Fujifilm X100VI First Impressions - A Street Photographer’s Perspective

The Fujifilm X100VI is easily one of the most hyped cameras that has ever been released. 

If you’ve been under a rock and don’t know anything about the camera, Fuji’s latest version of the X100 series has a fixed 23mm (35mm equivalent) lens that features Fuji’s upgraded 40mp sensor, In Body Image Stabilization and a built in ND filter. 

If you’re a big gear head then the specs of this camera probably sound great but I wanted to see if the X100VI was a good camera for a street photographer and if the camera was worth it in general. 

I’ve had the X100VI for a few months now and at the 1 month point I made a video about my first impressions. If you’d like to watch that video you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT3XQ3e_Noc

Compact Body 

The rangefinder style body of this camera is decently compact and it feels pretty sturdy. My cameras can sometimes take a beating but after a month of pretty consistent use, the X100VI doesn’t have any scratches or dents. The only part that feels a bit fragile is the lift up ISO ring which feels a bit loose and is plastic. 

The OVF is also something that drew me to this camera. I find myself using the OVF more than the EVF when shooting. There also is a hybrid mode where the EVF pops up in the bottom corner while using the OVF to check focus in certain modes. 

40 MP Sensor

The X100VI has Fujifilm’s upgraded 40 megapixel sensor which is a nice upgrade from the 26 MP sensor in the X-T30. Having a sensor that can capture this much detail does give you quite a bit of crop ability and the X100VI’s digital tele converter does give you the ability to do that in camera for your straight out of the camera JPEGS. 

This sensor is also supposed to boost resolution without compromising the signal to noise ratio when shooting in low-light conditions. This basically means you should be able to shoot at higher ISOs without your images getting too noisy. The IBIS should also help you in low-light at slower shutter speeds without too much motion blur.

This image above is a perfect example of the X100VI’s low-light capabilities. The photo itself is surprisingly crisp and its not too noisy. Cropped in, there isn’t too much noise present that isn’t from grain and there is a nice line of separation between the men and the sky behind them.

Video Capability 

The IBIS (In Body Image Stabilization) on the X100VI is nothing to phone home about but it can get the job done if needed. You also do have the ability to use digital stabilization in camera but that will naturally crop the video in a bit to handle that stabilization.

Obviously this camera isn’t necessarily built for video but if needed to shoot some quick b-roll it is more than capable. The problems arise when trying to film for a long period of time as it overheats aver about 10-15 minutes of recording in 4k.

The camera can shoot in F-LOG but I think most people who would be shooting video with this, wouldn’t be looking to do much in post processing and would be shooting with the film simulations. To be honest, I quite liked shooting b-roll this way because it made my video editing process more efficient for my photography based videos. For my sit down style videos, I prefer my Sony cameras mainly due to the overheating issue with the Fuji.

Negatives

This camera isn’t perfect and I’d be lying if I said it was. For me, the biggest issues with this camera specifically are switching drive modes and the SD slot.

Switching drive modes is slow and clunky to mess around with. You have to scroll through the menu and wait for the camera to catch up. The SD slot is related to the drive mode issue because the write speeds are pretty slow so it can lag a bit if you just shot a few photos and are trying to switch over to movie mode pretty quickly. 

While this issue only sets you back about 10-15 seconds as shown in the video, that timing can be crucial when trying to catch a moment on the street.

Final Thoughts

I think this camera can be beneficial for a range of people but as a street photographer this camera is perfect for me to carry every day and get some fantastic shots without lugging around some big piece of equipment. At the end of the day the camera is just the tool and we are the photographers. For me this is my favorite tool to use at the moment. 

If you want to see more example photos and more of my thoughts, you can check out my full Youtube video review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT3XQ3e_Noc