I just – almost on a whim – bought a Fuji X100VI camera. Here’s some initial thoughts about the camera, the buying experience, and the camera.
Why did I buy it?
I admit, I’ve ben intrigued by this camera for a while now. The reviews are all pretty positive, and seem to suggest that it can put the fun into photography… sounds like something I could go for. My recent experiments shooting fixed-focal-length for a month convinced me that (a) I think I could live without the zoom (for almost?) all my “street/travel/POD” projects, (b) something nearer 35-40mm may suit me better than 50mm and (c) a good clear viewfinder makes or breaks the experience. While I plan to continue shooting film cameras on my FPOD project, the X100VI could give me some of that analogue experience with some of the convenience of digital.
And it’s trendy.
Trying to decide what camera(s) to take with me on my upcoming walking holiday in Tenerife led me to look again at availability, and when I found that Park Cameras had them in stock I decided to go for it.
Black or Silver
Black was in stock, silver was not…
On typical film cameras I like either – the black tends to be less obtrusive for “street” scenarios, the silver may be more classic. I think this particular camera probably looks slightly better in silver, but not much in it. I may cover up some of the brighter areas of the body with electrical tape – including the flash which looks pretty useless!
Size and weight
A bit bigger than I had pictured, but still pocketable.
That viewfinder
The optical viewfinder with overlay is nice. The clunk as it shuts the window so you can chimp the photo you just took is not. But you can configure it to show the image on the LCD instead (or not show it at all).
Ergonomics
A little hard to hold – I will try adding a grip and see if it suits me. I may need a wrist strap or perhaps use the neck strap? I don’t really like neck straps though.
Not sure that the shutter speed dial is going to be used much. But we shall see.
Film simulations
I haven’t tried them yet. Are they part of the fun? Time will tell I guess. I think I’ll be shooting raw+jpeg for a while at least until I am sure what workflow is going to work best for me. The raw processing in Lightroom seems to come out VERY close to the JPG, at least for Acros (and very nice).
Fun
It’s not a camera for nature work, or for still life or kids running around. It’s a camera for documenting the neighbourhood, getting out into town (or into the country), capturing life.
Configuration
LOTS to configure. But once you set it up, you can make it very simple/uncluttered to use.
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