NEW FUJI X100V! THE BEST Everyday Camera! FULL REVIEW

Fuji just announced the new X100V. Because Samy’s is a new sponsor here at TSL we had the opportunity to get this lens into our hands TODAY! This is going to be great for us because we can get cameras quicker from Samy’s and bring you the information on new gear faster than ever before! So we’re heading over to Pasadena to get the camera and we are so excited to be able to bring you this review of it!

I used to have the old model of this camera and I loved it, but this new one is way better! It has a 20MP APS-C Sensor, updated sensor, better autofocus, has a flip out screen, AND it has optional weather sealing! It also includes 4k video which is amazing!

Today Kenneth and I are here with Sara to get a good look at the new FUJI X100V!

I just love the fact that it’s a very affordable walk around point and shoot street camera. So Sara, when you’re off traveling next, would you choose this camera to take along with you?

“Yea I definitely would – it’s nice and sleek looking. A nice accessory!”

“THERE YOU GO!”

With that thought, let’s get to our picture quality test.

I want to look at the different baked in film simulations in this camera. I think it’ll be fun to see the same image with all of those and see how those look. I think that’s a fun thing to look at and we’ll be doing an autofocus test, picture quality test, dynamic range, but let’s start first with our picture quality test!

PICTURE QUALITY TEST

It’s pretty sharp. The skin is nice – the roll off is nice.

I feel like there’s not a lot of separation in terms of her skin and the brick. None of the color from the skin or background really pops. The only color that pops is her shirt. The highlights are super harsh on her shoulders and the shadows are pretty deep so I’m very curious to see how the dynamic range pans out.

DYNAMIC RANGE TEST

EV 0

First off, this is consistent with about every digital camera we look at – and that is – a normal exposure is not the best exposure. At -1 stops you get a much better rendition of the highlights and the shadows, and if you do it at what our meter said on her face, it’s just a little too over. Just under is much nicer.

EV -1

This is just a little down overall, but you gain a lot more detail in those highlights. There is no hit on the image quality though.

EV -2

This holds extremely well.

EV -3

Starting to see some digital noise and the skin starts to be a little patchy.

EV -4

You definitely are going to have some problems here. The colors are holding pretty well through all of these.

EV +1

Of course the highlights are just gone and from there it just gets worse.

EV +2

Her face has started to shift color at +2.

EV +3

Her face is yellow and we get those patchy whites.

EV +4

So it does pretty well under exposed. Her face and the brick all seems the same color and tone almost. The skin definitely goes a little magenta with this camera. The camera is pushing the colors in the scene towards one color. We’re not getting a lot of separation, even when the colors do feel strong.

It handles the contrast to a certain extent, but underexposed is definitely the place to be.

ISO TEST

ISO 400

This looks pretty darn good.

ISO 800

This also looks pretty darn good.

ISO 1600

Definitely starting to see it there.

ISO 3200

32 is pretty strong. I feel like I could still print a 1600, but 3200 is probably too far.

ISO 6400

It’s got a lot of grain here.

ISO 12800

Tons of grain, but the color hasn’t shifted at all!

Comparing the 400 to 12800, the color looks great! Looking at her face, you don’t start to see a yellow or red creeping in, which is really impressive.

FUJI is always really good with color though.

With this camera I feel super comfortable going to 1600.

AUTOFOCUS TEST

Now we’re going to do our autofocus test. This is a 35mm lens equivalent lens, so it’s a little bit wider. You’re not going to have as much separation from the background and the autofocus might have a bit of an easier time honestly.

This test stresses me out a little bit because I want the cameras to operate at their very best.

We do have eye detect on and on continuous focus. We felt like it stayed in focus, the points weren’t jumping around

We didn’t have this on its highest frame rate. I actually love that about this camera – you can choose exactly how many frames per second you want with all the setting, which I’ve never seen before!

We were doing this at 5 frames per second.

I did also do a couple things where I would stand in front of her and then focus off in the distance and then just pop the camera up to her face and take the photo and the focus would lock to her face pretty quickly! It would take under half a second; it was quick enough if you are shooting kids or there is a ton of movement between you and the subject.

FILM SIMULATION PRESETS

Let’s take a look at the film presets on this camera!

Provia

This is the standard contrast.

Velvia

This makes perfect sense because I shot a bunch of Velvia back in the day and it was super saturated.

Astia/Soft

Classic Chrome

This has more contrast and heavier in the blacks.

PRO Neg. Standard

This is very similar.

PRO Neg. Hi

Classic Negative

WOO heavy contrast – heavy color!

Eterna

This is Eterna cinema film, which is a funny one to have included in here because it’s an archival film for cinema.

Acros

This has a nice blue to the highlights.

Monochrome

Sepia

Ah everyone’s favorite! haha

I feel like the first handful of these were really nice and I like the Acros a lot.

This is just fun. You can get a lot of these looks in post processing plugins but it’s a fun thing to play with within the camera.

VIDEO TEST

Next we’re going to take a look at the 4k video capabilities of this little camera, and then after that we’re going to go to straight HD at 120 fps.

The color is very pretty on this camera. It reminds me a lot of the 5D, which I’ve always liked the color of. We haven’t done anything to this at all. It’s crisp and has great contrast, but it doesn’t look overly sharp, overly overly contrasty, overly crisp – it really just exactly how I would want it to be. It’s not for pro video or anything like that, but it’s great for shooting around when you want to capture your kids, the sunset or whatever you’re shooting when you’re holding the camera.

SLOW MOTION VIDEO TEST

I think the slow motion is hilarious and it doesn’t look too compressed – you see a little bit of noise in her jacket. I’m not seeing any bit of bitmapping around her hair.

Could you imagine getting footage like this 4-5 years ago? NO, there’s no way!

This is essentially a luxury point and shoot!

ERGONOMICS

It’s exactly what I expected it to be on so many levels. Small, compact, easy to throw in your pocket – kind of camera.

I like that it is easy to get a hold of here. BUT I accidentally moved this button several times which is changing my shutter very easily.

Those 2 dials being where you grip the camera was a little bit of a problem.

There are a couple updates compared to some of the older bodies.

They removed the D pad and I have conflicting feelings about it because I actually like having those buttons there and being able to program them. I miss having some buttons on this body, but on the other hand when pushing buttons on the camera, it’s nice having the real estate.

One of the things I’ve always loved about this camera is the optical viewfinder. I like the way they use frame lines and I like the little window that you can use to make sure you are spot on focused.

There’s a lot of things to like about this camera – it’s a great travel camera!

It’s so easy to set this up. It’s very much a manual, tactual experience, but then when you get into the menus, it’s a little bit difficult. I don’t think it’s as easy and intuitive.

But fortunately you have enough tactual experience up here that once you get set, it’s easy to pull out and shoot and put away kind of camera.

Pretty amazing to have 4k video as well! To be on vacation or location, it’s amazing to be able to capture 4k video is a really nice application.

This is a really nice every day, carry around camera that you stick in your backpack that you have on hand with you all the time because it takes great quality photos, it’s lightweight, it’s not super expensive, and it’s really impressive with the 4k video and autofocus.