Essential Accessories for the Fujifilm X100VI

In my last article, I talked about why, after over 20 years of shooting almost exclusively with Canon equipment that I pre-ordered the Fuji X100VI.  Pre-ordering opened up on the 2oth, but I didn’t actuallyplace my pre-order until the 22nd . Quite honestly, the X100VI wasn’t on my radar as I’m not an existing X100 series owner. So it took me a couple of days of researching and mulling over the decision before Ipulled the trigger. Not fully appreciating the pent-up demand for the previous generation X100V which Fuji was apparently never able to produce in higher numbers, I thought I’d get a camera this week. Silly me:

Honestly, this isn’t a terribly huge deal for me. I live in Ohio, so I’m not going to have much to take pictures of until Spring has sprung – late March/early April at the earliest. So I remain hopeful that I’ll get the camera sometime before my April 19th birthday.  Until then, I’ll just have to slum it with my $20,000.00 plus worth of full-frame mirrorless Canon gear.

I know I’m far from the only one in this situation, so I’m putting this time to good use and after much research, have acquired what I believe are the most essential accessories for the X100VI.  And by essential, I really do mean that every new X100VI owner will want to get these items.  I’ll also talk about some less essential but nice to have accessories.  Here’s what I learned:

MEMORY CARDS

If nothing else, you’ll absolutely need to pick up a UHS-1 SD memory card for your X100VI to start taking photos.  I’ve been using SanDisk for years.  Most recently I’ve been purchasing 256GB cards to accommodate the large files generated by the Canon R5.  The new 40mp sensor of the Fuji X100VI produces some pretty good size files too, if you shoot RAW, which I’m thinking I may not often do seeing as most people enjoy just shooting .jpg files with the Fuji film simulations applied and don’t do much editing.  So I thought I’d go with 128GB SandDisk Pro cards – plenty fast and I’ve never had a problem with reliability.

EXTRA BATTERY AND CHARGER

I hear some varying reports on just how far you’ll get with one battery (a few hours to maybe all day depending on what you do with the camera) but it’s just not worth it to have some insurance that you’ll make it through a day of shooting without running out of power. I asked many folks about third-party batteries (there are many choices) and the feedback was almost universal – you won’t get as good of performance from a third-party battery. So bite the bullet and get at least one (I may pick up more than that) Fujifilm NP-W126S factory rechargeable battery:

I also picked up the Fujifilm Battery Charger BC-W126S:

It’s probably less critical that you get the factory charger than it is to get a factory battery. I can always pick up a less expensive, multi-battery charger and maybe a couple of non-factory batteries too down the road.

FILTER ADAPTER AND LENS HOOD

You only have one (fixed) lens on this camera so you darn well better protect it.  There’s a boatload of lens hoods out there that fit Fuji 100 series cameras, but I ended up picking up this Haoge LH-X51W – it’s a two pack that comes not only with a nice compact lens hood to help protect the lens of the X100VI, but also comes with a 49mm filter adapter:

This is probably the most most minimalist, compact, and least expensive option, which is one of the reasons why I included it here among the list of essential options.

 You might be thinking “the Fuji X100VI has built in ND filters so why would I need a filter adapter?  Well, in my case I REALLY like to do automotive photography.  I don’t know that I’ll always use the Fuji X100VI for car photos, but 35mm is my favorite focal length to do automotive photography.  A circular polarizer is a critical need when doing automotive photography so that you can down the glare and reflections which come from the windshield and windows of the vehicle.  Which brings us to our next category of accessories:

LESS ESSENTIAL BUT NICE TO HAVE ACCESSORIES

I’ve had great luck with value brand K&F Concept and their filters – I have several for my Canon lenses.  So I picked up a 49mm K&F Concept Circular Polarizer filter:

A circular polarizer is certainly more useful than just automotive photography, so definitely consider picking one up for the Fuji X100VI.

Walking around with the camera, you’ll want some way to ensure you don’t accidentally drop it.  I decided to go with a wrist strap for my X100VI which I think will work great for casual outings.  I’ve got other strap options for longer photo treks, so I went with the Leftfoto Camera Wrist Band – it offers quick release, safety and comfort.  And it comes in a variety of colors, though I went with basic black.

WHAT ABOUT A SCREEN PROTECTOR?

I actually did purcharse a 2 Pack of JJC Camera Screen Protectors for the Fujifilm X100V.  However, once people started getting their cameras, I read reports that X100V screen protectors were not exactly fitting on the X100VI.  Since I don’t yet have my X100VI, I didn’t include this product in my list of essentials.  For a camera that’s likely going to be tossed in to pockets and bags, a screen protector is pretty essential to keep the rear screen from getting scratched up.  But it may be a few weeks or even months before we see screen protectors made specifically for the X100VI.  This was a $10.00 purchase for me, so I didn’t return it in hopes that I can make it work when I get my X100VI.

I plan on doing additional articles and videos once I get my Fuji X100VI – please do check back!