I’ve been using a Fujifilm X100 camera for quite some time now. My first version of the camera was the original X100. Then I moved up to the “S” (which stood for “Sid”), then the “F” and most recently I picked up a “V” version of the camera. The V is the most recent version of the camera as of this writing (Jan 2023)
Originally I picked up the X100 because I wanted something that I could have as my every-day-carry camera. I’ve spent far too many vacations with my wife packing all kinds of gear in the car only to lose the moment when it came to making photographs because I was too involved setting up lights and stuff.
The X100 filled in all the needs I wanted into a small, retro-styled package. It was nice to have something small that I could have in my bag day-to-day, but something that I could also use on jobs as well. But mainly as something that I could have on me at all times that still had good image quality for when I was photographing things on my off-hours.
But just because I was curious, I wanted to see if I could use it on some my assignment photography:
It worked like gangbusters. The above was shot using natural light and the two lights that were in the operating room I was in during this session. I spent most of my time using my Canon 5DmkII with a wide angle lens, but as we were cleaning up, the subject was standing talking to me and I saw the OR lights bouncing off his face and I grabbed the X100, and moved one light behind him and another light in front of his face.
I love this shot, it was spontaneous and it showed me that the X100 was a little powerhouse.
At some point I upgraded from the X100 to the X100S. It had a little more resolution, but overall it was the same camera. I was particularly attached to the S because it had an “S” on it, so I self-designated it the “Sid” edition.
I used the hell out of that camera when doing assignments for the Hippo’s “Best Of” magazine. I especially liked using it for food images that I’d shoot for the magazine. It made things really easy; I could use the screen on the back of the camera to compose my shots.
At the same time, it was great for environmental-style portraits where I wanted more of the environment with my subject; for both assignment as well as my every-day-carry personal camera.
As a day-to-day carry camera, the X100 series is perfect. If I’m on a road trip I can have it near me in the car and if I see something I want to photograph I can just pull over and grab it off the front seat or from the side door storage area. And it’s inconspicuous. It looks like a little old metal film-camera.
I loved my X100S. I even bought a replacement leatherette skin for it from Aki-Asahi in a gorgeous deep blue and spent an afternoon removing the factory leather and making the camera feel more custom to me.
I was especially happy when I got the chance to photograph two of my favorite musicians, both in the same month in 2016. Jennifer Kimball and Jonatha Brooke were known as “The Story” in the late 80’s and early 90’s. I’ve been in love with their music my entire life. They parted ways before I could ever see them perform live together, but that didn’t stop me from eventually taking the chance and reaching out asking if I could make their portraits.
Both said yes. With Jonatha’s session I had a very short amount of time, and so I grabbed my X100S and a Canon 580EX flash stuffed into a SaberStrip light tube and I photographed her on the stairs that lead up to the green room at the old Tupelo Music Hall in Derry NH. I didn’t want to take up much of her time and I think I got the shot in a handful of frames.
With Jennifer I had a more time and we were walking around in Mine Falls Park located near my studio. I pulled out the X100S and I grabbed some shots as the sun was going down and I got a fantastic light ring from the sun bouncing around in my lens. Jennifer used this image, in black & white, as the cover to the liner notes for her album “Avocet”. Talk about floating on cloud 9. Words can’t express how much I love the music these two make; both together and independently. To be able to make portraits of them is some of my favorite times ever.
X100S • 2017 • Virginia Prescott, Radio Personality
The big learning curve for me is taking shots that don’t have people in them, which is what I usually end up doing when I’m not doing my job. I’m not much of a landscape photographer, so I have a hard time “seeing” photographs if they don’t have a person in them.
This shot was taken on Star Island while I was guest-of-honor with a group of photographers who brought me out for a long weekend. In trade I gave them a condensed version of my Portable Portrait workshop, but as the sun went down on this small island right before dinner, I dropped down on the front deck of the building and captured the color and the shapes and the shadows. I love this shot and it reminds me of a fantastic time on Star Island.
One of of those rare instances where I was messing around with the color settings on my S and discovered that you could set it to certain selective color modes. I grabbed a few shots one weekend while in Pittsburg but I burned out really quickly on the novelty of the setting. It was fun to play with but made the camera feel more like a toy than a “real camera” (whatever that might mean)
I ended up giving my wife Sara my old X100 so that she would have something she could bring with her on our road trips in case the moment hit her to make some photographs. We were a 2-X100 family!
When we go on long road trips, I keep the X100 usually in the drivers side door storage panel. It just sits right in there nice and comfortable. When I see something that makes me want to stop and make a photograph, the camera is right there, right next to me. I can just grab it, switch it on, make a few shots, and then sneak back to my car in a flash.
And that’s usually how it goes with road trips. For some reason the X100 makes me more likely to stop the car and sneak a few shots of something. My Canon cameras aren’t that much bigger, but they are cumbersome enough that they never make me want to pop out of the car and take a photograph of something. It’s psychological, I’m sure, but there ya go.
One of the things I love about the X-series is the way Fuji handles color files. Fuji is experienced making film. They know color. They know skin tones. Back when I bought film in the film-camera days (though those seem to be making a BIG comeback) it was Fuji and Ilford and Kodak. Sometimes Agfa. The X100 series comes with a series of color settings and they just work. They feel good. In fact, I love the color files from my X100 JPG files that I typically just set the camera to JPEG and one of the color or b&w settings and that is how I capture my photographs. Which is completely opposite to how I have my camera settings when I’m doing a job. With paid jobs I’m 100% shooting RAW and manual, and it’s second nature for me. But with the X100 cameras, I don’t care. I love the colors that Fuji uses for their color files. In fact, one of the main reasons why I upgraded my “S” to the X100F in 2020 was because of Fuji’s “Classic Chrome” color space. Good gosh do I love that look.
I’ve fully placed my faith in Fuji and their color. So when I’m out and about with my every-day-carry, I like to keep it as simple as possible.
Right after Covid started in 2020 I upgraded from my “S” to the X100F. I did this mainly for two reasons: I wanted to be able to send images wirelessly from the X100 camera to my Fuji Instax SP-1 printer, and because I couldn’t stop thinking about “Classic Chrome”.
I’ve had an Instax SP-1 printer almost since I had my original X100. I love making little instant prints and giving them to people or leaving them places, but in order to do that I would have to get the images off of my X100, and then onto my phone, and then use an app on the phone to print the images wirelessly to the Instax.
With the X100F, I can select an image that I just took, and I can send it directly to the SP-1, and the image takes a few seconds to spit out and develop. I love that. It makes it much easier now to make a portrait and then in a few minutes I can give a small print to the person I just photographed. I can leave behind little images places.
The second reason was the “Classic Chrome” color profile. I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was such a lovely, vintage, slightly-faded look. I wanted to be able to set my camera to that and just shoot it without having to think about it, or think about messing around with the images on the computer in Photoshop afterwards.
I’m not pushy when it comes to advising people what kind of camera to buy. I’ve always been under the belief that each and every person needs to do a little research and then go have a hands-on test with the camera. When people ask me what camera they should get, I tell them to bring a CF card and a SD card to a camera shop or to a big-box store, and play with the cameras; get to see which ones feel “right” in their hands. Which one feels intuitive to use. In 2022, it really isn’t about image quality; all these cameras are incredible and can do incredible things and all have amazing resolution. It’s about holding something in your hands and closing your eyes and letting your fingers move over the dials and buttons and knobs. It’s about finding something that can be an extension of your arm.
I’m like that with my Canon cameras. I’m not quite there yet with my X100 cameras. The menu system tends to be a little over complicated. The camera is a tad too small. I love having accessories on it, like leather-half cases and thumb grips, but for me it’s more of a necessity because my gorilla hands can tend to get a little cramped holding it. The thumb grip helps. The leather cases, usually with a little bit of grip area for my fingers, help.
But the menu system. Oy vey. It can be … cumbersome.
I’m going to be totally honest here. A majority of the time when I’m using an X100 camera, I have everything set to “Auto” mode. The aperture, the shutter speed, the ISO - everything is on auto. Again, I have enough faith in this little Fuji camera to just let it do what it does and I’ll spend my time focusing and composing. I’ll tweak exposure if I need to with the exposure dial on the top right corner of the camera of things seem a little off, but most of the time, I’m just not worrying about exposure. Which is totally NOT what I do when working with clients. But for my off-hours stuff, I’m content letting the camera figure shit out for me. Most of the time, it looks excellent. Wether I’m sitting on a boat in the middle of the water, or if I’m on top of a mountain randomly running into a small armed militia, the camera does a great job of figuring out the scene.
I will admit that I didn’t have quite the same connection to the “F” that I did with my “S”. I’m glad I did the upgrade, and I LOVE Classic Chrome and the ability to print wirelessly to my SP-1 printer, but there was something that just didn’t make me fall in love with it the same way I fell in love with my “S”. I didn’t feel the same way about my original X100 either. I don’t think it was because there was an S on the camera and I was subconsciously associating that to my feelings for it, but, I don’t know … there was just something missing. I’ve made amazing images with it.
At some point I started reading about “Fuii Recipies” that users of the X100F and the new X100V were using. These were custom adjustments to things like color, white balance, grain, etc that would effectively make a colorspace feel and look similar to old film stocks of yesteryear. Portra. Provia. X-Pan, Ilford, etc. People were starting to figure out how to go in and make these custom color profiles, and the more I read about them and looked at them, the more I dug them.
The X100F lets you enter in the information to make them custom and you can save a custom setting for the most part, however you can’t save the white balance or color balance settings. So you couldn’t save multiple “recipes” on the X100F. If you wanted to have a Portra-styled image, but you already had something else, you had to go in an manually make the adjustments.
I started researching the X100V, which came out in 2020, right around the time I bought my X100F. The V allowed you to enter and save custom profile information for up to 7 recipes. You could save all the information and make custom names for them. All you had to do afterward is pick which custom recipe you wanted to use. All the information was there. Saved. Just pick what you want.
I got really jealous about that. Some of the recipes were really swanky looking and I wanted to play with those. I wanted a setting that I could have for rainy days when things are cool and contrasty. I wanted something that looked like old Ilford b&w film that I could just select and be off and running.
So I thought I’d poke around and see what the used prices for X100V’s were like.
Holy shit.
So, at some point in 2022 users of TikTok decided the X100V was the end all/be all camera. PetaPixel ran an article talking about how so many TikTok users were singing the praises of the X100V it was causing all kinds of people to run out and get X100Vs. The V was already in short supply because of Covid-19 and the chip shortage. The cameras simply vanished. Poof! gone.
The demand sent used prices soaring. With a MSRP price of roughly $1,399 when the camera came out in 2020 people were now asking $2,000 or $3,000 for this camera. Completed eBay auctions showed that people were paying almost double what the camera was selling for at retail outlets. And a lot of them were used cameras, not new.
I figured that if I didn’t seek one out soon, I soon wouldn’t be able to afford it. One good thing was that the demand for the V was also driving up prices of older X100 models, so I figured if I can sell my X100F I could do an upgrade at a minimal cost.
After digging around a bit I finally found one from a photographer group I frequent. This V was practically brand new; the owner bought it at the start of November and I think had buyers remorse and when he saw me post about looking for one I think he figured he’d help a fellow photographer out, and sold it to me for MSRP. A few weeks later I sold my X100F and the upgrade only cost me a few hundred dollars.
The camera still feels like the other X100 models. The V has a new lens on the front. It has a flip screen on the back. It has a little more resolution. It’s pretty much the same camera; the menu system is still cumbersome, but in my hands it still feels the same.
The ability to save recipes is fantastic. I have a few for color and a few for b&w. When I want it to look or feel a certain way I can set it to the recipe I’m feeling and then forget about it. I still let the camera do all the work by setting everything to Auto, and if I’m going to use it on a job, or if I’m going to use it along with off-camera lighting, I can manually adjust every setting like I do when I’m using my other cameras.
It’s still fairly new to me as of this writing, so I don’t have many shots with it yet to share. I’m hoping that I won’t keep falling into an endless upgrade cycle with these cameras; I’ve already gone from the X100 to the X100S to the X100F and now the X100V. Chances are they’ll announce a new camera soon since I just bought the V. Although the demand for the V is so strong at he moment Fuji has stopped taking orders because they can’t keep up with the demand.
Which is just ridiculous, really. There are tons of other cameras, less expensive, that you could pick up that do mostly the same thing that this camera does. Even within the Fuji ecosystem. It’s fascinating to watch how social media can create a supply-and-demand juggernaut and toss the realistic price of the camera out the window.
I also want to point out that this isn’t the WONDERCAMERA that the current TikTok craze makes it seem to be. I love this little camera because it fits a specific want that I was looking for, but it isn’t the most user friendly camera and digging into the menu system and settings features can make you go crosseyed.
For me, it’s exactly what I was looking for in an every-day-carry camera. It has great resolution and image quality, I can set it to “auto” mode and I can focus and compose on things and the camera can do the rest of the work and it comes out how I want it to. I can turn off the sounds and make it quiet. I can take an image and then wirelessly send it to my SP-1 printer and spit out a little print of it in a matter of minutes. I’m over-the-moon about the color settings. I can toss it in my day-to-day bag, or I can toss a camera strap on it and I can sneak away for a weekend or a much longer vacation and not once since I’ve been bringing this around with me have I desired to have my larger, bulkier cameras with me.
Because holding my wife’s hand while we are adventuring is worth so much more than dragging big dumb cameras along on our vacations.
I can be a bit of a camera bag guy; I’m always looking for the perfect bag, etc, and if you looked at my studio wall you’d tell that I have a small problem with bags. Although over the last decade I’ve been able to mostly narrow it down, but, still, I love bags.
I’ve been using the same leather messenger for the last 12 or so years, and that is my every-day-carry bag which during the workweek I keep my X100 in. Head over to this post about my EDC.
That bag is awesome, but it’s a little bit big for me when I want something to have with me on the weekend if we’re out on a hike or venturing to other places. I’ve been searching high and low for a compact bag that would allow me to carry my X100 and maybe a few spare batteries and a camera strap (and maybe my SP-1 printer)
Turns out I’ve had the perfect bag for thirty years and never considered it before.
Raiders of the Lost Ark is my favorite film of all time. Some thirty years ago I found a place that sold old Mark VII gas mask bags, which are the very same bag that Indiana Jones uses in the films. I’ve used it for all kinds of adventures in the past, but for some reason I never thought of using it as a camera bag before. I’m not sure why I didn’t, because now that I’ve been using it as such, it was such a no-brainer!
It’s small and lightweight. The main compartment perfectly fits a smaller padded camera insert (I got this one), and I added a nice, soft seatbelt-like strap for it (I got this one). Then I took a little cotton bag that I got some Holdfast things in and put my Peak Design camera strap, a few spare batteries and a few spare SD cards (just in case) and dropped that into the bag as well.
I removed the leather strap for comfortability reasons. The new strap is feels like a silk seatbelt and is nice and wide. It fits perfectly, feels good and has good length to it.
I’ve had this bag since the early 90’s. It was one of the very first purchases I made off the internet thirty something years ago. I love this bag. I’m over the moon that I can use it more often now. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of using it before. Sometimes I can’t see things sitting right in front of me. This is one of those instances.
A while back I saw someone had a little sticker on their X100 and it looked like it was a Leica red dot. It made me do a double-take at the camera and I let out a little chuckle because it wasn’t a Leica dot, it was a red sticker that said Fuji in the same font as Leica.
It was so dumb.
So of course I had to get one.
I think for me, the most important thing I would do to the V is change the speed of the buffer/saving images to the camera. As it stands right now, if I’m using certain recipes when photographing, there is a delay after taking the image to save it to the camera. It takes a few seconds. The camera needs an upgrade so that it saves instantly, like I was using a DSLR. Yes, I know it isn’t a DSLR, but having to wait a few seconds can seem like an eternity when using it. Especially if I’m using it to make portraits or I’m using it on a job.
I also know you can just use the regular color settings that comes with the camera, in which case the images save almost instantly, but that kinda defeats the purpose of being able to use these color recipes.
Also, let me save more than 7 recipes. Make it so I can save 40. I probably won’t use them all, but having just 7 limits what recipes I can store in the camera. Don’t make me delete/write over a recipe.
Also - and this is more directed to the companies that make the little thumb grips that sit on the hot shoe: can you PLEASE make a thumb grip that has a center-point connection to the hot-shoe underneath and has a slot where I can attached a radio trigger? In order to use an X100 camera with off-camera flash, I have to remove the thumb grip. I’m sure it’s a trivial little thing to nitpick, but I’ve been using these cameras since the X100, and it would be so awesome if I could just pop on a trigger and still be able to use the thumb grip.
If I had the kind of finances to start a little company that made them, I’d figure out a way to do it. It’s that important to me. I’m not sure what the logistics would be (perhaps that is why they don’t exist) but that is my #1 desire when using the X100 series. I want it to be more off-camera friendly.
I’d also make battery life longer. This cameras suck batteries really fast. Oy.
This post is all over the place. At first it was going to be a fluff piece about how the V is demanding crazy prices at the moment, and then it turned into more of a history of how I’ve used it.
I’m not sure what point I’m trying to make with this post. The X100 is a fantastic little camera. I love it. I love photographing with it. Heck, I also love photographing IT as a thing.
Ultimately it all comes down to finding the best tool(s) that feels the most intuitive to you; how you shoot and what feels good so that you spend less time fiddling with knobs and menus (ahem, X100) and more time to shoot.
For me, I haven’t left my Canon DSLR’s behind, but I’ve found a way to make the X100 work for me in certain situations. Most importantly the X100 has helped me to leave all my work tools behind when it’s time for personal time away. Having a small X100 in my bag leaves room for more. Since I’ve been carrying an X100 around with me on vacations not once have I wished I had a stack of gear with me. I love this little camera. Reading back through this post, it seems like I’m upgrading this little camera quite frequently. I’m kinda surprised by that. I hate constant upgrading of stuff. Huh. I guess I’m a bit dumb when it comes to this camera and it constantly making me desire it’s upgrades.
Should YOU get one? I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. There is a limitless amount of cameras and brands out there. Play around with some and get a feel for them. I know someone that shoots Olympus digital cameras; he loves them and loves the layout and the feel and he’s happy with the image quality. That’s awesome. Finding something that feels good and you like to use is what it’s all about. But I don’t know if I’d switch over to using nothing but an X100 for my work. I’m not comfortable with that. I love my workhorse Canon 5Dsr and 5DmkII. The X100 doesn’t replace them, but I’ve found a fantastic place mostly outside of work where I love to carry this thing around with me.
During this crazy X100 demand I went ahead and sold my X100F. It went fairly fast and it sold for a few hundred dollars less that what I paid for the X100V, making it a pretty fantastic way to upgrade to the V for not a lot of extra funds. The buyer is happy and gladly paid the asking price and so everyone was happy with the transaction. I guess in a way I took advantage of the current craze, but I didn’t pay $2k or $3K for the V, and I wasn’t comfortable listing the F for some crazy price. In the end, it made a fantastic way to upgrade at little cost. Win/Win.
These cameras can be finicky, and the menu system can be a chore, but I really love the retro-feel that the X100 series has.
If you are looking for an X100 camera right now, maybe take a step back until all this craziness subsides. I’m sure at some point the TikTok fad will move on to another widget and you’ll have a ton of people suddenly selling their X100 cameras to keep up with the newest fad.
If you do start looking, stick with reputable camera places like B&H Photo and Adorama. If looking for used, try a place like KEH Photo. Don’t fall for inflated prices from sellers who bundle lots of accessories with it. And please, for the love of all that is Holy; if you buy something online that isn’t a big place like B&H, make sure you pay via Paypal and send it as GOODS and SERVICES. DO NOT SEND FRIENDS AND FAMILY. The buyer will receive no protection if you send F&F. Scammers are notorious asking people to pay via F&F. Don’t do it.
Hell, if you aren’t sure, email me and I’ll help you check things out.
Hit me up if you have any questions. I didn’t really cover all the technical stuff, as there are people out there who love to talk about all that. But if you have any specific questions, leave a comment.
-Sid