Why I Sold The X100VI And Swapped To The X-T5

I have had pretty much every camera in the X100 line over the years. The X100S, the X100T, the X100F, and most recently the X100VI. Every version I’ve owned has been a camera I have loved. They are mostly pocketable, they carry a proper APS-C sized sensor so the image quality holds up properly, and the lens on them is genuinely great. The X100VI was the best version of it I had used, and that whole range has become a bit of a cult classic at this point, for good reason.

I wasn’t new to the X-T range either, I had the X-T1 and the X-T2 before any of this, I bought the X-T1 on day one when it came out, so that range has always been one I’ve loved.

This isn’t a case of falling out of love with the camera. I still think it’s fantastic. The issue was the restriction that comes with a single fixed lens. I found myself wanting more reach and more choice in the glass I was shooting with. In low light especially, even though the X100VI holds up reasonably well, I wanted the option to put on a lens I could stop right down, the kind of 1.8, 1.4, even 1.2 apertures you just can’t get on a fixed lens camera. That fixed lens is brilliant until the moment you need something it can’t give you, and I wanted a body that could flex, something I could also grab for an emergency shoot and know it would get me the shots I needed.

That’s what led me to the X-T5. It takes interchangeable lenses, it shares the same 40.2 megapixel sensor as the X100VI, so image quality is effectively the same, and it gave me the reach and aperture range I’d been missing. It is a little bigger than the X100VI, that comes with the territory once you’re carrying interchangeable glass, but it’s still a genuinely compact setup. In the month or so since getting it, I’ve actually used it on proper main shoots, not just as something I carry around day to day. That’s really the goal with a camera like this, something you can take everywhere but trust completely if it has to step up and be your main shooter for the day.

To be clear, the X-T5 isn’t necessarily my main shooter. I still reach for my X-H2 and X-H1 for bigger jobs, mainly because of the grip, they’re larger, more substantial cameras to hold for a long shoot. Those are Fuji’s flagship APS-C sensor cameras, and that’s what I lean on when I need to. But I know the X-T5 is more than capable of stepping into that role if it ever needs to.

I’ll be honest, letting go of the X100VI wasn’t a totally straightforward decision. I’m a fairly impulsive person by nature, so the swap itself didn’t take long once I’d decided, but I know my cameras well enough to know exactly why I was making the change. Part of the hesitation came down to the fact that the X100VI is genuinely hard to get hold of, it’s one of the most sought after cameras Fuji makes right now, and that scarcity on its own nearly talked me into keeping it. But that’s not a good enough reason to hold onto a camera. You want to be happy with what you’re shooting with, not keeping something purely because it’s difficult to replace.

The moment that actually tipped it for me came at a creative’s party I shot a little while back. I got some genuinely great shots on the X100VI that night, but there were moments I wanted more reach than it could give me. The X100VI has a 40 megapixel sensor, so you can crop in using its digital tele mode, effectively simulating a longer focal length, but it costs you resolution and it just doesn’t produce the same look as shooting with an actual longer lens. A photographer friend of mine was at the same event, and the difference between our images told me everything I needed to know. That was the moment I knew what look I actually wanted, and the X100VI wasn’t going to get me there.

If you’re trying to decide between a fixed lens compact like the X100 series and something like the X-T5, it really comes down to three questions. Do you want the option to change lenses down the line? Are you shooting in low light often? And what is the camera actually for? If you want something to carry around for family photos and everyday snaps, the X100 is perfect, genuinely one of the best cameras you can own for that. But if you want a camera that can do more, the X-T5 is the better choice, simply because it’s built to do more. Neither camera is the wrong choice. You could absolutely shoot something big on an X100, but the X-T5 was built with that extra range in mind, and it shows.

Here’s a quick look at how the two compare on paper:

Fujifilm X100VI
Sensor: 40.2MP APS-C X-Trans CMOS 5 HR
Lens: Fixed 23mm f2 (35mm equivalent)
Interchangeable lenses: No
Body size: Compact, highly pocketable
Best for: Everyday carry, travel, street photography, simplicity

Fujifilm X-T5
Sensor: 40.2MP APS-C X-Trans CMOS 5 HR
Lens mount: Fujifilm X Mount, full range of X series lenses
Interchangeable lenses: Yes
Body size: Compact for an interchangeable lens camera, larger than the X100VI
Best for: Versatile shooting, low light, professional flexibility, main or backup shooter

Same sensor, very different proposition. Which one is right for you comes down to what you actually need it to do.