Fujifilm X100VI review – Embracing its charms and Considering its drawbacks

Introduction

The Fujifilm X100 series has accompanied my photography journey since the very beginning, and is easily the one camera that photographers associate Fujifilm with, especially after Tiktok blew up the demand making this the camera that somehow ‘everyone’ wants to own.

In this review, let us take a closer look today with my sharing on the 5 main areas that charmed me and 3 areas that in my humblest opinion Fujifilm should consider improving.

*yeap, I held out for the Limited edition and am very thankful M S Color Service came through for me with production number #1144

Disclaimer: While I do and will always love Fujifilm, I do own and use the Leica Q series and the Ricoh GR series, both competitors in the fixed lens compact arena. Thus, I do prefer to offer a more balanced approach in my opinions as all reviewers should do.

Fanboys with virtual pitch forks can be pretty scary

tl:dr

The Fujifilm X100VI is indeed a most excellent camera, the quintessential representation of Fujifilm’s design DNA in a form crystallised over 6 generations of ‘kaizen‘, and currently one of the few cameras delivering a heavy dose of FOMO in the market.

The almost perfected form easily fits either the profile of an everyday hobbyist carry but also a very serious camera capable of offering a lot of performance for its size with its 40.2 megapixel X-Trans CMOS 5 HR sensor and X-Processor 5 combination.

The X100 series has followed me across the years, from the first X100 to the X100V (my reviews are linked) and Fujifilm’s phenomenal film simulations which has grown to 20 now makes the X100VI an incredibly versatile creative tool.

The improvements from the Fujifilm X100V are substantial, not just in megapixel size but in overall performance. I will wholeheartedly recommend even the X100V owners to upgrade (if they can find a set), especially in view that it is not likely the X100V owners will be getting any more performance updates. (I will love to be proven wrong on this although my heart is still saddened from the X-Pro3)

At the risk of being pitch-forked by the fanboys, the Fujifilm X100VI is not a perfect 10 though. For example the decisions to use an older battery giving the camera a 310 shots rating, UHS-1 speed support for SD cards baffles me, but these are not major issues in my overall view of the camera.

In the ASPC fixed lens compact category, the closest competitor is the Ricoh GR III series with enough differences to differentiate the two, and the next closest is the Leica Q3 (my Leica Q3 review is here), which while offering an image quality potential (full frame 28mm F1.7) the X100VI cannot match, is a much more expensive camera in comparison.

Technicalities (or simply what’s new)

I am obviously not going to spend the bulk of writing on copying and pasting technical specifications many other review sites have hence I will go with the key improvements.

The full list of specifications by Fujifilm can be found here.

• APS-C sized 40.2 Megapixels X-Trans CMOS 5 HR sensor (7728 x 5152) with X-Processor 5.
• 23mm (35mm equivalent) ƒ2 to ƒ16 single focal lens with a 8 elements in 6 groups lens design and a 9-blade aperture
• Minimum focusing distance at approx. 10cm 
• (OVF) Reverse Galilean optical viewfinder with 95% coverage and 0.52x magnification,
• (EVF) 3.69 million dots, approximate 100% coverage with 0.66x magnification
• 5-axis IBIS
• On camera flash with GN 4.4 and effective range of approx. 30cm – 7.4m at ISO1600
• 3 inch tiliting touch-screen LCD with 3:2 aspect ratio and 1.62 million dots
• NP-W126S battery, rated for 310 shots (EVF) 450 shots (OVF)
• Single slot UHS-I SD storage (to 2TB for SDXC cards)
• built-in 4 stops ND filter
• 128mm X 74.8mm X 53.3mm at 521 grams (including battery and SD card)

And now, allow me to elaborate on the 5 key areas that charmed me and 3 areas of growth for the Fujifilm X100VI

5 areas that charmed me

1. The improved auto-focus

After testing the Fujifilm X-H2, Fujifilm X-T5 and of course, the Fujifilm X-S20 (my reviews linked), one of the most looked forward to improvement was seeing the same sensor being incorporated into the Fujifilm X100VI and I am glad Fujifilm did so.

X-Processor 5’s subject detection autofocus system now helps to better track a range of subjects, along with the capability to detect animals, birds, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, airplanes, trains, insects (and on), allowing the Fujifilm X100 series to catch up with other modern competitors.

From my experience with the X100VI, the autofocus enhancements are most notable in Zone autofocus and low-contrast situations versus the X100V. This said, the Fujifilm X-H2 and Fujifilm X-T5 do feel speedier auto-focus wise and I look forward to Fujifilm improving on this through updates.

One of the reasons I sold my X100V off in favor of the Ricoh GR III back then was when the former utterly failed to detect the face of the model wearing a cycling helmet during a shoot while the latter easily breezed through. It was a very sad moment for me, given how much Fujifilm has been a part of my photography journey.

Ricoh had provided substantial firmware updates across the GR III’s life for it to either catch up/outperform the X100V’s autofocus performance from 2019 to 2023.

A quick comparison here at Fujifilm’s and Ricoh’s firmware update summaries will easily show the different focus on bug squashing versus improving performance and functionality across these two most popular compacts. Of course I do understand this might incur some unhappiness with some readers but facts are facts.

2. The film simulations

One of the key reasons behind Fujifilm’s popularity is their propriety film simulations, and of course the backbone behind the saying that Fujifilm users proudly photograph in JPEG. One of the more exciting announcement was also the availability of REALA film simulation on the Fujifilm X100VI.

*REALA will come to the X-H2S, X-H2, X-T5 and X-S20 later in 2024.

3. The fact that it is still very much the X100, with its perfectly balanced blend of analog dials, controls for modern functions.

Period.

In fact, one of the biggest ergonomic improvements I felt over the generations was to have all the buttons shifted to the same side of the camera, aiding one hand operation.

4. The hybrid viewfinder, tilt-screen and IBIS

There has been much talk about the 40.2 MP resolution but to me it was pretty much expected to see this 2023 sensor from the X-H2, X-T5 and X-S20 appearing in the X100VI, and what I felt was more important instead are these three design elements that really makes the X100VI an one unique camera.

4.1. The advanced hybrid viewfinder that only the X100 and X-Pro series has.

Seen from 2012 onwards, and one of the most unique designs of the X100 series, the hybrid viewfinder system still stands out to me as a testament to Fujifilm’s creativity.

The hybrid viewfinder is so named as it allows an overlay of important information over the optical viewfinder, but the key special part is that this allows one three options, switching between the EVF, OVF for a close to rangefinder experience and an OVF Image Display option which allows you to view an EVF image in the corner of the viewfinder.

*to clarify, the X100 series are not rangefinder cameras, they are rangefinder design inspired but technically do not work the way a rangefinder like the Leica M series does.

4.2. IBIS

The five-axis IBIS mechanism offers up to 6.0* stops of compensation (limitations apply), yet still maintaining the X100 Series’ characteristic compactness and portability, quite a mean feat and something to be proud of.

While some will ask why this is necessary for a street-photography geared camera, to me this opens up more creative possibilities such as long exposure shots (light trails etc) or even just getting that shot in low light while ensuring a reasonable ISO value.

4.3. The Tilt-screen

One of the additions that appeared in the Fujifilm X100V onwards, I am glad to have the tilt screen to work with for awkward angles, and please do not ever change this to a flip-out screen.

5. The sheer compactness of the Fujifilm X100VI

Part of the lore behind the attraction of the X100VI is its suitably as a snap-shot street photographer’s tool due to how unobtrusive it is and and this is a design DNA Fujifilm has mastered with this camera.

Fact is, there are times I simply set everything to Auto on this camera and focus on composition and capturing the moment instead of pondering which ISO, Shutter speed or Aperture values should I work with.

Three things that may make the Fujifilm X100VI a 10/10

Don’t worry, I am not going to say the Fujifilm X100Vi is a bad camera in any way, it is indeed an almost perfect camera in its class (APSC fixed lens) with hardly any competitor, however seeing how Fujifilm has evolved in the last decade, here are a few areas I feel Fujifilm can do better

1. Keeping the kaizen dream alive and X100VI up to date.

I am using the word ‘dream’ here as it is quite evident to me that Fujifilm’s past move of adding functionality and performance to its cameras could have been better in the last few years. Many other brands for example, Nikon’s updates just for their Z9 alone has been phenomenal, and Sony (yes, even Sony) has actually done better in this aspect.

The Fujifilm X100VI will be around for say 3 to 4 years before the X100VII appears, and I really do hope to see Fujifilm doing right supporting this model across its life-span.

2. The UHS-I Single SD-card slot.

For a camera that is on the higher end of pricing and more expensive than some full frame interchangeable lens cameras, I was quite surprised to not see support for UHS-II cards , especially given how ubiquitous these are.

Storage wise, having a double SD slot would have been great but I understand that if physical space was an issue, then in this case, providing built in SSD storage would be an idea to consider too. This idea is not new since Leica and Hasselblad have done so for years, with the Hasselblad X2D coming with a massive 1TB SSD.

3. The NP-W126S battery rated at 310 shots (EVF)

I was pretty looking forward to seeing the NP-W235 battery debut in the X100VI, after-all this has been the battery of choice for the other cameras sporting the same sensor/processor duo and I was quite surprised to see Fujifilm going with the aged NP-W126s instead.

Rated at 310 shots (with EVF) and a more respectable 450 shots (with OVF), I did find the battery draining too fast for my liking but then, of course the simple solution is to buy more of them.

An additional note is of course the same old story about Fujifilm not including an external charger.

Yes, there is USB-C in-camera charging, but this still means I cannot use the camera while it is being used as a charger.

Additional notes

I know some fanboys will see this as a whine, but I was quite taken aback to see that the limited edition of the X100VI while at a 32% premium over the standard X100VI (yes, I know you can say I could have skipped purchasing it) came without even an external charger, a hood, or even a UV filter, quite a far cry for me who had splurged on the X100 Limited Edition which came with a matching hood, adapter, UV filter and camera case.

In all fairness, the X100VI Limited edition does come with a fancier camera strap and a titanium camera soft shutter button. For those curious, in Singapore, the X100 LE sells for SGD3299 (~USD2446), versus SGD2499 (~USD1853) for the standard edition.

Conclusions

As mentioned in the tl:dr section above, the Fujifilm X100VI is the accumulation of experience and learning by Fujifilm over the six X100 series cameras, with Fujifilm working well to balance keeping to a winning design formula and maintaining a reasonable level of performance.

The market for fixed lens compact cameras is pitifully small, even so for larger sensor prime lens models and there are only 4 (newest) models now available, the Leica Q3, Ricoh GR III, Ricoh GR IIIx and of course the Fujifilm X100VI, and in this sense each of them have nicely carved out their own niche and dedicated following.

Overall the Fujifilm X100VI obviously is a great camera, with a few areas that I felt could have been improved on as mentioned above, but these areas of growth are small things in the overall view of the camera.

For a photographer or hobbyist or even the Tiktoker hoping to get some views, this is a camera to have, and probably my very humble wish is that scalpers can be kind enough to get out of the way to ensure that the ones who will use the camera as it is, will get to enjoy photographing with one.

Thank you for reading.

Disclaimers:

1. All product photos and samples here were photographed by me. I believe any reviewer with pride should produce their own product photos. 

2. All images were shot with my personal copy of the Fujifilm X100VI.

3. This review is not sponsored. I paid for the Fujifilm X100VI.

4. I write as a passion and a hobby, and I appreciate that photography brands are kind enough to respect and work with me.

5. The best way to support me is to share the review, or you can always help support me by contributing to my fees to WordPress for the domain using the Paypal button at the bottom of the page.