What is the Fujifilm X100T?
The Fujifilm X100T is part of a series that's captured the imagination of enthusiast photographers like no other. These are fixed-lens cameras with APS-C sensors and a decidedly old-school approach to design and handling, but housing some truly modern tech.
The original Fujifilm X100 was a camera people loved in spite of its faults, but with the Fujiifilm X100T most of the issues have been ironed out, creating something that requires fewer caveats to go with the praise. This is a fantastic camera, and one that makes serious improvements over the 2013 update, the X100S, despite looking very, very similar.
A fixed lens and £1000 price may be too much for some, but this is one of our favourite cameras of the year.
SEE ALSO: Best Cameras Round-up
Fujifilm X100T – Design
Because the Fujifilm X100T looks an awful lot like its older brothers, it may have a few people mocking the lack of aesthetic progression, but it's not as if the existing design needed updating.
Retro charm like this is attempted often, but rarely executed with so much panache. The Fujifilm X100T is simple and pure in its look, and still better looking than Fujifilm CSCs such as the Fujifilm X-E2 and (to a lesser extent) the X-T1. It’s a great-looking camera.
The frame is made of magnesium alloy, which offers strength without a big weight premium, while the front and back bear a leather-like texture. Build quality is as good as ever. The Fujifilm is an extremely well-made camera that feels like it’ll survive for years, if not decades if you’re careful.
As with previous models, it comes fully in black or with a silver top plate, lens and controls.
This is, of course, far from a camera design intended to fit in your trouser pocket. At 127 x 74 x 52mm it has some heft to it. If you want something smaller there are now several options, with the best being the Sony RX100 III and Canon G7 X. However, these cameras have much smaller 1-inch sensors and there's actually been fairly little movement in the APS-C compact area in the last couple of years.
The Ricoh GR and Nikon Coolpix A are still the key rivals, with the new-entry Panasonic LX100 offering a tempting middle ground between the two. It has a smaller Micro Four Thirds sensor, but a zoom lens.
Fujifilm X100T – Handling
A comparison with the Panasonic LX100 is apt, too, because both cameras want you to take a very hands-on approach to photography.
Rather than a PASM mode dial, the X100T has an aperture ring around the lens, a metal shutter speed dial on the top plate, and an exposure-compensation dial next to it. This setup has always proved a key draw of the X100 series of cameras, offering a ‘get your hands dirty’ style of photography that many find very satisfying.
Don’t be too scared if you’re new to this sort of layout – each parameter can be set to Auto if you prefer.
Fujifilm has improved the aperture ring since the X100S, giving you clicky increments every 1/3 of a stop for extra-fine manual control without having to touch the menu system. The exposure-compensation dial has been updated, too. Now you get control of plus or minus 3EV rather than 2EV, putting more power at your fingertips.
While the Fujifilm X100T doesn’t have a gigantic handgrip, its control layout and fairly large (for a ‘compact’) body ensures handling is top-notch. This is a perfect camera to learn more about how to judge the various camera settings that terrify those new to the hobby – ISO, aperture and shutter speed.
There’s a small flash built into the front of the camera, too, but also a hot shoe onto which you can mount a larger flash. It at first appears to be quite a limiting camera thanks to its fixed prime lens, but the Fujifilm is a camera that can help you grow as a photographer.