Fujifilm X-T100 as a first camera

[sukamiya18]

To be concise and straightforward, the camera feels like a master at being "a jack of all trades". There are several reasons as to why I picked this up in 2023 as my first serious-ish camera over the X-T200 or the X-A series of Fuji cameras:

1. The battery life is surprisingly good relative to it's brethren, which is about 430 CIPA vs the X-T200 270 CIPA (the others averages more or less around 300 CIPA)

2. Having the most physical dials out of Fujifilm's line of entry level Bayer sensor cameras, they're just neat especially when you're not in the mood to get into the menu.

3. An EVF and a tilting LCD that can also tilt sideways for selfies/vlogging (realistically you'll record in 1080p 60fps which is decent enough). You can still tilt up & down without bringing the screen to the side, so it's perfectly usable on the street.

4. It is insanely cheap nowadays while having an on-paper spec close to the X-T20, which could be 30 to 50% more pricier. It's truly a bargain that a camera that came out in 2018 (thus having nifty modern features such as wifi, bluetooth, and hybrid auto focus detection) can be bought at a similar price point to the 1st and 2nd gen Fuji X-Trans cameras.

The Fujifilm X-T100 is a perfectly serviceable yet versatile swiss-knife of a camera at a tremendously low price point, and I think that is it's biggest strength and charm. It is perfect for a beginner who doesn't really have much of a clue as to what they really want yet, it have sufficient capabilities for a variety of things for one to experience what a camera is.

Whether one may end up liking having more physical controls, or having a viewfinder, or a screen that can face forward, do they really need wifi or bluetooth, will they have fun with the film simulations, what sort of situation and pictures they use the camera for? The Fujifilm X-T100 can help them find the answer.

Unsurprisingly thanks to this camera I've come to learn what I personally prefer; it turns out I rarely ever use the viewfinder and just tilt the LCD up/down, turns out I couldn't care less about selfies, I love all the physical dials but I feel like sacrificing one or two wouldn't be a big deal, built-in flash is more useful than I thought, and thanks to it's decent battery life I can experiment more with what kind of shots I like. When I feel ready to move to another camera, now I know that it may be an X-T3 or X-E4 (now if only Fuji announce an X-M1 successor, that would be great).

Here are some amateurish shots I took with the camera and the XC 15-45mm kit lens

 

[Mr Bolton]

To be concise and straightforward, the camera feels like a master at being "a jack of all trades". There are several reasons as to why I picked this up in 2023 as my first serious-ish camera over the X-T200 or the X-A series of Fuji cameras:

1. The battery life is surprisingly good relative to it's brethren, which is about 430 CIPA vs the X-T200 270 CIPA (the others averages more or less around 300 CIPA)

2. Having the most physical dials out of Fujifilm's line of entry level Bayer sensor cameras, they're just neat especially when you're not in the mood to get into the menu.

3. An EVF and a tilting LCD that can also tilt sideways for selfies/vlogging (realistically you'll record in 1080p 60fps which is decent enough). You can still tilt up & down without bringing the screen to the side, so it's perfectly usable on the street.

4. It is insanely cheap nowadays while having an on-paper spec close to the X-T20, which could be 30 to 50% more pricier. It's truly a bargain that a camera that came out in 2018 (thus having nifty modern features such as wifi, bluetooth, and hybrid auto focus detection) can be bought at a similar price point to the 1st and 2nd gen Fuji X-Trans cameras.

The Fujifilm X-T100 is a perfectly serviceable yet versatile swiss-knife of a camera at a tremendously low price point, and I think that is it's biggest strength and charm. It is perfect for a beginner who doesn't really have much of a clue as to what they really want yet, it have sufficient capabilities for a variety of things for one to experience what a camera is.

Whether one may end up liking having more physical controls, or having a viewfinder, or a screen that can face forward, do they really need wifi or bluetooth, will they have fun with the film simulations, what sort of situation and pictures they use the camera for? The Fujifilm X-T100 can help them find the answer.

Unsurprisingly thanks to this camera I've come to learn what I personally prefer; it turns out I rarely ever use the viewfinder and just tilt the LCD up/down, turns out I couldn't care less about selfies, I love all the physical dials but I feel like sacrificing one or two wouldn't be a big deal, built-in flash is more useful than I thought, and thanks to it's decent battery life I can experiment more with what kind of shots I like. When I feel ready to move to another camera, now I know that it may be an X-T3 or X-E4 (now if only Fuji announce an X-M1 successor, that would be great).

Here are some amateurish shots I took with the camera and the XC 15-45mm kit lens

Nice shots. I like the urban landscape ones, especially since you're getting great results with essentially the cheapest kit Fuji sold back then. It's essentially the Bayer pattern version of the sensor behind the X-T2 and H1.

 

[sukamiya18]

Thank you for the kind words, overall I'm really satisfied with it.

 

[Lettermanian]

The X-T100 can also render 4k/30p timelapse videos in-camera from interval shots, while also keeping the individual image files separate. One other nice surprise from this camera was that its sensor was remarkably good for astrophotography. If you go to the Astrophotography forum here on DPR and put "X-T100" in the forum search bar, you'll see some old threads its astro performance.

 

[Mr Bolton]

The X-T100 can also render 4k/30p timelapse videos in-camera from interval shots, while also keeping the individual image files separate. One other nice surprise from this camera was that its sensor was remarkably good for astrophotography. If you go to the Astrophotography forum here on DPR and put "X-T100" in the forum search bar, you'll see some old threads its astro performance.

Interesting! I've seen this mentioned elsewhere, along with lementing over higher end Fujis not being able to do this. Seems like it would be pretty cheap to implement on a higher end model with more memory, CPU, etc.

 

[sukamiya18]

One other nice surprise from this camera was that its sensor was remarkably good for astrophotography. If you go to the Astrophotography forum here on DPR and put "X-T100" in the forum search bar, you'll see some old threads its astro performance.

Wow that is fascinating! I will look into the forums as you suggested for insights, when I get a tripod I might give Astrophotography a shot.

 

[MJ_Photo38]

The X-T100 really sounds like a nice little camera. There is a few things that I can't shake about it though, which would make me consider other options instead.

First is the lack of back button focusing. I know this isn't something that most people would want, especially in the demographic that this camera is targeting. But for me personally, if I can't back button focus, I basically can't use the camera. I find the shutter AF way too limiting most of the time. The X-T100 is not alone in this situation though, the whole X-A series and the X-T200 also suffer from that.

The other thing is that the autofocus is just not reliable, even compared to older Fuji cameras like X-Trans III cameras. In a lot of ways, it's really similar in capabilities to the X-T1 : Autofocus is hunting quite a lot, AF-C is unreliable most of the time.

Like the X-T1, video is also not the strong suit of the X-T100. You're basically limited to 1080p as the 4K15p is more a joke than anything else. And the 1080p video isn't anything to write home about, especially for autofocus.

Lastly, there is the price. You mentionned that it's very cheap for what it is. Maybe in your region, but definitely not in mine.

Price oscillates around the 400€ mark, going up to 450€ sometimes. As a comparison, X-T20s start around the 470 / 500€ price point, and though it's an older camera it's a much more versatile body, with reliable AF, good 4K video and no downsides that I can see when it comes to image quality. And you also gain the customizability for the buttons, being able to back button focus, among other things.

In my opinion, the X-A5, X-A7 and X-T200 are much better and more versatile cameras. The X-T100 has pretty great image quality, but if you need video or a faster autofocus, it's basically a limiting factor in your photography, which if I was to recommend something to beginners, is to not put locks on themselves before they even know what they want to do.

That being said, for slower paced shooting, maybe with cheap manual focus lenses like some from 7artisans or TTartisans, it's a remarkable image taker on a budget ! And you still get most of the Fujifilm flare as far as looks go, both for the images and the camera itself.

 

[sukamiya18]

Lastly, there is the price. You mentionned that it's very cheap for what it is. Maybe in your region, but definitely not in mine.

Price oscillates around the 400€ mark, going up to 450€ sometimes. As a comparison, X-T20s start around the 470 / 500€ price point, and though it's an older camera it's a much more versatile body, with reliable AF, good 4K video and no downsides that I can see when it comes to image quality. And you also gain the customizability for the buttons, being able to back button focus, among other things.

Oh yes that's definitely something to consider. At my region used X-T100 can be found around 240€ to 350€ (and usually packaged with the kit lens) while the X-T20 is roughly similar to your region. I suppose being a Fuji camera without X-trans makes it somewhat undesirable here, or maybe it's because local market understandably pushes for the newer X-T200 more.

Before looking at the X-T100, someone lent me their X-T30 and I like how the X-T#0 series feel in my hand; this made me consider the X-T10 and the X-T20 first. With the X-T10 being around the same ballpark as the X-T100, the latter (just barely) won me over at the end because of 24mp, better battery life, and if for whatever reason I ever need it, there's a microphone port. As I said in the review, on-paper it's a discount X-T20 at half the price (over here, of course), if the price weren't as cheap or if someone does have the extra money to spare, no doubt the X-T20 would be the better choice overall.

In my opinion, the X-A5, X-A7 and X-T200 are much better and more versatile cameras. The X-T100 has pretty great image quality, but if you need video or a faster autofocus, it's basically a limiting factor in your photography, which if I was to recommend something to beginners, is to not put locks on themselves before they even know what they want to do.

I very much agree with the X-A5 there, I might've chose it had I known I'm not a big viewfinder fan. It's significantly cheaper for essentially being an even more compact X-T100 without viewfinder and one less physical dial (although apparently with an even worse AF performance). As for the other two, maybe they're nice for someone who wants a fully articulated LCD.

Otherwise an X-T2, X-T20, X-T3, and maybe X-H1 (at least theoretically, I'm just a beginner and never used them) might still be king for value amidst Fuji cameras, especially if they're not as budget constrained as I am. There's also Micro Four Third cameras to consider if someone want to trade low light performance with relatively better AF and video features for the price, I wanted one but the lenses are... not as budget friendly to say the least.

That being said, for slower paced shooting, maybe with cheap manual focus lenses like some from 7artisans or TTartisans, it's a remarkable image taker on a budget ! And you still get most of the Fujifilm flare as far as looks go, both for the images and the camera itself.

Absolutely!

 

[MJ_Photo38]

Otherwise an X-T2, X-T20, X-T3, and maybe X-H1 (at least theoretically, I'm just a beginner and never used them) might still be king for value amidst Fuji cameras, especially if they're not as budget constrained as I am. There's also Micro Four Third cameras to consider if someone want to trade low light performance with relatively better AF and video features for the price, I wanted one but the lenses are... not as budget friendly to say the least.

I can concur on the X-H1. It might be the best bang for buck Fujifilm camera you can buy right now.

On MPB europe right now, it's sitting at around 580€, and was between 570 and 530€ for the past months and a half. Considering the ergonomics, exceptional viewfinder, iimage quality and features (like IBIS, dual SD etc) it is to me a better buy than even the X-T3 (which still sits around the 800€ price point, which is a whole other price category at this point)

The X-T2 is also a very good buy, but it's basically an X-H1 with a smaller grip and no IBIS. It's considerably less conspicuous though. I think I might trade the IBIS for a smaller camera in a street setting.

The X-T3 is only an option to consider if you're interested in the video side of things, and plan to really put some serious video work out of it. The stills image quality isn't better than the X-T2/H1, and the real advantage you get is only in sensor readout speed and video quality, having access to 10bit video with a plethora of codecs. Even the autofocus, though faster than the X-T2's, is still not completely foolproof, and if you don't rely on face detection, the X-T2 is just as capable using zone focusing, single point or even wide/tracking as long as you stay within the phase detect points.

I'm saying that but the X-T2 is still my video camera of choice the moment I have serious video work showing up, above my Nikon Z6 generally, so... It's not like the X-Trans III cameras can't do video, far from it (at least the oversampled video from the T2 and H1, E3 and T20 are another story)

As for MFT cameras, the Oly EM-1 mk II is by far the best value for money I've seen... in any system. It shoots fast, has good video, extremely good ergonomics, good battery life, still a class leading IBIS... It's on the larger side of cameras but the smaller lenses are well compensating for that, and you have tons of lenses with a lot of them being very good budget lenses (like the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 or the sigma 19mm f/2.8 Art)

 

[sukamiya18]

The X-T3 is only an option to consider if you're interested in the video side of things, and plan to really put some serious video work out of it. The stills image quality isn't better than the X-T2/H1, and the real advantage you get is only in sensor readout speed and video quality, having access to 10bit video with a plethora of codecs. Even the autofocus, though faster than the X-T2's, is still not completely foolproof, and if you don't rely on face detection, the X-T2 is just as capable using zone focusing, single point or even wide/tracking as long as you stay within the phase detect points.

That's really good to know! I've put the X-T2 on my wishlist; the weather aren't very nice these past few weeks and there are plenty of time I wish my camera is weather sealed (as you've seen in one of my photo examples, I've resorted to shooting from behind a window in the rain), the X-T2 seems like one of the best choice value-wise.

As for MFT cameras, the Oly EM-1 mk II is by far the best value for money I've seen... in any system. It shoots fast, has good video, extremely good ergonomics, good battery life, still a class leading IBIS... It's on the larger side of cameras but the smaller lenses are well compensating for that, and you have tons of lenses with a lot of them being very good budget lenses (like the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 or the sigma 19mm f/2.8 Art)

Olympus E-M# cameras sounds really attractive, however I sort of want something smaller. The E-M5 lines seems really good (and cheap!), one of the smallest yet light weather sealed interchangeable lens camera I could find. Hearing that there are more quality budget lenses for MFT is reassuring since so far I've only heard the opposite (albeit from fellow beginners).

If you know of other nicely valued and compact weather sealed cameras, please do share!

 

[MJ_Photo38]

If you know of other nicely valued and compact weather sealed cameras, please do share!

The EM-5 mk III is basically a smaller EM-1 mk II as far as performance goes. You loose the larger battery, but it might be worth it for the space you're saving !

You also have some Sony APS-C cameras like the A6300 and A6400 which can be found at pretty decent prices (especially the A6300).

You also have the Nikon Z50, even though it's on the larger side of APS-C cameras.

Besides the whole EM-5 line, there is also some Panasonic Lumix sealed bodies, like the (pretty damn good!) Lumix GX8 (which still has no proper successor to this day, the lack of microphone port on the GX9 (which was really closer to the GX80/85) prevented it from being a good video camera, which the GX8 is).

Also not to be dismissed is the X-T1. It's even a bit smaller than the X-T2, and if you're not interested in video the sensor is magnificent for photography. There isn't any sensor like the X-Trans II.

 

[sukamiya18]

If you know of other nicely valued and compact weather sealed cameras, please do share!

The EM-5 mk III is basically a smaller EM-1 mk II as far as performance goes. You loose the larger battery, but it might be worth it for the space you're saving !

You also have some Sony APS-C cameras like the A6300 and A6400 which can be found at pretty decent prices (especially the A6300).

You also have the Nikon Z50, even though it's on the larger side of APS-C cameras.

Besides the whole EM-5 line, there is also some Panasonic Lumix sealed bodies, like the (pretty damn good!) Lumix GX8 (which still has no proper successor to this day, the lack of microphone port on the GX9 (which was really closer to the GX80/85) prevented it from being a good video camera, which the GX8 is).

Also not to be dismissed is the X-T1. It's even a bit smaller than the X-T2, and if you're not interested in video the sensor is magnificent for photography. There isn't any sensor like the X-Trans II.

The A6300 and GX8 seems really good to take out to the street, made me wish Oly and Fuji got a compact weather sealed interchangeable lens camera in a rangefinder body style as well (I suppose Fuji already got premium compacts); the X-T1 not being much bigger and is also lighter than my X-T100 is kind of unexpected, if I find a great deal I might just cop one. The lenses on the Nikon Z mount seems big and heavy(er) so I'll probably pass on the Nikon for now.

I can't thank you enough for all the information you've shared, it's very much appreciated!

 

[MJ_Photo38]

The A6300 and GX8 seems really good to take out to the street, made me wish Oly and Fuji got a compact weather sealed interchangeable lens camera in a rangefinder body style as well

That camera would be the Pen F !

Slight problem with that camera though : the autofocus really isn't great. Even after firmware updates it struggles a lot. And despite that, the camera is still very highly priced due to its looks (which are obviously super nice). If it was 400 bucks I couled recommend one, but I have never been able to find one under 800€, and it's really not worth it (except if the looks are everything lol)

On Fuji side it would be the X-Pro 1 or X-Pro 2. Both overpriced and much larger.

(I suppose Fuji already got premium compacts);

Yes. I would advise against those (especially the X100 line) if you want to stay in the "good value for the money" zone. They have marked up prices to levels that makes them not worth it anymore (and that's a shame cause they really are great cameras !)

the X-T1 not being much bigger and is also lighter than my X-T100 is kind of unexpected, if I find a great deal I might just cop one. The lenses on the Nikon Z mount seems big and heavy(er) so I'll probably pass on the Nikon for now.

Don't dismiss them too quickly, they have a good range of small primes, and with Sigma releasing their 1.4 small primes on the system, as well as TT artisan releasing their APS-C 27mm f/2.8 pancake, well... they really have a good selection of small lenses for APS-C systems now. Their recently released DX 24mm f/1.7 is especially good. Especially considering the kit lens, which when retracted is the smallest kit lens on the market and is also one of the sharpest kit lenses you can buy today.

(I didn't mention the Nikon Zfc, but it is a nice option as well. And retro looking!)

If you don't like using viewfinders, the Z30 is cheaper than both the Z50 and Zfc while basically being the same camera without an EVF.

I can't thank you enough for all the information you've shared, it's very much appreciated!

No problem ! What's the point of having knowledge if you don't share it?