Photography News Issue 48

Camera test 28

Photography News | Issue 48 | photographynews.co.uk

FujifilmX100F If high picture quality is a priority but lugging around a bulky camera isn’t, then what you need is a big-sensored premium compact, perhaps something just like this sleek model from Fujifilm

Specs

Price

£1249

Sensor 24.3 megapixels, 6000x4000pixels Sensor format APS-C 23.6mm x 15.6mmX-Trans CMOS III with primary colour filter Lens 23mm f/2, eight elements in six groups Aperture range F/2-16

Words and images byWill Cheung

Focusing range 30secs-1/8000sec ISO range

Fujifilm is leading the charge across a very broad front. The mirrorless X-series has an ever-growing following, the GFX has redefined the medium-format market and its X100 series shows what’s possible with premium compacts. The Fujifilm X100F is the latest in the series and the most highly featured to date. Resolution from the APS-C sensor is 24.2 megapixels, top native setting is ISO 12,800 and the AF system features 91 areas in a 13x7 grid. Add existing features such as a hybrid viewfinder, Fujifilm’s filmsimulation modes and a 23mm f/2 lens and you have a camera with serious appeal. The X100F is a fixed lens camera, so fundamentally different from the X-T2 and the X-Pro 2, but all three have a retro look, share the same APS-CX-Trans CMOS III sensor and have the same or very similar points of design such as the focus joystick, the exposure compensation dial and the four way rear thumbpad. The X-Pro2 and X100F have more in common, with a similar top plate, but both feature an advanced hybrid viewfinder – as does the X100F’s immediate predecessor, the X100T. So on the X100F you can compose via the monitor, but through the finder eyepiece there is the option of anoptical or an electronic viewfinder. The EVF shows 100% of the image and there is plenty of camera setting information that is overlaid onto the image – key items such as aperture, shutter speed and ISO are still outside the image area. Image quality is excellent and thanks to its 2360K-dot resolution screen fine detail is really well depicted. Flick the front-mounted lever and the finder image changes, quickly and quietly. The optical view shows a bright line framewith a borderwhich is where all setting information is placed. Having the image inset in this waymeans you can see what is about to enter the picture area without having to peer over the camera top. Both finder types work really well. Using the optical finder is just like using a classic rangefinder camera and many users will prefer the involvement of an actual image.

Native 200-12,800, expanded 100- 51,200 (expanded speeds only with mechanical shutter) Shutter range Mechanical shutter 30secs to 1/4000sec plus B Electronic shutter: 30secs to 1/32,000sec Drivemodes Continuous up to 8fps Metering system TTL 256 zone, multi-zone, spot, average, centre-weighted Exposuremodes PASM Exposure compensation +/-5EV in 0.3EV steps, AEB Monitor 3in, 1040K dots Viewfinder Optical/electronic hybrid with 92% optical coverage and 100% electronic coverage. The EVF features 2360K dots Focusing Single continuous, manual with face detection Focus points Intelligent Hybrid AF with AF illuminator. Single point, zone (3x3, 5x5, 7x7) from91 zones in a 13x7 grid, wide tracking Video Full HD Connectivity Wifi, geotagging, HDMI type D, USB 2.0 Other key features Intervalometer, integral flash GN 4.6 (100/m) with TTL, slow sync, front and rear curtainmodes, digital teleconverter with 50mm and 70mm (35mm equivalent) settings, 15 film simulationmodes, grain effect, advanced filters including toy camera andminiature Storagemedia 1xSD card Dimensions (wxhxd) 126.5x74.8x52.4mm Weight 469g with battery and card Contact fujifilm.eu

There are five function buttons, plus the rear command dial and AEL/AFL button and each offers 32 options which includes off. There’s a quick menu via the Q button where there are 16 fields available and the functions here can be edited down or prioritised to suit. The monitor bucks the trend; it isn’t tiltable andhasno touch functionality. The 24.3-megapixel third- generation X-Trans sensor and X-Processor Pro aside, it’s the AF system that is the X100F’s major attraction. It is an advanced AF system with a selection of working patterns. For the broadest coverage there is Wide/Tracking where you leave the camera to its own devices to pinpoint and focus in the subject using a 13x7 (91) grid. Face and eye detection are extra options. You can have face detection on its own, with auto eye detect or with right or left- eye priority.

With the EVF the image is brighter compared with the optical one when ambient light levels are low. Also the EVF gives real-time previews of white-balance, film simulation modes and exposure including when compensation is applied. On the top plate is the exposure/shutter speed dial with ISO being set by a lift-and -rotate collar. There is no physical lock on the dial nor can you lock it via amenu item. ISOcan also be changed with the front command dial if you set the ISO dial to the A position. The other top plate dial is for setting exposure compensation within the range of +/-3EV in 0.3EV steps. There’s the option of a C setting where you can delegate setting compensation to the front input dial; you get a range of +/-5EV in 0.3EV steps.This Ipreferred–youcancheck the effect of compensation (not with the optical finder) more smoothly by using your forefinger on the command dial thanwith your thumb on the click-stopped compensation dial. If you have both ISO and compensation set to be changed by the command dial, pushing it toggles between the functions. The lens’s aperture is nicely click- stopped in 0.3EV settings and has finger tabs to help handling. The lens also has a control ring which is also the manual focus ring. In AF mode, the control ring can be set to adjust film simulation setting, white- balance and digital teleconverter – the lattermagnifies into the image to give the effect of a 50mm or 70mm focal length andworks in JPEGmode only. Typically for Fujifilm there is plenty of customisation potential.

With the option selected, active AF points light up green and so you can see what the camera has focused on. The actual number of AF points varies up to a maximum of nine, usually in a cluster but this varies and youmight see two distinct groups or you might get a group with the odd single AF point out on its own. It depends on the scene and what the AF systempicks out. Like many wide area AF systems, the X100F’s can be spot-on but it can also be distracted and focus something other than your subject. This isn’t necessarily an issue if the focused area and the subject are roughly at the same distance as the lens is a wide-angle so you get decent depth-of-field anyway – unless you’re close-up and shooting at f/2. I did try the Wide/Tracking mode with face detection on for some candids andportraits and thatmostly workedwell. Eyedetectionworks less

Using the optical finder is just like using a classic rangefinder camera andmany users will prefer the involvement