Fujifilm X100V Mirrorless Camera Review: Perfecting the X100 Series

Patrick August 26, 2020

Fujifilm X100V Mirrorless Camera Review:

The Fujifilm X100 Series has always been loved by so many with good reason. It has always been steadily improved with each new successor but the overall feel, style, and functions have stayed true to the original design. Currently, we have the new X100V, which I’m going to state right now, is probably my favorite new Fuji camera so far. Here’s why.

Fujifilm X100V Mirrorless Camera Build Quality:

Let’s start off talking about the overall build, which I have to say is impressive. The X100V feels very solid, and even a bit dense. It now uses aluminum for the top and bottom plates of the camera body, With all that said, it only weighs 478 g with the battery and memory card in it. Overall, I absolutely love how this camera feels in the hands, and to me, it feels even a bit more solid than the X-T4 and X-Pro3. To top it off, the X100V is now weather resistant but there is condition to this: to be fully weather resistant, you will need to purchase the AR-X100 adapter ring and the PRF-49 protection filter. That’s not really cool but it’s still only a small issue, and it’s definitely not something that would prevent me from buying the X100V. As for battery life, you’ll get approximately 350 frames when using the EVF in Normal Mode, and 420 frames using the OVF in Normal Mode. Lastly, you can still get this camera in either black or silver.

↑ The Fuji X100V in black.

Style wise, this camera retains the old school rangefinder look of its predecessors that we all love, and it still uses the dedicated dials on the top plate for shutter speed, and exposure compensation. There’s also an aperture ring on the lens, and an ISO dial that is built into the shutter speed dial. If you want to change the ISO, simply lift the shutter speed dial up, and turn until you reach your desired setting. This time around, the dial will stay up until you push it back down.

↑ Top plate of the X100V with all the dials. Notice the aperture ring on the lens as well.

Many of you have probably seen these dials on old film cameras, so yes, they are old school in design but they truly make shooting a lot easier. Best of all, they make me feel like I am actively involved in the photographic process. I don’t feel like I’m just dealing with a computer, which in turn, makes photography much more enjoyable. To me, there’s no substitute to this type of a tactile experience. All the important settings are right at my fingertips, and can be adjusted even when the camera is off. For those who are new to photography, these kinds of dials are also great because you can really see how important settings like ISO, aperture, and shutter speed all interact, and relate with each other.

↑ Here’s the back of the camera.

As for ergonomics, the Fuji X100V feels great in the hands. There’s still the synthetic leather that wraps around the body, which not only adds to the rangefinder look but also serves a functional purpose by helping with grip. Unlike previous generations, there are sharper corners to this body but I love the new design, and it’s worth noting that the sharp corners do not affect comfort in any way.

Speaking of comfort, the Fuji X100V fits the hands like a glove, and because it is so compact, you’ll want to take it everywhere with you. That’s fine because the X100V is the type of camera that’s meant to be a constant companion. The size is just about perfect; it’s easy to travel with it, and it can be very discreet when you’re street shooting. If you get the black one, most will not even notice you taking their picture, and if they do, chances are they won’t even care. It’s not an intimidating camera.

Speaking of street shooting, the new two-way tilting LCD touchscreen display not only adds convenience, it’s great when you want to discreetly do some hip shots. The 3.0″ 1.62m-dot LCD display produces great colors and contrast. The touch functions are also excellent.

↑ The X100V comes with an excellent touch display.

Of course, with a camera like this, you’ll probably be using the viewfinder a lot, and in this case, you’re in luck because the one in the Fuji X100V is quite exceptional. Like previous generations, the one in the X100V is a hybrid viewfinder. In other words, you can switch between a 3.69M dot OLED electronic viewfinder, and a 0.52x magnification optical viewfinder that offers 95% frame coverage with a simple flip of a switch, which is located on the front of the camera.

↑ The display can tilt.

The OVF overall is great; parallax-correcting is provided. The OVF is also bright, and clear making it easy to compose your shots. With the Electronic Range Finder (ERF) Function, you can blend the OVF, and EVF together. You can see an electronic preview of the scene in the bottom right corner, while still framing the image using the OVF.

Nowadays though, I must admit that I rely mostly on EVFs, and well, that’s totally fine, since the one in the Fuji X100V is excellent. As I mentioned earlier, the X100V uses a 3.69M dot OLED EVF. The EVF uses a bright 1500cd/㎡ high-luminance panel, so even in bright conditions, image taking is no sweat. Overall, color and contrast are excellent in the EVF. Lag time is also a thing of the past.

As for video, the Fuji X100V can record 4K video up to 30 frames per second or capture 120 frames per second at 1080p to create super slow motion effects. It can record 10-bit, 4:2:2 color externally via the HDMI port and leverage, and you can apply the Film Simulations (I’ll talk about this later) to video footage.

So overall, I love the ergonomics and build. The one complaint I have is the missing directional pad or D pad. Yes, I know the joystick essentially replaces it but the D pad feels a bit faster to me. Still, that’s a small issue for me. The bottom line is the Fuji X100V is probably my favorite camera from Fujifilm right now. In fact, if I didn’t need a Fuji body with interchangeable lens capability, I would sell all my Fuji gear, and buy just the X100V with the TCL-X100 II Tele Conversion Lens (giving me a 50mm equivalent). I’d be extremely happy.

Fujifilm X100V Mirrorless Camera Autofocus:

Now, let’s talk about the autofocus system. The Fuji X100V has a hybrid autofocus system that combines 425 phase-detection points with a contrast-detection system. Generally, the autofocus has definitely been improved when compared to the older model. It’s quicker, and feels more sure of itself but the previous X100 was decent too, so you would probably need the older camera with you in order to really see the difference.

With all that said, the autofocus isn’t as quick as some of the newer XF lenses. I think the electronics are definitely up to par. For instance, the tracking is excellent but I feel like sometimes the lens’ mechanics may lag behind a bit. Overall though, the autofocus is quick and it doesn’t hunt. Face Detection AF, for example, is great. I did a short shoot with the X100V, and I’m happy to report that the camera did superbly. It tenaciously locks onto a face in the frame, and nails the focus. It can find a face even in scenes where there are a lot of other distractions.

Another thing worth mentioning is that the autofocus works great even in low light situations. According to Fujifilm, the X100V can focus accurately in lighting conditions down to -5 EV. I definitely don’t doubt this claim. I didn’t have any issues with the autofocus in low light settings.

Fujifilm X100V Mirrorless Camera Image Quality:

As for image quality, the Fuji X100V uses the APS-C 26.1MP X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor, which can be found in other current X series bodies like the X-T4 and the X-Pro3. It is back illuminated for improved light receiving performance. Furthermore, Fujifilm has omitted the optical low-pass filter, which results in a higher degree of image quality and sharpness.

↑ This was taken in natural light near sunset at f2 and 160 ISO.

↑ This was taken at f5.6 and 640 ISO.

As I mentioned, we’ve seen this sensor before, so there really aren’t any surprises. It works great in Fuji X100V rendering beautiful colors and contrast. Dynamic range is excellent: RAW files offer a high degree of flexibility. More details are retained in the shadows while highlights are more easily recovered. It’s now a 26 megapixel sensor versus the 24 MP in the X100V’s predecessor. It’s not a huge jump but truthfully, I feel 24 or 26 megapixel is plenty, and really a nice place for Fuji to be around.

↑ This was shot in the morning using f11 and 320 ISO. It was quite hazy on this day.

↑ The camera settings for this photo were f5.6 and 320 ISO.

Like other Fujifilm cameras with this sensor, the high ISO capabilities are excellent, and compare favorably to the competition. At 1600 ISO there is some noise creeping in but nothing that’s out of the ordinary. Overall, photos taken at this setting are still very clean. At 3200 ISO, you’ll notice more noise but detail is still very high. Color rendering is still great in my opinion. 6400 ISO is where noise is definitely more readily noticeable but I’ve used this setting often, and I felt I’ve achieve great results.