I started in photography with manual 35mm film cameras, so shutter speed dials and aperture rings are second nature to me – and I really missed them when camera makers went digital and decided control dials and screen displays were the way to go.
So Fujifilm gets a big thanks from me for reviving those classic camera controls, first in the X100 and later in the X-Pro, X-T and X-E series. I’ve used and reviewed a whole bunch of Fujifilm cameras over the years and really like this control system.
I like it so much I bought an X100V, partly because of that traditional control layout, partly because of its classic 35mm equivalent ’street’ lens and partly because of its interesting-looking hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder. I thought, here’s a camera that will really take me back to my roots.
Except that it didn’t. I took it out now and again, but mostly it stayed in my camera cupboard, until the day I realized there were some things I could buy that I actually would use if I sold it.
So what’s the problem with the X100V?
This is a hugely popular camera, so these might simply be MY problems, but here goes.
- The AF isn’t fast enough. Fujifilm says it’s faster in this version, but I didn’t notice any difference. It’s just a fraction too slow and noisy for a camera that should be all about instant reactions. My guess is that the slimline lens design – which I really like, by the way – just doesn’t have the space for any faster, newer or quieter AF actuators.
- The AF wouldn’t be a problem if the lens had a focus distance scale and depth of field index markers for easy zone focusing, but it doesn’t, and the digital display is no substitute.
- I discovered that 35mm equivalent is not my favorite focal length – or at least that the inability to swap out to a wider lens now and again would cramp my creativity as much as it did.
- It’s not all about the lens. The hybrid viewfinder was a novelty that soon faded. I understand and like the principle of an OVF that shows you what’s outside the frame as well as inside, but I found I never used it, or the clever frame within a frame in its hybrid mode. I would probably have liked it more if it did one thing or the other, but by doing both it proved a distraction not a benefit.
I bought the X100V as a ‘street’ camera and then found it wasn’t especially good at it – or at least in the way I like to shoot. The main culprit is that slimline 23mm f/2 lens. Cute and compact as it is, it stops the X100V from being the camera I think it ought to be.