What's New With the Fujifilm X100VI?

If you're reading this review, you're probably aware of how unstoppably popular Fujifilm X100V has been for the last year. And if you're not, I need to show you a graph:

This is 5 years of Google Trends data for the term "Fujifilm X100V". That first little bump is the day the camera was released, and that second bump was just about 3 years later.

If you know anything about cameras, phones, or the general consumer technology space, you know this is not normal. There is stuff comin' out every single week. And generally, the hype cycle for a new product lasts a couple of weeks max before interest slows to a crawl.

So why did this camera explode in popularity 3 years after it was released, and what is it about the Fuji X100 series that has TikTok and YouTube obsessed with this thing?

To explain, let me tell you about the new one.

The Fujifilm X100VI is a fixed-lens digital rangefinder camera. That means instead of a standard electronic-only viewfinder near the center of the camera; you can look through an optical piece of glass on the left side to frame your shot. In optical mode, digital information can be overlaid to give you valuable information about your shot, but flick a switch, and you're back to an OLED digital viewfinder that feeds you exactly what the lens is seeing.

The camera has a cropped APS-C sensor, making it smaller and lighter than most full-frame cameras on the market, and as a result, it's able to pack a super-compact 27mm (35mm equivalent) F/2 lens. Two lens adapters convert the camera to a 28mm or 50mm equivalent. Still, Fuji also has two digital teleconverter settings that push the camera to a 50mm or 70mm equivalent at the expense of resolution and lens compression.

That said, the new X100VI has graduated from the 26MP sensor on the X100V to the newer 40MP sensor on the Fujifilm X-T5. The digital teleconverters are much more manageable with more resolution, though the smaller photosites introduce slightly more noise.

Processing those 40MP files is the new X-Processor 5, which is also present in the Fujifilm X-T5. These combined features allow for faster processing time, higher resolution 6.2k video, and the Reala Ace film simulation we saw on the GFX 100 II, alongside a new optical image stabilization system that stabilizes the camera up to six stops.

That feature alone is massive because it lets you hand-hold the camera at much lower shutter speeds. There was no way I could have gotten sharp images hand-holding the X100V at 1/2 a second, but with the X100VI, that's a reality.

The X100VI comes with dedicated aperture, ISO, and shutter speed dials, with the latter 2 stacked on top of one another, making it even more compact. I'm a huge fan of this form factor because it allows you to tweak all three angles of the exposure triangle without moving your eye off the viewfinder. The X100VI also stops down to 125 ISO — a stop lower than the X100V, in case you need to expose slightly darker.

The camera is also flanked with multiple function buttons that can be mapped to various features, like engaging the 4-stop neutral density filter, a feature seen in far too few cameras. This allows you to shoot long exposures or wide-open in harsh light. It's killer to have on a whim.

The design and usability of the X100VI are a huge reason the series has gained so much notoriety in the last couple of years. The camera can easily fit in a pocket or small bag and be pulled out at a minute's notice, and its design makes it enjoyable to shoot with. The design is barely noticeable from the last generation, but the previous model was so good that it's hard to think of what Fujifilm could have changed for the better.

But Fujifilm's color is THE biggest factor contributing to the rise of the X100 series. If you've shot with Fujifilm cameras, you know what I'm talking about. Back in the day, while most companies were either camera companies OR film companies, Fujifilm was in the unique position where they developed camera bodies, lenses, and film itself. That puts Fujifilm in a unique position in the camera industry, allowing it to use simulations of its film stocks as JPG color profiles.

On digital Fujifilm bodies like the X100VI, you can access films like Provia, Astia, Velvia, Reala Ace, Eterna, and many more. Because color scientists have already worked for decades developing films that look great, it's easy to get great color straight out of the camera on Fujifilm digital cameras, too.

This is the perfect storm for a great pocket camera. Great handling, fun to shoot with, and fantastic color out of the gate. These things led TikTok and YouTube to obsess over the X100V; the same is true for the X100VI. I'm not someone who loves spending hours in Lightroom trying to tune the perfect Image from a RAW file — I just shoot JPG. I still make light edits to my photos, but Fujifilm's color profiles help me get 90% or more of the way there before I edit anything.

And this year, Fujifilm added something to the X100VI that is a bigger deal than it seems at first glance. And that's HEIF compression.

JPG, as great as it is, was invented in 1992. And since then, SO much about the cameras we shoot photos on and the screens we display those photos on have changed. JPG was created when cameras had low resolution, and screens had low-bit depth. That's just not the case anymore.

HEIF can be thought of as a new version of JPG. It can display up to 10-bit color, making banding issues much less apparent. Newly updated algorithms make it much better at compressing higher-resolution files, often in smaller file sizes than JPG. HEIF is still being adopted compatibility-wise, but the smaller, higher-quality images make it worth shooting.

The Fujifilm X100V was the camera that stayed in my pocket for just over four years straight, and now, the X100VI probably will. It's versatile, pocketable, and just a ton of fun overall. If you're looking for a great pocket camera to use daily, this is the one I'd recommend, full stop.

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