This article is a response to a lot of comments I’ve seen on forums about the Fujifilm X100F. It won’t interest you unless you own are are thinking of buying the X100F. (Amazon.com, Amazon UK) I bought this camera a month ago, to complement my Olympus Pen-F. (I’ll post a more thorough review of the X100F soon.)
It’s important to note that the X100F is a fixed-lens camera; it has a 23mm (35mm equivalent) lens. This limits its usage somewhat, making it an ideal camera for certain types of photography but not for all. In order to extend the use of this camera, Fuji sells two conversion lenses: the TCL-X100 II Tele Conversion Lens (Amazon.com, Amazon UK) and the WCL-X100 II Wide Conversion Lens (Amazon.com, Amazon UK). The former converts the camera to a 50mm equivalent, and the latter a 28mm equivalent; neither of these are a big change. If they converted to, say, 70mm and 20mm, then the difference would be a lot more obvious, and useful. But it’s possible that conversions of that magnitude would require add-on lenses that are even bigger and heavier.
Many people discussing this camera on forums talk about purchasing one or both of these conversion lenses. The problem is that these lenses are both heavy and unwieldy. My X100F with a filter adapter, UV filter, and lens hood, weighs almost exactly 500g. The conversion lenses and 180g (for the TCL) or 150g (for the WCL). In addition, they unbalance the camera and make it unwieldy. Since the X100F is designed to be svelte and unobtrusive, adding one of these large lenses goes contrary to the camera’s design. I bought the TCL, and immediately returned it, because it made the camera very bulky and hard to handle.
I think one reason people are buying these conversion lenses because of gear acquisition syndrome; they have a fancy new camera, and they need to buy accessories. They by straps, cases, soft shoulder buttons, grips, and more. But unlike with most cameras, they cannot buy lenses to change the default. I think if these conversion lenses didn’t exist, people would not have the need for them.
But why buy this camera if you’re going to add such a heavy lens to it? There is another option: the Olympus Pen-F. It is roughly the same size, and, with a similar lens — in my case, the Panasonic 20mm — it weighs only 50g more than the X100F. And you can change lenses, as with any standard DSLR.
These are both excellent cameras, and each has its strengths and weaknesses, and there may be other considerations that lead you to prefer one of these cameras over the other, or another model or brand of camera. But if you are a photographer who wants to shoot in a wide variety of conditions, having an interchangeable lens camera makes a lot more sense. If, however, most of your photography is street shooting, then the X100F is for you.