A year ago, you couldn't get a Fujifilm X100V for love nor money – but now they're everywhere. Was it all just a fad?
(Image credit: Future)
Last year, everyone wanted the Fujifilm X100V – even my colleagues on this website were in queues to get it. It was the hot item, with demand whipped into absolute frenzy by TikTok. But accordingly, supply was insufficient to meet demand.
The Fujifilm X100V phenomenon, led by social media, became a firestorm – like the hot toy at Christmas that everybody goes crazy, because everybody else is going crazy for it, and consequently nobody can actually buy it. It was like Jingle All The Way, only with influencers and camera geeks instead of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad.
But then, the Fujifilm X100VI was announced. And suddenly nobody gave a crap about the X100V.
Go online now and this camera isn't hard to find. It's held its value, sure, but the Fujifilm X100V is no longer the unicorn purchase it was even a few months ago. And given the sheer volume of them for sale on eBay and at second hand retailers like MPB and KEH, I'm assuming that many people sold the X100V to buy the X100VI.
Now, maybe all of those people had very genuine reasons to upgrade that camera. Maybe the jump to 40MP was simply irresistible. Maybe the added stabilization was too good to refuse.
But maybe they just wanted to have the same camera that the cool kids have.
And hey, there's nothing wrong with that. I like cool cameras, too. But is that really what the demand for the Fujifilm X100V (and, in turn, the X100VI) was based on? Not to deny its chops as a camera, but come on – there are plenty of cameras every bit as capable as that one. But that's the one that blew up on TikTok.
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You can broadly correlate this with the social media-fueled firestorm surrounding Y2K-era compact digital cameras. There's really no good reason why they've become so popular, other than because social media tells us that we're cool if we have them.
So, I guess I'm curious to know how many Fujifilm X100V users bought one, and why, and whether they've kept it – and what their feelings are about the X100VI. No hate, no shade.
Me? I'm just glad that, whether it's the X100V or any other camera, I can actually buy one if I want one.
The editor of Digital Camera World, James has 21 years experience as a journalist and started working in the photographic industry in 2014 (as an assistant to Damian McGillicuddy, who succeeded David Bailey as Principal Photographer for Olympus). In this time he shot for clients like Aston Martin Racing, Elinchrom and L'Oréal, in addition to shooting campaigns and product testing for Olympus, and providing training for professionals. This has led him to being a go-to expert for camera and lens reviews, photo and lighting tutorials, as well as industry news, rumors and analysis for publications like Digital Camera Magazine, PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine, N-Photo: The Nikon Magazine, Digital Photographer and Professional Imagemaker, as well as hosting workshops and talks at The Photography Show. He also serves as a judge for the Red Bull Illume Photo Contest. An Olympus and Canon shooter, he has a wealth of knowledge on cameras of all makes – and a fondness for vintage lenses and instant cameras.
