The Fujifilm X100 VI is the highly-anticipated successor to the X100 V, arguably one of the best compact cameras to date, not to mention one that’s accompanied me on multiple trips over several years. I really felt the X100 came of age with that fifth generation, resolving most issues I had with previous versions. Sure it couldn’t do everything, but reached a point where adding much more risked spoiling the core appeal.
As such I was a little anxious to see where Fujifilm could go with the X100 VI given the biggest complaint most people had with its predecessor was simply being able to buy one. After all, the X100 V’s mid-life boost in popularity collided with a global component shortage and pandemic resulting in one of the hardest cameras to buy for some time.
Well cancel that back-order because they’re not making any more X100 V’s. The VI is its replacement and goes on sale at the end of February 2024. I’ve spent some hands-on time with it and made a video below showing you the highlights including comparisons with the X100 V plus lots of sample images. If you prefer to read the written highlights, keep scrolling!
There’s two major upgrades on the X100 VI, one expected, the other more of a surprise. The first is the inevitable adoption of Fujifilm’s highest resolution sensor, the X-Trans CMOS 5 HR, boosting the resolution from 26 to 40 Megapixels.
Coupled with the latest X Processor V, the X100 VI also gains all the latest subject recognition enhancements, as well as improved video and the REALA Film Simulation; in fact it actually becomes the first X camera to sport that SIM, leaving X-T5 and X-H2 owners hoping for a firmware update.
The second major upgrade is the addition of sensor shift stabilisation, or IBIS for short, with Fujifilm claiming the new mechanism provides up to six stops of compensation. I’ll talk more about the sensor and IBIS in a moment.
Beyond this, Fujifilm’s wisely chosen not to mess too much with a winning formula, with the X100 VI inheriting a great deal from the previous model, including the same design, controls, lens, viewfinder, screen, battery, card slot and ports.
The body, available in the same black and silver finishes as before, looks and feels essentially identical to the V. So you’re getting a compact but comfortable body with aluminium plates at the top and bottom adding some class.
The body itself is the same width and height as before, but has gained 2mm in thickness and 43g in weight to accommodate the IBIS mechanism.
You’d assume it’s the main body that’s become 2mm thicker, but impressively it’s actually only half a millimeter more than before, with the remaining 1.5mm being added to the lens barrel.
If you have the VI right next to the V, you may notice it’s a tad heavier, but once in your hands, I honestly didn’t notice any difference in size or weight. The only giveaway is when it’s powered-down and you can slightly feel the disengaged IBIS mechanism as you walk with it in your hands. In fact it’s so close in size, it remains compatible with all accessories for previous models including cases and lens attachments.
This includes the lens adapter which is still required for full weather-sealing, as without it, the optics still extend a little in use. A shame it’s not fully sealed out of the box, but it would have required a redesign or larger housing.
The optics themselves are identical to before, so you’re getting a 23mm f2 delivering a roughly 35mm equivalent field of view and a 10cm closest focusing distance. Fujifilm claims it has sufficient resolution for the new sensor, and I’ll be testing that in a moment.
The controls and dials feel and operate as before which means the VI inherits an unlockable compensation dial which can still accidentally turn when the camera’s pulled out of a snug bag or pocket.
The viewfinder is identical to the previous version, so you’re getting a hybrid system with the choice of optical or electronic views, or the former with a small electronic overlay.
The EVF portion remains a 3.69 million dot panel, so no boost in resolution, but in use the size means you’re unlikely to have seen much benefit with a higher resolution panel.
As a long-term X100 V owner, I’m a little embarrassed to say I rarely use the optical portion of the viewfinder and when admitting as such in my long-term review, was surprised to learn many other owners are electronic only too.
This lead me to wonder if a more affordable version might be possible with an EVF only, but clearly Fujifilm’s engineers feel the hybrid viewfinder is the soul of the series, so it remains the only choice. Hopefully the XE series may make a re-appearence for those who love the look of the X100 but are happy with an EVF alone.
The screen also remains mostly unchanged, so still no chance of it flipping forward for vlogging or selfies, but in a useful upgrade, it’ll now angle down further by 45 degrees rather than the modest 30 of the V. Meanwhile it’ll still angle 90 degrees upwards and fold very neatly flush back into the body afterwards.
Battery life was always an issue with the earlier models, but there’s no way to accommodate a larger pack without increasing the size and weight of the camera. So the VI keeps the NP-W126S, albeit with the newer, less power-hungry processor compensating for the IBIS. In real-life usage, mostly with the hungry EVF, I managed around 150 photos and a few minutes of video, all with IBIS before the battery started to flash.
Fujifilm’s also resisted upgrading the SD card slot to UHS-II, instead sticking with UHS-I, but this is still fast enough for all the video modes and reasonable burst depths. By the way, the maximum mechanical burst speed remains 11fps, and there’s a variety of electronic options available.
And finally the ports are also the same, so you’re getting USB C for data transfer and charging, Micro HDMI and a 2.5mm jack for a remote release or microphone input. I’d have preferred a 3.5mm mic input, but it was not to be.
Looking at the sensor and processor in more detail, the X100 VI essentially inherits most of the photo and AF options of the X-T5 and other recent models. So you’re getting 40 Megapixel images measuring 7728×5152 pixels along with a choice of lower resolutions and different aspect ratios, the option to record compressed files, RAW files or both, the choice of storing those RAW files uncompressed, losslessly compressed or with lossy compression, and thanks to the new processor, the choice of JPEG or HEIF.
Then there’s the current collection of Film Simulations which as mentioned earlier includes the latest REALA ACE mode, yet to reach any other X-series model, plus all the other image processing tweaks.
The sensor and processor also equip the X100 VI with a slightly lower base sensitivity of 125 ISO and a fastest electronic shutter speed of 1/180,000.
Moving onto autofocus, you can reposition and resize a single AF area using the joystick and thumb wheel, or within the menus choose broader areas including customisable zone shapes and sizes.
As with other models sharing the same processor, you’ll see two subject recognition menu options, the first allowing you to enable human face and eye detection, and the second adding a list of non-human subjects including animals, birds, cars, bikes, planes and trains. These all work the same way as previous X Processor V cameras, and like those I’d prefer all the subject types were just on a single menu rather than split out into human or everything else.
I think perhaps a bigger question though is how useful many of these subject recognition capabilities will be on a camera with a fixed 35mm equivalent lens. Pet portraits perhaps, but bird, car, train and plane recognition is of more benefit at longer focal lengths.
I’ll make detailed quality and AF comparisons in my next video but for now wanted to show you a brief example I took with both the older X100 V and the latest X100 VI of the same subject with the same settings.
Zooming-into the image for a closer look, with the 40 Megapixel X100 VI on the left and the 26 Megapixel X100V on the right shows them to be actually quite similar here. Sure the VI is certainly resolving slightly finer detail if you’re really pixel-peeping, but I don’t think it makes much difference in this example.
So here’s another shot taken with the VI, and as before let’s zoom in for a closer look before placing it on the left and the older V on the right. Again there are differences if you’re really looking, but it’s not night and day. Once again I’ll be making some more detailed comparisons in my next video.
But while the extra Megapixels and detected subjects didn’t make much difference in my initial tests, the IBIS certainly did.
During my tests, the slowest I could handhold a sharp result with the X100 VI with IBIS enabled was one second, versus 1/60 without IBIS. You can see that one second exposure here on the left with IBIS and on the right without. That corresponds to the six stops promised by Fujifilm.
This means you can keep shooting handheld at the lowest ISO under much dimmer conditions than before, and while slower shutter speeds will of course incur blurring of subjects in motion, this can be used for creative effects.
I found the IBIS sufficiently effective to reprogram the Auto ISO lowest shutter speed to ⅛ or even slower, again maintaining the maximum quality for longer. This for me is the major image quality enhancement over the X100 V if you’re shooting mostly static subjects, and it’s also nice to view a steadier image when composing with the screen or EVF.
Moving onto video, the X100 VI offers uncropped 1080 or 4k from 24 to 60p in 16:9 or wider DCi shapes. There’s also over-sampled 4k HQ or 6.2k in 24 to 30p albeit both with a 1.23x crop, reducing that equivalent field of view to around 43mm.
Here’s some footage I filmed with the X100 VI, first in 1080 at 25p, followed by the standard 4k mode at 25p which I believe is not oversampled. Next here’s 4k HQ mode which oversamples from 6.2k’s worth of detail, albeit with a crop in the field of view. And finally here’s the 6.2k mode again at 25p and sharing the same crop as before.
Now let’s briefly return to 1080 at 25p before switching to the High Speed mode here filming 1080 at 200p and encoded in-camera at 25p for an eight times slowdown. The top frame rate is 240p which when played at 24p gives you a ten times slow down.
IBIS again transforms the use of any of the video modes, but additional digital stabilisation is also available for the standard 1080 and 4k modes, incurring a mild 1.1x crop. This isn’t available for 4k HQ or 6.2k.
So here’s a 4k clip I filmed handheld without IBIS on the X100 VI, where the footage is wobbly. This is why handheld video on earlier models was of limited use.
Next here’s the same view but with IBIS enabled and the view has become much steadier. If your technique is better than mine, you could easily get away with this, but if you need some additional help, here’s digital stabilisation working alongside IBIS to steady the view further, albeit with a mild reduction in the coverage. Note the digital stabilisation is not available for 4k HQ or 6.2k, as they’re already cropped.
And finally for the optional Movie Boost IS enabled, which is designed to further lock an image when you’re not panning or walking. Here you can see it’s visibly keeping the view very steady, and almost snaps into place when you recompose.
Filming in front of the camera remains a challenge though as the screen doesn’t face forward and the lens isn’t wide enough. Here I’m holding it as far as I can, and you’re still faced with my floating head of doom.
And if you were to attempt to walk while handholding in a vlogging style, you’ll see the IBIS isn’t up to task even if the lens were wider. It’s just not designed for this kind of filming.
But if you’re behind the camera, the X100 VI represents a huge step-up over the V and earlier models for videographers with a raft of quality, feature and usability enhancements.
Oh and it even managed to record an hour and 19 minutes of 4k 25p without overheating on a full charge before the battery ran out. Compare that to the X100V which limits 4k clips to just 10 minutes and in my tests overheats after around that amount of filming anyway.
Which brings me to my thoughts so far based on my initial hands-on experience, during which I’ll share more sample images.
The X100 VI builds upon the hugely popular X100V, enhancing both its photo and video quality without compromising the core appeal. It shares the same design, controls, lens, viewfinder, screen, battery and ports, but upgrades the sensor and processor, and remarkably squeezes IBIS into a body that’s only barely thicker and heavier than before. As a long-term X100V owner, I could hardly tell the difference in size and weight once it was in my hands.
In my tests so far, the higher resolution sensor didn’t make a huge difference to the real-life detail over the X100 V, and the usefulness of subject recognition at 35mm is debatable.
But the presence of IBIS transforms the potential photo quality in lower light, allowing you to handhold much slower shutter speeds in order to keep the ISO low and the quality at its best. I managed to handhold sharp results as slow as a second, and found one quarter was very achievable. Of course this won’t help if you want to freeze motion in low light, but if your subject is static or you can embrace some motion blur, it’s a useful improvement.
IBIS also makes video considerably more usable on the X100 VI over its predecessors, and while the focal length and lack of flip-screen mean you still won’t be handheld vlogging in front of the camera, you will be enjoying far superior results from behind it.
And while the retail price is a couple of hundred more than the X100V when it was launched, that model has rarely been sold for that in recent years, so arguably you’re now getting IBIS for free. Oh and by squeezing IBIS into the smallest X-series camera, I think it’s a safe bet we’ll also now see it on all models in the future.
As for availability, Fujifilm has built a new factory in China for the X100 VI, and while this means it’s the first in this series not to be made in Japan, it should mean you stand a much greater chance of actually buying one. I hope that’s the case, but if you’re interested in the camera I’d certainly consider putting in a pre-order sooner than later; there’s links in the description to the latest prices.
Oh and if you fancy something more exclusive, there’ll also be a special edition with a soft shutter release, dedicated strap, box and history card, as well as the serial number on the hotshoe and the original Fujifilm logo from 1934 engraved on the top and cap. Appropriately it’s limited to 1934 models and costs £1934.
Check prices on the Fujifilm X100 VI at B&H, Adorama, WEX UK or Calumet.de. Alternatively get yourself a copy of my In Camera book, an official Cameralabs T-shirt or mug, or treat me to a coffee! Thanks!