Fuji x100F Review

x100F Review of Pre-Production Body

I’ll tell you right from the start: I never intended to write this x100F review, as I had no intention of buying this camera when it was first announced. I’d been following the rumours for a while and felt I pretty well knew what the camera was about.

As a working documentary wedding photographer in Birmingham, I’d already had the X100s and thoroughly loved it. But when it was stolen on holiday back in the summer of 2015, I’d decided not to replace it, as since then I’d bought the X-E2 and X-T1.

But my main sticking point was the price. Did I want to buy a fixed lens camera at that price? I’d since added 2 X-Pro2 bodies for my weddings and relegated my other bodies as backup.

My downfall happened on Sat 28th Jan 2017 when I attended a Fuji photographer’s meeting in Bath and Kevin Mullins, who’s documentary wedding photography workshop I’d attended earlier. He brought along 2 pre-production X100F bodies for us all to try out for the day. I was determined not to like the camera, or at least convince myself that I don’t need it. But after trying out the camera, this post was born and I’ve been writing it since then, and now comes the day to post my findings!!

Initial Impressions of x100F

When I first held the body, I was surprised at how sturdy and solid it felt. It was heavier than I’d expected or remembered from my X100s. Not in a “heavy brick” sort of way, but more of a “reassuringly-well-built” sort of way.

Battery life with mirrorless bodies is always a worry of mine, especially if I’m away from a power source, eg on a long holiday trip. So I was excited to find out the camera can be charged via the USB slot! Previously I had to consider: 1) Do I bring loads of batteries, or 2) Should I bring my USB-powered battery chargers to charge from my power bank that I already bring for my phone and tablet? That problem is now solved! Strike One!

The x100F controls felt very familiar, coming from the X-Pro2. The menu and layout of the buttons meant I didn’t need to read the manual first. (As if I ever read it at all! 🙂 ).

I tried out the autofocus speed and was very impressed with how quick it locked on to subjects as I quickly moved from near to far and vice-versa. This was impressive considering this wouldn’t be the final firmware used when it goes on sale. Usually it’s tweaked a bit before final release, and things can only get better!

WCL Wide-angle Converter

The WCL-X100 converter screws on the camera’s filter thread and multiplies the focal length by 0.8. So the 23mm lens now functions at 19mm. With previous x100 bodies you had to dig into the menu to let the camera know it had the converter on, so it can minimise any distortion introduced. But a new version II of the WCL-X100 has been released that has magnets in the filter thread. When pared with x100F it “talks” to the magnets on the camera. That way the camera will automatically make the adjustments for you. It also automatically displays a guide frame in the OVF to show you your altered shooting area.

My current favourite focal length is 18mm, I use my 18mm f2 lens the most at weddings. So when I found out Kevin had brought A WCL-X100 wide angle converter, and it balanced well on the camera, I was starting to love the camera more than I should. Strike 2!

(I’ve since bought a WCL-X100-I knowing it can be converted it to work like a WCL-X100-II – see below for details)

x100F File Quality

I thought it not fair to compare/mention the file quality from a pre-production camera, when I knew things would get better. But I couldn’t help pixel peeping! We were allowed to use our own cards in the cameras so I took loads of jpeg and raw images and took them home to scrutinise. (At the time LR couldn’t open the raw files, so I could only examine the jpegs)

Simply put: Strike Three! Seeing the quality of the files in both good light and low light was all I needed to place my preorder the next day!

I’ve posted a few images from the final released body below.

I’m not one for buying for the sake of buying because of GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) I have to clearly see how any equipment can fit into what I already have. So I’d decided to sell off some equipment to make room for this beauty of a camera as a walkabout, holiday, wedding camera. It’s versatility at either 23mm, 50mm or 70mm with the inbuilt digital converter makes it a versatile addition to my gear.

x100F Review of Production Body

Now that I’ve had the camera in my hands and used it for a few jobs, has my initial excitement worn off? No!! I’ve since bought a mint used WCL-X100-I  as I found out that, with a little bit of ingenuity it can be adapted to work like the newer WCL-X100-II by strategically placing a very small magnet inside the mount where it won’t interfere with normal operation.

There are a few videos floating around how it can be done. You can see here the one that first alerted me to the idea. This one is adapting the TCL-X100-I but the same principle applies to the WCL X-100-I

Also, here’s the link to the magnets I bought on Amazon.

ps. You only need 1 magnet per converter, but as these came in a pack of 50, if anyone needs a few magnets for free, let me know.

One thing to be aware of is, with a leaf shutter camera, the maximum shutter speed at f2 is 1/1000 sec. That’s because the shutter can’t move from closed to wide open and closed again at a higher shutter speed. The “distance” is too far. So you’re limited to this max speed. To be able to use the faster shutter speeds (1/200 or 1/4000) you either need to close down the lens to say f4 or use the inbuilt ND filter to cut down the light allowing you to shoot wide open in bright sunlight. I’d forgotten about that feature from my days of shooting with the X-100s a few years ago.

Of course no x100F review would be complete without more sample images from real events. Here’s a few from a wedding I shot using the WCL-X100-I

 

So here I am now with a fantastic camera to add to my working collection.  I now shoot all weddings with: xPro2+35mm, XPro2+56mm and X100F+WCL-X100-I (19mm). That pretty much covers the whole wedding day for me, without having to swap lenses. It means I can react faster to any changing scene before me, knowing I’ll have the angles covered.

If you want to see more of my work, feel free to visit my main website. Or if you have a question to ask, send me a message on my contact page here.