Let me start off by saying that this is sort of a “part two” article.  I previously reviewed the X100VI both here and on my YouTube channel a few weeks after (finally) receiving it.  Please take a moment to take a look at what I previously wrote because I’m not going to re-examine ground I’ve already covered.  My previous reviews are more heavy on the specifications and capabilities with the camera a while this long-term review will focus more on the experience I’ve had with a year of X100VI ownership under my belt.

Why Did I Purchase The Fujifilm X100VI?

Quite honestly, I was pretty tunnel vision focused on the Canon system before I bought this camera.  I hadn’t even heard of the X100 series before the V.  I was of course familiar with Fuji, but probably couldn’t name any of their cameras.  I guess I saw them as a niche, consumer manufacturer and not a competitor in the professional space.  Like so many, I became aware of this camera during the X100V hype over the pandemic.  At that point, I was just entering my 50s and was starting to think about smaller and lighter cameras for travel.  I was also gaining an appreciation for the vintage/film look, which clearly the camera could also provide.  So purchasing it was one part experiment and another part curiosity.  The icing on the cake of course was the effective 35mm focal length which is a preference for me.  And while opinions vary on the $1600 price point I consider it a bit of a bargain, considering what I normally pay for Canon bodies and Canon lenses.

Some consider the X100VI and expensive, luxury purchase. Other of us, not so much.

Travel Game Changer

So far I’ve taken this camera to Munich, Stuttgart, Paris, London, New York, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis.  And as a travel photography companion, I consider it to be the 80% solution.  Meaning it will cover about 80% of my travel photography needs.  Combine it with something like ideally the Canon G7 X, or even an iPhone in the worst case scenario, and you really are “covered.”  Meaning, you have all the creative power found in the X100VI, combined with focal range options to capture any iconic scenes or memories that it can’t. There’s something really freeing about not having to walk around your travel destination with a backpack full of gear and a couple of mirrorless bodies and lenses, confident that you will still be able to take amazing, creative photos.

On a train somewhere in Germany…

Auto Focus

The X100VI has what I believe is Fuji’s best auto focus to date.  Or certainly close to it (they’ve come out with some newer bodies since the X100VI).  There’s also been a couple of  firmware update since I purchased the X100VI which supposedly improves the auto focus.  That said, I’m going to stand by my observation from my original review that the X100VI’s auto focus feels like it’s a couple of generations behind where most professional camera bodies are today.  Which is not to say it’s bad per se.  Just…not great.  In the menu systems there’s a full three pages worth of auto focus configuration settings and I surely haven’t played with them all.  My approach?  Single focus point auto focus combined with touch screen focus enabled.  I also have the small recessed custom button next to the shutter release set to toggle face/eye detect.  So if the auto focus is jumping around and not focusing where I want it, I can just look at the touch screen and touch where I want the camera to focus.  It locks on so when I return to looking at the EVF, the focus point hasn’t moved – I can just hit the shutter button.  Bottom line:  for the type of shooting that I do with this camera, the auto focus doesn’t often hold me back or present a problem.  But it should be considerably better in 2025.  I should add here that occasionally I have put the camera in manual focus mode, but it’s not as great of an experience as it could be or is with other cameras.  Fortunately, it’s generally not necessary.

Stylin’ & Profilin’

Something that others who own and have reviewed this camera talk about is the fact that it’s an attention getter.  Even non-photography people frequently give me a “Hey!  Cool camera!” when they see it, or ask me if I’m shooting an “old film camera.”  That’s something that never happens when I’m shooting with my Canon gear.  I love to talk to people about cameras and photography so it’s definitely “icing on the cake” part of X100VI ownership.  If you’re an extreme introvert…then maybe not so much.  But it’s a great looking camera which is no small part of the X100VI’s appeal.

Film Simulations & Film Recipes

The whole idea of using Fujifilm film simulations as well as the plethora of film recipes that are available was something that really drew me to the X100VI.  Surprisingly, I don’t often use film simulations and I’ve not had good luck with recipes.  Once in a while, I’ll get the itch to shoot only in black and white.  But generally speaking I always shoot in the RAW file format, And then I’ll play with the color profile in post.  Maybe 20% of the time I pick one of the Fujifilm film simulations.  The rest of the time I’m usually trying to match the color to my canon files, which isn’t difficult.  It should be noted that Adobe Lightroom fully supports Fujifilm film simulations and look as good as when choosing them with the native Fuji application…which isn’t great.

Professional Tool?

Many ask if the Fujifilm X100VI is a professional tool.  After a year of using this camera, I say “no” – and I’m glad it isn’t.  I’ll talk more about that below, but here are the issues preventing this camera from being a true professional tool:

Battery life:  Many complain about the battery life, but for me it’s not horrible.  With how I use the camera, I can generally make it through a day of shooting with one, no more than two batteries.  I have three – I’ve never run through all three in a day.  “Professional grade?”  Probably not.  But not a big issue.

Memory card type:  On one hand, I understand why Fuji did this.  The 40mp BSI sensor on this camera isn’t stacked, so the readout speed is slow compared to other cameras at 37ms.  So the the UHS-I V30 or U3 spec makes sense for this camera since the sensor readout speed is the bottle neck.  But what a lot of people don’t understand is that the camera will read and write to UHS-II cards.  Sure, it won’t improve the write speed, but when you go to work with the files on your computer, you’ll see a benefit over UHS-I cards.  Bottom line:  If you have UHS-II cards, you don’t have to buy new cards if you pick up an X100VI.  On the flip side, You can save some money on UHS–I cards if having the latest and fastest tech isn’t a priority.  But it feels like Fuji is using yesterdays version of yesterdays tech when it comes to memory cards on the X100VI.

Menu system:  OK…the menu system is wretched.  Like, really bad.  As I detailed in my initial review, there was absolutely no way I would have been able to do the first-time set up without a YouTube tutorial guiding me.  And it doesn’t get better with use.  I assigned my most used functions to custom buttons and stay as far away from the menu system as I can.  On the flip side, you really do have a lot of customization and control with this camera.  But professional tool?  No.

Viewfinder:  The viewfinder on the X100VI is…OK.  Not great.  Every time I use the magnificant viewfinder on the Canon R5 Mark II (or heck, even the R6 Mark II) I’m reminded just how bad the X100VI viewfinder really is by comparison.  A professional tool this is not.

Availability:  What kind of professional camera manufacturer can’t meet demand for their camera well over a year after it went on sale?  From what I hear only in the last month or so are people actually finding X100VI stock on the shelves of stores.  I wouldn’t trust my professional photography career to a company who fails in this regard.

A Photographer’s Camera

The X100VI is probably my most used camera at this point.  Apparently I’ve taken about 3500 photos with it in the first year of ownership (according to the Fuji app).  That’s staggering to me.  But I really do enjoy using the camera.  “Easy breezy lemon squeezy” immediately leaps to mind.  It’s just so easy to bring along, I almost always do.  If you look through my articles on my trip to NYC, or my trip to Paris this year for example, most of the photos you see were taken with the X100VI.  And the image quality is fantastic.  I really don’t think of it as a crop sensor camera – the image quality is that good.  If there were something better out there, I’d own it without question.  But there really isn’t…particularly when price is factored.  Leica Q3?  Full frame, and a higher megapixel count.  But not as compact and about 4x the price.  And the Q3 really doesn’t do anything that the X100VI doesn’t beyond a few stops of light.  What about the recently released Sony RX1R III?  That’s an even bigger disappointment.  If Sony hadn’t simply done a cash grab to take advantage of the resurgent interest in compact fixed lens camera, I’d probobly owned one of these.  A compact full-frame 35mm would be fantastic.  But the camera has too much 13 year old tech in it to even begin to justify the $5100.00 price tag.  Even with a tarriff elevated price tag, the Fujifilm X100VI remains the top choice in this fixed lens compact camera segment for anyone not insisting on the “Leica look.”

In the final Analysis, I don’t want this to be a “professional camera.”  I wanted to be exactly what it is – a fun camera that produces extraordinarily good images.  That last part is interesting because you really do have to know what you’re doing to be able to extract the best photos from the camera.  That’s why so many professional photographers enjoy this camera.  Yes, it’s less serious than whatever professional system that they use to make money with, But it allows them to immerse themselves in creativity and inspiration, and simply have fun.

if you’re looking for some simple photos outside of the travel articles that I linked to above, I would invite you to take a look at my original review of the X100VI That has plenty of examples.  If you’re looking for some great accessories for this camera, I’ve got you covered there too.  In below is a video supplement to this written photo review that’s on my YouTube channel: