Icon – Fujifilm FinePix X100

Nice, an old film camera

No, you dolt. Just because the Fujifilm FinePix X100 has been lovingly imbued with retro chic doesn’t mean it’s old. This is state of the art in Mad Men couture.

That thing, hi-tech?

Hold it to your eye and you’ll find you’re staring into an amazing hybrid viewfinder. The optical view is overlaid in a head-up-display style by a full-colour LCD showing all kinds of useful info. Take the shot and the optical view is entirely replaced by the LCD showing you the photo you’ve taken.

I get it, it’s got a clever viewing thingy…

Not just that; there’s full manual control with the sort of feel you’d expect from the legendary 1950s Leica M3, from which it’s so obviously drawing inspiration. It also promises minimal shutter lag and the lens has a super-fast f2 maximum apertue for coping with low light. Fujifilm’s recent sensors have been pretty impressive, too, and the X100’s is APS-C sized like those in most digital SLRs.

So it does it all?

Actually, this is far from a do-it-all camera. The fixed focal length of 35mm limits the kind of photos you’ll be able to take, but that didn’t stop the likes of Robert Doisneau and Robert Frank taking some of the greatest shots of the 20th century. And they didn’t have instant review and a head-up display, so you’ve got no excuse.

Also…

Fujifilm FinePix X100 hands-on

Fujifilm FinePix X100 takes on the Leica X1

All Fujifilm reviews

Dan Grabham Editor-in-Chief

About

Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website.  Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.

Areas of expertise

Computing, mobile, audio, smart home