Truth is, I haven’t given my X100V much love lately. I’d had a few instances of camera shake spoiling photos (down to not using a fast enough shutter speed, given my shaky hands..) so ended up using my recently purchased Sony A7C with its image stabilisation and of course full-frame sensor for ‘casual’ photography. Not such a satisfying experience using it, as the ergonomics are no match for a Fujifilm camera. The tiny viewfinder is a pain if you wear glasses, and even with a slim 35 or 40mm prime lens it’s also still a fair bit bigger than an X100V.
So a misty morning this week seemed like a good opportunity to try and rekindle the connection. I figured that mono would suit the misty conditions, so set the camera up with a mono film simulation, tweaked to give me the high contrast look that Leica cameras are renowned for. Just took the camera, no filters etc and off I went.
The half an hour I planned to spend wandering locally ran to almost two hours, and I took around 35 shots.
Started processing them by loading the JPG simulated files into Lightroom, and have to say I wasnt that keen – they all looked a bit ‘muddy’ and the small amount of grain effect was rather noticeable. Fortunately I always shoot with RAW enabled, and these files, although lacking ‘bite’ were much cleaner. I had recently bought the DxO Pure RAW add-in, so as an experiment processed all the RAWs in that.
Wow! – what a difference, much brighter, sharper, and cleaner – noise, especially in the higher ISO shots was much better too. So these became my start point, and only a modicum of tweaking was needed, both to the shots I left as mono, and the few that seemed to work better in colour. I’m very happy with the results.
So it leaves me in a quandary – do I still need the A7C for ‘casual’ photography where a 35mm or so lens works for most shots, or is the smaller lighter X100V the way to go? (After all, I’ve also got a Sony A7iv and both zoom and prime lenses where I need flexibility, and that’s a much better option then than the A7C). What are your thoughts on the subject?
I bought my first X100 camera, an X100S (’S’ for 2nd generation) back in 2014, largely as a result of seeing Todd Gipstein’s wonderful 
To be fair, it did work for me for a while, and a produced some decent enough photos, but inevitably I slipped back into GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) and I figured a second interchangeable lens body would suit me better, so sold the X100S. After about 6 months, I really missed that little camera’s portability and relative simplicity, so picked up what was then the latest 3rd generation X100T, but didn’t end up using it as much as my other cameras, so that too went after a few months!
Fast forward to 2017, and I was invited to a launch event for the latest 4th generation X100F, and although very impressed, wasn’t tempted to spend the £1200 asking price. I did however manage to borrow one for a family holiday in France in 2018 as I was looking for something more portable than the Sony A7iii which by then was my main camera. I also had a Sony A6300 – great little camera, but there wasn’t a compact lens for it that delivered really good image quality so I had doubts about it as a travel camera.
It took me a while to realise that all I really needed was the Fujifilm X100F – small, simple, but capable of great results. No lenses to change, just a lens hood and a couple of spare batteries, and the camera is pretty much pocketable too.
Life with a Fuji X100 camera 