Fujifilm announces the X100VI, its follow-up to a TikTok sensation - The Verge

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

Fujifilm’s X100V became so wildly popular that it felt like the camera was endlessly backordered at every camera retailer around. On the secondary market, prices for the rangefinder-style mirrorless camera shot up into truly silly territory after it had a big viral moment on TikTok. The X100V was so in demand that Fujifilm could’ve taken the easy route for a successor and still been guaranteed to have a hit on its hands.

The new model, being announced today, looks practically the same on the outside, but the X100VI includes meaningful improvements that will make it a more capable camera — in far more shooting environments — than any previous entrant in the X100 series. The flip side to those upgrades is that the price has climbed by $200 to a new MSRP of $1,599. That’s not far off from the X-T5, but the two cameras serve very different purposes: the X-T5 is an interchangeable lens system, whereas here, you’re getting a 23mm f/2 fixed lens.

Like the X-T5 and X-H2 before it, the X100VI has jumped up to a 40-megapixel sensor, which provides greater cropping leeway and editing flexibility. Having more resolution to work with is great and all, but a more impressive upgrade is that Fujifilm has built in-body image stabilization (IBIS) into this camera. You get up to six stops of stabilization help for those scenarios where you want to keep the shutter speed as slow as possible while preserving image sharpness.

But Fujifilm hasn’t upgraded everything. The X100VI sticks with a UHS-1 SD card slot — pretty slow for a camera this expensive — and it uses the same battery as the X100V rather than the bulkier (and much longer-lasting) battery that’s present in the company’s other models. The latter choice was made to preserve the X100VI’s overall size (it’s just a bit thicker), but it means you’ll want to have a spare battery on hand whenever you’ll be out shooting for a full day. The electronic viewfinder and rear LCD also have the same resolutions as last time, at 3.69 million and 1.62 million dots, respectively. You still have the freedom to choose either the optical viewfinder, EVF, or a hybrid of the two when shooting, and the X100VI continues to offer an internal four-stop neutral density filter when needed.

The camera’s top dials and rear controls are largely unchanged.

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

The X100VI offers twice the resolution of the X100V and adds in-body image stabilization.

Image: Fujifilm

Fujifilm has equipped the X100VI with its latest X-Processor 5, which makes the new camera “almost” twice as fast as the X100V. Along with the speed boost, you’re getting much-improved autofocus that uses the company’s latest algorithms for subject detection. And the X100VI will come loaded with 20 Fujifilm film simulations, including the Reala Ace sim that was previously exclusive to one of the company’s pricey medium format cameras. Ask any Fujifilm shooter, and they’ll tell you one of the company’s core strengths is JPEG processing: there are entire websites devoted to tweaking these film sims and getting the best possible straight-out-of-camera results.

As for its construction, not much has changed: the X100VI has an aluminum body designed to withstand some bumps and go everywhere with you. But as before, you’ll need to outfit the lens with Fujifilm’s sold-separately adapter ring and protective filter to achieve true weather resistance. In a departure from its made-in-Japan predecessor, the X100VI will follow other recent Fujifilm cameras in making the switch to China-based manufacturing. Some might view this camera as having less photography “mystique” as a result — there’s a ton of history and heritage to cameras being produced in Japan — but shifting the process to China should allow the company to get many, many more X100VIs off the assembly line and into camera shops.

The X100VI will be available in silver or black and is expected to start shipping in early March. Alongside the standard model, Fujifilm will release an extremely limited-edition version of the camera that’s “engraved with the corporate brand logo from Fujifilm’s founding in 1934.” Priced at $1,999, “each unit bears a unique serial number,” and the company says “these numbered X100VI units are packaged in a special, soft-release box that includes a special strap and Fujifilm history cards.” You’ll only be able to order the LE directly from Fujifilm.

If the X100V is any indication, there’s going to be a ton of interest in this camera. For anyone willing to learn how to use them, the X100VI’s dials and manual controls offer a glorious reprieve from auto-everything smartphone shooting and the growing prevalence of computational photography. And those Fujifilm JPEG colors are just as good as people say. Stay tuned for more impressions from both Becca Farsace and myself in the weeks ahead.

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2024-02-20 06:00:00Z
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