A few weeks ago I travelled to Melbourne for a work conference. As you can imagine most Conferences would be like, there's a day of sitting in a large room with some Bigwigs speaking corporate-waffle-nothing-speak and giving themselves pats on the back whilst peacocking on a stage. The rest of the time is for 'networking' when in reality everyone is just getting drunk.
This Conference was 4 whole days bookended by Travel days either side, and instead of being perpetually hungover and lacking sleep, I enjoyed myself in moderation so I could spend my free time exploring the City, taking photo and reviewing the Fujifilm X100VI.
At the bottom of this post is a gallery of some of the photos I took.
As I'm not able to get out much to anywhere interesting at the moment it presented a great photography opportunity. A key problem was I did not want to carry around my Fujifilm X-H2 and lenses due to it's larger size. I simply did not know how much I would get to use it or even how often I would be able to carry a camera around.
I already had a Fujifilm X-M5 on backorder, which I was planning to pair with cheap and interesting Viltrox 28mm 'Chip' lens, but in typical Fujifilm fashion of course that hadn't turned up yet and is still on perpetual backorder. I was tempted to force myself to use my phone, a Sony Xperia 1V which incidentally is quite photography focused but the images are just so inferior to my camera I just couldn't do it.
I needed a travel Camera
A week before the trip I was doing my regular online perusals of the second hand sections of the local shop websites looking for bargains. And I scored. Big time.
Not only did I get the 16-55 II zoom lens that I have been waiting for since March, but also some of the Fujifilm primes; the 18mm f/1.4 and 33mm f/1.4 at good prices. I'll tell you about those in the future, but there was also a black Fujifilm X100VI with a shutter count only 900. The chance of giving one of these iconic cameras a go for a week's travel was something I could not resist! Interestingly all gear I bought was clearly traded in by the same person, as everything was mint and all had the very nice metal Hoage Square hoods, including the X100VI!
I figured that X100's hold value pretty well given they are regularly out of stock, so a low risk purchase if I later decide not to keep it, as it will still fetch a pretty penny on the used market.
But it's 35mm!
I have many times reiterated my lack of affection for the 35mm focal length. I find it too flat, too boring. Too much in the frame or too tight. For some, 35mm is a goldilocks focal length. I just find it difficult to get creative with it, though I have zero issues with using it for documentary purposes, for that it is great.
So buying a 35mm fixed lens, expensive camera on a whim, for a trip to a new city seems like the worst possible thing I could do. At the same time it seems like a good way to really see if my dislike for 35mm is unfounded or not!
I took 600 shots in the space of a week - lets see what I thought of the Fujifilm X100VI.
The Camera
How I used it
There are a million reviews on this Camera and everyone's use cases are different. So I'm going to tell you how I used it, and how it fared for that use along with what I like and what I don't.
A Travel camera (in my opinion) needs to be setup for fast use, either always in hand or fast to pull out of a bag and shoot so you need everything setup and dialed in ready to go.
- To Carry: I use the Bellroy Venture 6L Sling. Plenty of space for the Camera and all the small things that you may need to carry around. For the X100VI, the smaller 2.5L version would be enough too.
- Shooting in RAW: For Travel snaps you don't always have all day to pick film simulations, edit tone curves and other settings to get it right in camera. You just want to worry about your exposure triangle. You can get it all just right from the comfort of your computer screen later or even process in camera where you can easily apply all the built-in image quality settings such as film simulations.
- Full Manual: The manual dials are too slow but I like to have full control. I control aperture by the lens ring, and I am often only switching between f/2.8, f/4 and f5.6. Shutter speed I have on the rear command dial, I default to 1/125 for most subjects and adjust up or down to alter exposure or to suit movement as needed.
- Auto ISO: I run auto ISO but to a Max of 800. I am happy that at 800 or under I do not have to worry about degrading image quality. If my exposure is too dark because the ISO is at the 800 limit, then it prompts me to decide whether I can slow my shutter or open my aperture instead (or deal with higher ISO). With a higher Auto ISO you lose that little prompt as it will always be automatically properly exposed, and before you know it, all your shots are at ISO 6400 and look rubbish. Speaking from experience...
What I like about the X100VI
What I don't like
- The Focal length - I still do not like 35mm. I would prefer if it was 28mm or 40/50mm. Or Fujifilm should do what Ricoh did with the GRIII, they released both a 28mm and 40mm version and plenty of people bought both!
- The Fixed lens - whilst a good performing lens I would much rather the flexibility of being able to change lenses. Being able to crop to simulate longer focal lengths is useful, but for me I would rather use the right lens for the right job. Fujifilm just released the new X-E5, which is essentially the interchangeable lens version of this camera and will likely sell better amongst those whom own lenses already.
- Iso/shutter dial - Having owned an X-T5 which has separate ISO and Shutter speed dials I found the one on the X100VI slower to use because to change ISO you have to lift up the shutter dial first then place it back down. It is not quick and even slower than the separate dials. Also they are at full stops which means you do not have precise adjustment of exposure. I reverted to using command dials like any other camera, luckily the X100VI has 2 command dials to program.
- Flash - You cannot assign a custom button to turn the flash on or off. The fastest way to do this is setting it to the Q menu, but still slower than I would like for such a useful feature. On other cameras with built in flash, physically popping up the flash is all you need to do to activate it. This made the flash slightly less useful.
- EVF/OVF - I like the fact this camera has an Electronic View Finder. In bright conditions you often can't see the screen well enough to take a good shot and an EVF solves that issue. However it's not very good. It is too small and personally I like an EVF in the centre and not to the side - it's a bit awkward when turning the camera in portrait orientation. The OVF is like the EVF but instead of looking at a digital image, you are looking through the glass to what you are actually shooting, and with the option of some info overlaid on it. I see no value in it and would prefer a slightly larger EVF with a slightly larger eyecup.
- Video - It can do video, and good video too. The problem is to start a video you have to open the drive menu and scroll to the bottom to select Video. And back again when you want to take a photo. Simply far too slow for impromptu video recording.
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Who is it for (and not for)
I have lost count of how many times I have seen people asking on Reddit whether the Fujifilm X100VI is a good first camera. No, it isn't, or at least you just shouldn't. The other people who this camera isn't for, are videographers and sports & wildlife shooters. The former being mainly due to the poor implementation of video features and the latter due to the fixed focal length, obviously.
Who is it for then? Nobody really. It's just one of those things that no matter what you are going to use it for, there is something better suited. Yet it remains a compelling camera to use and a nice Camera to own. The only thing I can say for certain, is that the X100VI should not be your only camera, it should be a supplementary camera for when you want great images and you do not want to carry larger and heavier gear around.
Alternatives?
Is it a keeper?
During and after my trip I realised I could have taken my XH-2. The X100VI wasn't small enough to be any more discreet or at least that's how it felt. Being a guy carrying around a 'proper' camera is just the same as being a guy carrying around a larger 'proper' camera. The X-H2 with either the 18, 33 or 16-55II fits in my same Bellroy Venture 6L sling anyway. That being said there is just something about the X100VI that is not quantifiable and difficult to explain, it is just a special camera.
I plan on buying the wide and Tele conversion lenses with it in the near future to see how versatile this camera really can be. If it ends up being my only camera one day that will be quite something!
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