Camera
Has the X100VI taken a little too much from Fujifilm’s other cameras?
| The author looking pensive, perhaps pondering whether he’s condemned to over-think every aspect of cameras. |
It’s unusual for us to publish both a review and then follow up with an opinion piece. So why am I doing it here? Our reviews do their best to act as a guide for the ‘typical’ user of a product, and to provide enough information for you to make your own mind up.
But we all have different needs and expectations, myself included. I don’t believe my own personal perspective represents the ‘typical’ user, so didn’t want to weight the review too heavily towards it. Instead this is just my opinion, based on my experiences with the X100VI and how it worked for me.
So don’t you like the camera?
I really like the Fujifilm X100VI. It’s the best version yet of the kind of camera that we always hoped someone would make. Photographers who looked back longingly at the likes of the Contax T series or Olympus RC rangefinders were overjoyed when the X100 was launched, and the cameras have just got better. Hence the Gold award.
I understand that there are people who’d like a camera that’s smaller, or one with a lens that’s wider, or who don’t see the appeal when interchangable lens cameras exist. But, just as with the Ricoh GR cameras: the X100 is what it is and it isn’t (and isn’t supposed to be) anything that it isn’t.
And armed with this perspective, I don’t feel there’s any contradiction between giving the X100VI a positive review for what it is, and then saying what I wish were different about it. Because I’m not asking for it to be something it’s not, but instead that I wish it were even more what it’s trying to be.
In short, I feel that the X100 borrowing so much from Fujifilm’s other models risks detracting from its X100-ness.
Loss of focus
As the X100 series has continued, it’s gained the dual clickable dials from the other cameras in Fujifilm’s range, along with a using the focus ring as a control ring. This means there are more possible ways of controlling it but risks it taking longer for you to settle on your preferred way of doing so.
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| Noticeably, when you first switch the camera on, there are three settings assigned to the front dial, none of which actually does anything unless you hand-off control from the dedicated dial for each of those settings. |
Given the number of direct controls on the camera, it seems odd to have four exposure parameters also assigned to the front and rear dials. And while I appreciate being able to use a press of the rear dial to punch in on the camera’s live view, I feel that one or both dials being non-clickable dials would still allow for most people’s preferred way of controlling exposure while also giving a higher-quality feel and less chance of accidentally pressing a dial and changing the function.
A control point that does do something out-of-the-box is the manual focus ring when you’re not in MF mode. It’s a free-rotating ring, ill-suited to the stepped variables that can be assigned to it, and it’s all too easy to knock and only later wonder why you’ve spent the last two hours shooting in an unexpected Film Simulation mode or Small image size.
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| The X100’s manual focus ring now acts as a far-too-easy to nudge control ring. I’m not sure who thought it would be a good idea to make it so easy to accidentally change film simulation or switch to Small image size, but I doubt we’d get along. |
Of course, it’s quite possible that this only stands out to me because, as a camera reviewer a) it’s my job to explore the ways in which the camera could be used, rather than just picking one and getting on with it and b) because I’ve used all the other cameras its UI resembles, such that I recognize that the X100VI feels like the do-everything X-T5 but can’t do as much. Upon tapping the front dial, I found myself having to think about how to configure and use the camera before I could start to fall in love with it.
Inappropriate features
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| The hybrid X-H2 models, which are designed to cover a wider range of photo and video pursuits than the X100VI, have fewer dedicated dials, yet don’t have clickable command dials. So why does the X100VI need them? |
From a development (and cost) perspective, it makes sense for Fujifilm to offer as much commonality across its cameras as possible. And there’s no-doubt some added concern about appearing to be withholding features if you omit something that the hardware is capable of offering. But does the X100VI need all the X-T5’s features?
The X100VI has the same machine-learning-trained subject recognition system as the X-H2S and X-T5, but its much slower-moving lens means it can’t focus on moving subjects with anything like the hit rate they offer. Likewise, do enough people capture pictures of birds with a 35mm equivalent lens to make the presence of bird detection AF worthwhile? Maybe other people are better at quietly approaching birds without disturbing them, but even with a 40MP sensor, I think I’d need to crop extensively to get anything useful.
And, even as someone who’s written about why virtually all cameras include video, I’m not sure the X100VI would be any worse for not being able to capture cropped, rather rolling-shutter prone 6K video. Though I accept it may be more expensive, if it meant establishing parallel development streams for its firmware.
Overlooked quirks
Finally, I worry that carrying over so much code from other models means that the unique properties of Fujifilm’s rangefinder-style cameras aren’t as fully developed as they could be.
Take, for example, the behavior of the pop-up tab in the optical viewfinder, onto which an electronic preview can be projected. This retracts every time you nudge the AF joystick, then pops back up when you try to focus. But it only does this with the joystick’s default behavior. If you set the joystick to simply position the AF point, rather than moving and letting you change its size, then the pop-up tab remains engaged.
This is a little odd, but becomes even stranger when you remember that it’s not actually possible to change the AF point size when you’re looking through the OVF. So why doesn’t the joystick simply switch to position-only mode, when your eye is up to the finder?
Similarly, the pop-up tab can show a magnified version of the chosen AF point, for confirming critical focus position and accuracy. But only in AF-S mode. If you set the camera to AF-C (though why would you?), the tab shows a tiny version of the entire scene: the thing you’re already seeing through the viewfinder itself. Both of these are really, really minor oddities, but could they have been better if Fujifilm had time to focus solely on what the X100 can do, rather than sharing firmware more widely?
And yet?
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| For all of my nit-picking about the X100VI, I think it’s a superb photographic tool. |
To be clear, none of this stops the X100VI being an excellent camera. But part of me misses the simplicity and, perhaps, inflexibility of the early models. If you’ve decided to straightjacket yourself with a slow-to-focus camera with a fixed focal length, would it be so terrible to have to adapt to the way it’s designed to be used, rather than even having to think about how to configure it and deal with its foibles? And would a few fewer features in any way diminish the appeal?
Perhaps Leica, whose SL cameras are full of functions but whose niche manual-focus rangefinders have had their video capabilities excised, is onto something.
Season’s greetings! We’ve almost reached the end of 2024, and as is our custom, the DPReview team would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Boxing Day, Happy Kwanzaa, Joyous Festivus, and Happy Holiday to all. We’re incredibly grateful you’ve stuck with us for yet another orbit around the sun.
2024 was an important year for DPReview symbolically. One year ago today, on December 25, 2023, we celebrated the site’s 25th anniversary. For the past 12 months, we’ve been looking back at some of the moments and milestones from that past quarter century. We couldn’t have reached this point without your support.
2024 has also been an important chapter for DPReview as a business. Many of you know we’ve been going through a period of rebuilding. Every person at DPReview, including many folks behind the scenes, has poured their heart and soul into this effort. Why? Because at a fundamental level, we believe that an internet with DPReview is better than one without it.
The hard work is paying off. You might recall that a couple of months ago, we advertised some new editorial roles on the site, and I’m thrilled to report that we’ll have a couple of new faces joining the team early next year.
“At a fundamental level, we believe that an internet with DPReview is better than one without it.”
A huge factor in that success has been our community. Whether you’re a regular in the forums or just pop in to comment under the occasional article, we’re grateful for your contributions. Our forums are a goldmine of information, crowd-sourced from knowledgeable people for over 25 years. Our homepage may get a lot of attention, but the forums are where the magic happens: exchanging ideas, forming communities, and forging personal connections.
In fact, we’re planning to ramp up support for our online community in 2025. Remember those new staff members I mentioned? One of them will be focused on supporting our forums, including our team of volunteer moderators. This will be the first time we’ve had a person on our team dedicated to this task, and to be candid, it’s overdue.
Before you leave today, we’d love it if you’d take a moment to leave a comment and let us know what made 2024 at DPReview memorable for you. Or, if you’re feeling prophetic, please tell us what you’d like to see in the coming year.
From all of us at DPReview – the editors who craft the stories, the tech wizards who keep the lights on, and the business team who keep us on solid footing – we wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season. We’re genuinely excited about what the future holds and look forward to having you by our side as we embark on the next 25 years.
2024 In Review
2024 is just about over, so we thought it’d be a good time to look back and identify some trends that started emerging or kept going strong throughout the year. This isn’t a recap of all the news that happened – we’ll be releasing one of those soon enough – but rather a broad look at the direction the industry is going, which may give us an idea of what to expect throughout 2025.
Global Shutter
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Photo: Richard Butler
It’s hard to say that global shutter was a trend in 2024; in terms of consumer mirrorless cameras, there was only one with the tech, the Sony a9 III. Given the benefits it brings, though – the ability to sync with full-power flash at almost any speed, the ability to shoot stills at 120fps, and to use shutter speeds up to 1/80,000 sec to capture the fastest subjects without any blur – we fully expect to see it come to more high-end sports / action cameras.
That’s not to say that the a9 III’s sensor is perfect. Compared to its rolling shutter counterparts, it takes a hit to absolute image quality with its 250 base ISO, which means it has about a stop more noise than most of its competitors.
However, if you need the performance a global shutter offers, it’s likely none of those caveats will be deal breakers. We just mention them to say that we don’t expect to see global shutters in cameras that are focused on image quality above all else, such as the Sony a7R series or a follow-up to the Nikon Z8 – at least not in 2025 or even 2026.
Physical color mode controls
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Photo: Mitchell Clark
This year, it felt like every other camera had a physical control for color modes. Fujifilm’s Film Simulation dial, included on the X-T50 and X-M5, feels like the obvious example, but it was far from the only one: Panasonic put a LUT button on the creator-focused S9 – and then gave its users the option to backport one onto other cameras – and Nikon included a button to bring up its Picture Control menu on the Z50II.
Physical color mode controls aren’t a brand-new thing. We saw one on the Olympus Pen-F in 2016. But this is the year they definitively became a trend.
Only time will tell if they stick around. Camera manufacturers will likely be paying very close attention to whether consumers actually value being able to easily change the look of their photos and videos using a physical button or dial. If it turns out they do, this year’s crop of cameras likely won’t be the last we see with a color mode control.
APS-C shooters have more options than ever
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Image: Sigma
2024 was the year that Canon and Nikon started allowing more and more third-party APS-C lenses onto their systems. At the beginning of the year, you only had a handful of options if you wanted a third-party autofocus lens for RF or Z-mount. Now, you have significantly more.
The change came from some of the usual suspects, as well as some smaller companies. Sigma and Tamron were the first to announce they’d be bringing their lenses to RF mount, but Samyang slid in under the wire with an announcement that it, too, would start producing lenses for the system.
Most of Sigma’s DC DN primes have been available on Z-mount since early 2023, but this year, we’ve seen a slew of autofocus primes become available for the system from brands like Siuri and Viltrox.
There are still holes in the lineup for each brand, though – neither has a great telephoto option, and there aren’t any fast zoom Z-mount lenses – which is why we’d like to see this trend continue into 2025. If we’re really dreaming, maybe Canon and Nikon will allow more third-party full-frame glass, but we’ll save our fantasies for a different article.
The rise of smaller full-frame lenses
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Image: Sony
Speaking of full-frame glass, this year we’ve also seen a trend of smaller, lighter full-frame lenses. Panasonic’s 18-40mm F4.5-6.3 for L-mount is the most obvious example – the company says it’s the “smallest and lightest interchangeable zoom with autofocus for full-frame mirrorless cameras” – but Sony’s FE 24-50mm F2.8 is also a great, compact new lens that makes a ton of sense on smaller bodies like the a7CR.
Even the big lenses have been getting smaller – Sigma’s second-gen 24-70 F2.8 is 10% lighter than its predecessor, a difference that’ll definitely be noticeable in hour eight of shooting a wedding. Sony’s 85mm F1.4 GM II also boasts a 20% weight reduction compared to the original.
Again, this trend isn’t exactly new. We’ve seen a few lenses that have been largely defined by their size; Canon’s original RF 70-200mm F2.8 from 2019 and Sony’s 70-200mm F2.8 GM II from 2022 come to mind. But with further advances in optics and manufacturing techniques, we hope to see even more full-frame lenses come out that are smaller and lighter than the ones that came before… even if they still won’t be able to out-compact Fujifilm’s XF 16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR II.
The AI age
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Logos: Open AI, Midjourney, Meta, Stability.ai, Google
Pretty much every industry has had its own deluge of AI-related news in 2024, and photography is no exception. The continued proliferation of AI-generated images and text has sparked near-endless debates about what place, if any, the technology has in photography, with some people even taking the extreme position that the ubiquitous ability to generate images will destroy the art form altogether (assuming those comments too, aren’t AI-generated).
It’s not all existential doom and gloom, though, as some companies have used AI to try and improve the experience of photography rather than replace it. For instance, the new Canon EOS R1 and R5 II have Action Priority AF modes, which use machine learning-based algorithms to determine which subject to focus on during key moments in certain sports. It could be thought of as context recognition, rather than the subject recognition that’s become table stakes for most cameras. The EOS R1 and R5 II also have built-in AI-derived noise-reduction and upscaling functions, should you choose to use them.
AI-powered denoising and upscaling are also making their way into photo editing software, such as Lightroom or the apps from companies like Topaz Labs. And while Adobe has added plenty of generative AI features to Photoshop, we’ve also seen other AI-powered improvements, such as its distraction removal mode and Adobe Camera Raw’s new Adaptive profile and reflection removal feature.
However you feel about the technology, it’s almost certainly here to stay. The good news is that another facet of the AI trend this year has been companies working on improving transparency around AI, creating tools to prove a photo’s authenticity or show exactly how it’s been manipulated, either by AI or through more conventional means. The tech is far from ubiquitous, but it seems likely that we’ll see it spread to more and more platforms as AI becomes even more prevalent.
Have your say: Best gear of 2024
For the past few weeks, readers have been voting on their favorite cameras and lenses released in 2024. Now that the first round of voting is over, it’s time to reveal the winners.
Remember, though, it isn’t over just yet! Now it’s time to pick an overall winner. Make sure to cast your ballot for the 2024 Reader’s Choice Product of the Year – this one’s for all the bragging rights.
Best prime lens runner-up: Nikon Z 50mm F1.4
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First up is the 2024 runner-up for best prime lens, the Nikon Z 50mm F1.4, a fast prime that retails for less than Nikon’s own 50mm F1.8 S model. The tradeoff? Although it’s faster than the 50mm F1.8 S, it trades some of the clinical sharpness of that lens for more ‘character’, and you’ll likely see more vignetting and longitudinal chromatic aberration at some apertures. However, it gets you a fast prime at a popular focal length for under $500.
In our poll, the Z 50mm F1.4 barely edged out its sibling, the Nikon Z 35mm F1.4, effectively splitting the vote, suggesting that Nikon’s new F1.4 optics have struck a chord with enthusiast photographers.
Best prime lens winner: Sony 85mm F1.4 GM II
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The 2024 Reader’s Choice Award for the best prime lens goes to the Sony 85mm F1.4 GM II, the same lens we named as the best prime lens of the year in our 2024 DPReview Annual Awards. It’s not a fancy, exotic lens, but it’s a solid workhorse that gets the job done and delivers great image quality. It’s also lighter, sharper, and has faster and smoother focus than its predecessor. As we said in our Annual Awards announcement, the Sony 85mm F1.4 GM II delivers “consistent excellence you simply take for granted.”
Best zoom lens runner-up: Nikon Z 28-400mm F4-8 VR
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Placing in the runner-up position for best zoom lens is the Nikon Z 28-400mm F4-8 VR, which covers a huge range of focal lengths in a single lens. This lens remains relatively compact in its retracted state, making it an option for travel or a one-lens setup for general use. It’s even dust- and drip-resistant if you get caught in the rain on vacation.
Although the lens’ maximum aperture of F8 at the long end might seem a little restrictive, you can’t beat physics; however, Nikon’s Vibration Reduction technology – along with in-body image stabilization in many camera models – can assist at slower shutter speeds. It may not be as flashy as some of the faster zooms that were on the list, but the Nikon Z 28-400mm F4-8 VR provides a lot of versatility in a single lens, which is probably why it did so well in our poll.
Best zoom lens winner: Sony 28-70mm F2 GM
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The 2024 Reader’s Choice Award for best zoom lens goes to the Sony FE 28-70mm F2 GM. While it doesn’t go as wide as the popular 24-70mm zoom range, the FE 28-70mm proves it’s possible to maintain a relatively compact size while sporting a fast, F2 aperture, all with an internal focusing design. Its four linear motors even allow the FE 28-70mm F2 to focus when shooting at 120fps on Sony’s fastest camera.
We had a blast shooting this lens in 2024, so we appreciate why you collectively chose it as the top zoom lens of the year. If you’d like to see this lens in action, check out our video of Richard Butler using it to shoot portraits in New York City, along with a sample gallery that includes many of the portraits featured in the video. Congrats, Sony!
Best camera runner-up: Canon EOS R5 Mark II
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Grabbing the runner-up position for best camera is the Canon EOS R5 Mark II. It may deliver the same 45MP resolution as its predecessor, but just about everything else has changed.
The camera’s stacked sensor brings performance improvements to both stills and video, while Eye Control AF, Action Priority AF, and improved subject recognition AF are standout features that we hope to see percolate down to other Canon models. The R5 II also highlights Canon’s efforts to unify its mirrorless cameras with its Cinema EOS line, including codecs, gamma profiles, HDR video technology, and video tools. It’s hard to imagine many things this camera can’t do.
Best camera winner: Nikon Z6III
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The 2024 Reader’s Choice Award for best camera goes to the Nikon Z6III, making Nikon the People’s Choice winner in this category for the second year in a row.
The third generation of the Z6 series kicks things up a level. It features what Nikon calls a “Partially Stacked” sensor to deliver some of the benefits of a Stacked CMOS sensor but at a lower cost, delivering improved performance and autofocus while retaining the Z6’s reputation for excellent ergonomics. It also features significant video upgrades with higher quality output and a useful video tool set, reinforcing Nikon’s intent to be a player in the video market.
In our 2024 Annual Awards, the Z6III walked away with two trophies: Best Enthusiast Camera and our 2024 Product of the Year. It looks like it may be trying to make a clean sweep of the Reader’s Choice Awards as well.
Have your say – vote for Product of the Year!
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You helped determine the winners in the individual categories, so now’s the time to cast your vote in one last poll! Choose your favorite product from this list of winners and runners-up between now and Thursday, January 2nd. Watch for an announcement of the winning products shortly after the poll closes.
As always, thanks for casting your votes and being a part of our community throughout the year.
Please note that for the best experience, we recommend voting on our desktop site.
Poll Rules:
This poll is meant to be a bit of fun. It’s not sponsored, promoted, or paid for in any way, and DPReview doesn’t care how you vote. Our Reader’s polls are run on the basis of trust. As such, we ask that you only vote once from a single account.
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