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If you've been anywhere near places like TikTok, YouTube or any other photography blog site, you would have heard of the legend that is the Fujifilm X100V. Made insanely popular by a few viral articles, this camera has been nearly unobtainable for the past few years. Used prices have gone through the roof, with some selling for more than twice what the camera originally cost. Fujifilm created a very special, capable camera and the demand caught even them by surprise.
Rumors of a successor have been circulating for months now, with sites managing to get leaked information here and there. I had the amazing opportunity, thanks to Fujifilm Australia and Camera Electronic, to have the camera for a few days before it was officially announced.
1/12000, iso 125, f2.0, Reala Ace
By now, you're aware of the specifications. Let's start with what's new!
40mp X-Trans 5 CMOS sensor
X-Processor 5 image engine
20 Film simulations including the NEW Reala Ace profile
Base ISO now 125
IBIS - In Body Image Stabilization
Able to shoot 6.2k video in F-LOG2
23mm F2.0 Series II lens
Subject detection with improved face and eye tracking
Improved EVF
Carrying over from the previous generation:
NP-126s Battery
Bluetooth & Wifi connectivity
Single UHS-I SD card slot
USB-C port for charging, data transfer and headphone connectivity
2.5mm microphone & remote port
Micro HDMI port
Flip up LCD screen
Available in black or silver
The iconic design has remained almost unchanged from the outside. Place one in a lineup with the previous generation cameras and there are only subtle differences in the appearance. All the magic happens inside the camera.
1/3400, f4.0, iso 125, Reala Ace
1/3400, f4.0, iso 125, Reala Ace
1/950, f8, iso 125, Reala Ace
It packs a lot of punch in a small, semi pocketable camera. The performance is nearly on par with my X-H2 and Fujifilm's other popular camera, the X-T5. The X100VI is a delight to use! It fits nicely in the hand, and is small enough to tuck in a (large) pocket or handbag. The only negative thing I can say about the camera, is that the battery life could be better. I noticed during shooting that the battery depleted quite quickly, however I must say I was shooting a lot more images than I usually would, and was also shooting 6.2k video so that would definitely impact on battery life. The firmware to my supplied unit was version 1.0, so hopefully there will be some power management tweaks. It's not a show stopper by any means, but be sure to have an extra battery handy.
The X100VI is capable of shooting up to 6.2k video in 16:9 ratio, at up to 29.97 fps. It can do this in H.265 420 or H.265 422, both up to 200Mbps in 10bit colour. With the HDMI output, there's no reason you couldn't attach a screen or external recorder, and mount the entire setup to a gimbal. The improved autofocus will definitely be an advantage here. One issue I noted with the X100V is that the lens could be noisy when focussing, and it was definitely picked up in videos when using the onboard microphone. Whilst I haven't shot a lot of video with the X100VI, this does seem to be improved.
At a RRP of $2899 AUD, it's a little more expensive than the model it replaces. However, when you look at the performance it offers, the image quality that it delivers and the form factor it's presented in, nothing really comes close. The X100V was a decent step up from the X100F, and now the X100VI further improves on the X100V. It's definitely an impressive upgrade on a tried and tested, popular camera range.
Me? I'm definitely getting one! Jump on the CE list now to not miss out!
Text By Robin Mascall
Visit Robin Website for more Tech Reviews.
If you are still keen on knowing more about this camera, check out our YouTube Video Review.
