Testing the Fuji x100s - Part 2/2

The last post about the x100s sadly wasn't an extensive test and this time I have to touch on the cons of this camera. Don't get me wrong I'm obsessed with this camera and will continue using it as my street photography camera but there are some things that I could change. Honestly I’m sure the issues I mention would be a problem on any small form fixed lens camera.

My two main problems with the form factor is a small screen and the fixed lens. Let's start with the fixed lens. All x100 series cameras are a fixed 35mm lens. Theres no obvious problem with this lens and it seem to be the default for street photography. My problem comes from across the street photos as seen in the photo below. I believe that its a good image but a little more zoom would help it. Another problem is the fact that this camera is 16MP, later versions of the x100 bump that up to 24MP. This means that if a photo is shot too far away or I want to crop in for any reason than I can't because the resolution is too low. This doesn't present too much of an issue though because it means I just have to be more intentional with my shots.

Lets take the heat off the camera and focus on some positives I noticed on my harder testing. Vivid mode is incredibly solid. The colors this Fuji produce are amazing. Flowers, fruits, and landscapes absolutely pop in this mode. It was rare that I popped into color while shooting this test but when I did I choose vivid over any other mode 100% of the time. Reading other reviews of the camera mention poor battery life so I panicked and ordered 3 extra batteries. Sadly there arrived the day I left for my trip. I shot three days of Seattle on one battery. I was terrified that I would run out of battery but luckily for me those reviews were wrong. I spent entire days on this camera and had no concern over battery life ever. I had the opportunity to charge every night but I would say full day life is more than enough for me.

Let’s wrap this first impressions review up. The last problem I had with this camera was manually focusing and the lack of focus points. Manaully focusing is a pain on this camera due to it not zooming in while doing it. On my Sony a7r the screen will zoom massively while focusing which makes it super easy to focus perfectly. The Fuji x100 because of its small screen and lack of this “zoom” feature makes manually focus almost too difficult to bother. Lack of focus points is another issue this version suffers from. The x100s is stuck to 16 focus points which makes shooting faster but focusing a bit harder as you have to frame the shot to match one of the points. Future versions of the x100 fix this as the x100v has 425 focus points which is more than enough.

Overall I love the Fuji x100 and think it is a wonderful street companion. Working with this camera has left some to desire though which a bit larger body and swappable lens would cure. I am definitely looking into some other Fuji options such as the xt4. The x100 lineup is perfect for any street photographer looking for a run and gun setup as well as a beginner just learning to shoot willing to put in some work.