Fujifilm X100V – Your Prayers are Answered

At long last, here is the camera many have been waiting for: the all new Fujifilm X100V – in both Silver and Black. The previous X100F is 3 years old, which is an eternity in mirrorless camera iterations. Before that, the X100T, then the X100S, and at the beginning of it all, the X100.

All of the X100 models have had the same exact slim, retro body, with an amazing built-in 23mm f/2.0 lens, physical controls for aperture and shutter speed, an Optical View Finder that’s switchable to an EVF in addition to the LCD screen, and probably the slowest auto focus on the planet.

But the image quality is second to none. The Fuji X100 series cameras have something in them, some intangible color quality to them, that makes photos look out of this world. Even though you can’t zoom, and the lens is pretty wide as it is, you end up coming away with the most picturesque snapshots, especially at f/2.0, especially during the day using the built-in ND filter.

The X100V has some new tricks up its sleeve. First, it’s got a new 26.1 megapixel X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor, an updated lens design with 2 aspherical elements, more continuous frames per second if you happen to be the only person on the planet shooting fast subjects with this camera, a better electronic viewfinder with more resolution, and some other improvements here and there.

Most importantly, the autofocus has been improved, and that’s been the one achille’s heel for the X100 series. Dads want it for their family snapshots, but dads can’t ever catch their kids in focus. Sound familiar? The new model has 425-point hybrid AF, compared to 325-point hybrid AF on the X100F. For reference, the X100S had a 49-point matrix.

The better autofocus is enough to get any X100 fan to trade in their X100 model, and really there should be a trade in program, because once you bring an X100 into your life, you never want to let it go, even while you dabble with other cameras.

For newbies to the Fuji system, the X100V may finally be the camera model that turns everyday gearheads into the point-and-shoot fixed-lens camp. Why? Because the X100V finally has video capabilities that make it seem like you’re getting more than just a pretty good photo camera.

Now you can shoot 4K at up to 30fps on the X100V, outputting up to 10-bit 4:2:2 video to an external recorder. This makes it a perfect B-cam to a Fujifilm XT-3.

As for the body, even though it’s the same size and weight, the new X100V has weather sealing and probably the biggest change to the X100 series: a tilting screen. Finally, you can take low and high angle shots without having to crane your whole body. This, along with the AF upgrade, should be enough to convince anyone to buy into the X100V.

**Fujifilm X100V –Silver | **Black