The following is a lightly edited version of the most epic Thread I’ve ever posted…with the addition of that hilariously awesome Google Gemini-created image above.
After editing hundreds of photos from my recent work trips to Malaysia and Thailand (amazing countries! 🙌), all shot on my @googlepixel 9 Pro, I was reminded yet again that tiny smartphone camera sensors ultimately still kind of suck. 😕
Yes, they are computational marvels capable of amazing feats of HDR, but the image quality in anything but perfect light remains hot garbage. 🔥 🚮 I uttered the words “That would have been a great picture if it was taken on a real camera” many times. 😔 But on a work trip, taking my Nikon Z6 III is a non-starter. I try to travel carry-on and even at its smallest my beloved Z6 is a bulky beast.
I started researching options for the smallest camera that had a big sensor and met my other needs. The list was sadly short: the fujifilmx100vi and Panasonic S9. Many reviews and videos later, I decided I wanted the Fujifilm camera. The problem? It’s perhaps that most in-demand camera on the planet right now, with wait lists 6+ months long. 😢
I searched online in vain, looking at all the places I’d normally buy from (@bhphoto, Amazon, even eBay). It was either not in stock or selling for 30-50% above MSRP in “valuable bundles”. 🙄 I wanted the camera, but I didn’t want to pay a stupid amount for it.
Then I posted a silly rant to Fujifilm USA griping about their lack of stock. The Threads algorithm did its thing, and a helpful reply from John Cessna encouraged me to try local stores. I’d tried everything else, so why not? I’m in Alberta, Canada right now, so I went into Google Maps and started contacting local stores via web chat and phone. The web site of the third store, Saneal Camera, said they had one in stock. I thought it was an error, but I called anyway.
The guy on the phone said they did indeed have one. 😲 He’d updated the web site 10 minutes ago; a customer pre-ordered then backed out. I said I’d come and buy it right away. 50 minutes later, I had this beautiful box in my hands.
The form factor and image quality of the fujifilmx100vi make for a very compelling combination. How much smaller is the X100VI than my Nikon Z6 III? This photo says it all. I’m very excited about taking this camera with me on my next work trip.
Here are a few pictures I snapped with the Fujifilm X100VI on a cold winter day in downtown High River, Alberta, Canada. 🇨🇦 Image editing done in Lightroom; I am still puzzling over whether I want to switch back to being a JPEG shooter and use in-camera LUTs, breaking free from the tyranny of raw post-production. 😂
A post for another day…