancake style lens.
* Very good lens quality, sharp right across the frame right from f2, best at f4.
* Very good image quality with low levels of noise at high ISO settings, good highlight and shadow detail, negligible color fringing and distortion, very good resistance to flare.
* Generally good compatibility of the RAF RAW files with Adobe Camera Raw. The only issues I noticed were
a) Some types of foliage can be falsely rendered. I believe this is known as “worms” in discussion forums. It appears not to be common.
b) I noted and confirmed with several tests that the Nikon Z50 with 16-50mm kit zoom delivers slightly more detailed surface texture especially on human facial skin. The Fuji files look smoother but with slightly less detail. I am not sure why this is so.
It may be that Adobe does not render X-Trans files with quite as much fine detail as standard Bayer sensor files.
It may be that Fuji is applying some noise reduction to Raw files. Noise reduction usually has an adverse effect on fine detail. This has been suggested by other reviewers.
It may have to do with the absence of a stabiliser in the X100V.
On my tests to date I have not seen any significant improvement to texture or fine detail rendition with the [Enhance Details] feature in Adobe Camera Raw.
* In Manual Focus (or autofocus) mode a proper distance scale can be displayed with useful increments at 2, 3, 5, 10 meters and infinity, together with a depth of field indicator. This is very useful for zone focussing.
* There is a built in EVF. I found my Ricoh GR2 and GR3 compacts which do not have an EVF built in or otherwise, to be effectively unusable in the typically bright Australian sunlight and had to sell them on.
* The monitor screen is not fixed but can tilt up and down.
* Nice auto ISO implementation.
Things I do not appreciate
* There is no stabiliser. Many reviews gloss over this deficiency.
You might reasonably ask…..Why does the X100V need a stabiliser when no previous iteration of the line had one ?
In two words: pixel density.
The original X100 had 12 Mpx. The pixel count has risen with subsequent iterations and is now at 26 Mpx.
Any given amount of camera shake during an exposure will affect more pixels in the new model and so have a more deleterious effect on the capacity of the imaging system to render fine detail.
In the old days we used to say that a “safe” hand held shutter speed with good holding and release technique is the reciprocal of the focal length in millimetres (or 35mm equivalent).
Thus 1/35 second (or more usually 1/40 second as cameras generally offer that shutter speed) for a 35mm lens on a camera with 24x36mm sensor (43mm diagonal).
The 23mm lens on the X100V has an angle of view equivalent to that of a 35mm lens on the larger sensor.
But modern high pixel count cameras can render far more subject detail than any 35mm film camera ever could so the rules need to change.
I have run several series of tests on the X100V using monitor and EVF viewing. I have steady hands with no tremor.
In ideal conditions with plenty of time to make the shot I find I need to use around 1/80 second for reliable sharpness. I usually set 1/125 second as a slowest shutter speed in auto ISO because in practice one is often not able to slow down and shoot with optimum technique.
Outdoors when people are moving around this presents no problem as a shutter speed in the 1/125-1/250 second is needed to manage subject movement anyway.
But indoors in low light, stabilised cameras can deliver sharp pictures at much slower shutter speeds and therefore use lower ISO settings than the X100V.
* The X100V takes an idiosyncratic approach to controls, ergonomics and the user experience. I discussed this in my ergonomic evaluation here.
In summary
Holding: I find the camera provides a minimalist handle and thumb support making the grip less secure than it could be with a more prominent handle.
Viewing: The monitor screen is good but not fully articulated.
The camera has both an optical viewfinder and an electronic viewfinder in the same module for reasons not clearly stated by Fujifilm beyond a representative saying, in effect, “we could do it so we did”.
I wonder whether this duality might just ensure that neither the EVF or OVF is able to deliver an optimal user experience.
I prefer the EVF but although the panel has a high dot count the user experience is not as good as that provided by many other contemporary models. The eyepiece is small as is the eyecup and the image preview has a lower level of clarity than many other current model EVFs including some bridge cams and budget models.
Operating: I think the problem here is that the camera’s creators appear not to have decided what it should be. It is not a pure retro dials control device but is not a contemporary twin dial and mode dial device either. It is trying to be both and also a fashion statement at the same time. I think the result is an ergonomic muddle.
The thumb stick: I believe this has been implemented in suboptimal fashion, as to location, design and haptics. When the designers elected to get rid of the 4-way controller they needed to replace it with a very well considered alternative and that has not been the case.
* Autofocus: AF is much slower than just about any other current model camera. I tested the X100V against the Nikon Z50 which I happened to be reviewing at the same time. The Nikon focusses more than twice as fast as the Fuji and the difference is very noticeable in practice. The main reason for this is likely to be that Fuji’s designers elected to have the new lens focus by moving the whole optical unit back and forth just like the old lens. Why Fuji did this I have no idea. Almost every other modern lens uses internal focus which moves just one small element or group. This enables much faster AF to be achieved.
Not only is AF slow it is often accompanied by back-and-forth chugging particularly in low light.
* As with the previous model an adapter ring (not supplied) is required before a filter and/or lens hood (not supplied) can be fitted.
Why did they not do the lens re-design job properly and include internal focussing and a more conventional front end which would enable a filter and hood to be fitted directly ? You know….like almost every other advanced level camera lens on the planet.
* Aftermarket items. Due to Fuji’s failure to fit a proper handle, thumb-rest, filter attachment or lens hood there is a brisk market in add-ons designed to correct these deficiencies.
I have not tried any of these as yet as I believe a manufacturer should present a finished product to the market. But that, it seems, is not the Fuji way. In any event some of those add-ons bring their own problems such as thumb supports interfering with operation of buttons and dials.
* The Take me test.
After the dust has settled on all the technical issues the most important aspect of any camera evaluation is the Take me test.
I find that the more I use some cameras the more I want to take them out and make pictures.
But with other cameras the more I use them the less I enjoy doing so and the less I want to take one of these out.
Unfortunately the X100V is one of the latter. The more I use it the more I get frustrated by it’s idiosyncrasies, internal inconsistencies and limitations.
The problem for cameras like the X100V is that almost all current model cameras can make very good pictures. So the main factor which determines whether I will prefer one over another is the user experience.
Summary
The Fuji X100 series compacts including the X100V tend to be a love it or hate it proposition. There is very little by way of a middle ground.
Most cameras are pitched to the middle ground as they have to appeal to a wide buyer demographic.
So their controls and operation generally do not stray too far from the conventional norm.
Fuji’s product development people appear to have eschewed the conservative approach to design and gone all out for a classic visual style combined with idiosyncratic controls.
Some people really like the resulting package. Others myself included, do not.
I rate the X100V as providing a user experience which is acceptable but no more than that.
It is not a camera I care to recommend to anybody unless they spend at least several hours making photos with it and having done so are quite sure this is the camera they want.
The buyer who specifically wants to stay within the Fujifilm camp might care to consider the X-T30 with XF 18-55mm OIS lens before buying an X100V.
The two cameras use the same sensor with the X-T30 kit providing a zoom lens, a user experience which some might prefer and a lower price.
The X-T30 with lens is larger of course, which might be an issue for some buyers.