Okay, so this will be a lot of incoherent rambling…
I’ve had this camera for a bit over a year now. I have not been shooting an enormous amount of photos with it, since it’s been mostly another quiet photography year for me, but it’s been the only camera I’ve used (I don’t count an iPhone or any mobile phone as an actual camera, but been using my iPhone a little as well) since I bought it. I’ve travelled with it and also used it around the parts where I live, and I am impressed.
I used to own the Fujifilm X100T which is a good camera and the X100VI is definitely an upgrade from it in several ways.
It is a very, very good camera. Is it perfect? Definitely not, but I don’t think any camera is. Is it a camera for any type of photography? Nope, definitely not. Is it a camera for any type of photographer? No, not that either. I’m not gonna go into the specs of it, there are plenty of reviews online that anyone can find with a quick search.
The thing that I find being the best thing about the Fujifilm X100VI, is that it is fun to use. Fun and inspiring. When using a camera with a fixed lens, it makes things limited in a way, but at the same time I think it might make you a better photographer in the long run, since it forces you to both think a bit different, do things and compose differently since you can’t zoom in or out except with you feet.
I’ve been using the camera mostly as a travel and street photography camera, and I think that those two are things that it excels in. Wouldn’t say that I’m a documentary photographer, but would say that it’s another well suited ”style” of photography for this camera. What is great about this series of cameras is that they don’t make people as aware that you’re taking photos as with a bigger DSLR, which helps a little while doing street photography for example.
Fujifilm cameras are usually not considered to have the fastest or best autofocus and that includes the X100VI, but it usually is no problem if you’re not trying to shoot sports or wildlife with it. Sure, some street photography scenes when things happen fast could be a bit of a challenge for it, but I don’t see it as much of a problem, though quite a few people online whine a lot about it. I suspect that they don’t always know what they’re doing and believe the camera is supposed to fix all their shortcomings for them.
What I believe is needed (more or less) for any of the X100 line of cameras, is to get at least a thumb rest/grip for it and also maybe something like the grip with an Arca Swiss integrated bottom plate, since while these cameras looks very sleek and stylish, it doesn’t have enough of a grip in itself especially if you walk around with the camera in your hand for longer times, but with that installed it is perfect for long walks around a city doing for example, street photography.
When it comes to what many times people say is part of the “Fujifilm experience“, the Fujifilm film simulations, I do not agree with it and I don’t use them myself. I tried them out a little bit with this camera last year for the first time even if I started using Fujifilm cameras since 2014 and exclusively since 2016, but the film simulations has never interested me. They never gave the photos the look that I wanted. But the simulations are there for anyone to use if they want to, and I know that a lot of people use them and are very happy with them. And while I don’t actually love editing photos, I still shoot RAW and use my own Lightroom presets to have the most control of how the end result of my photos will be.
