Up next in 10
Fujifilm X-Half Review | All about the Vibes
127 views
Jun 30, 2025
Photographer Dustin Abbott shares a thorough, real world review of the Fujifilm X-Half retro-inspired camera | This episode is sponsored by Fantom Tracker. Visit store.fantomwallet.com and use code DUSTIN20 for 20% off. | Read the Text Review: | Purchase the Fujifilm X-Half @ B&H Photo https://bhpho.to/3T6CWAI | Adorama https://howl.link/p8jceslloaldl | Amazon https://amzn.to/3G9ZAFs | Camera Canada https://shrsl.com/4x0k5 | Amazon Canada https://amzn.to/4lpVAQi | Amazon UK https://amzn.to/3HTiukx | Amazon Germany https://amzn.to/3ZKTCl2 Check out the DA Merch here: https://bit.ly/TWIMerch | Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/dustinabbott | On the Web: http://dustinabbott.net/ | Sign up for my Newsletter: http://bit.ly/1RHvUNp | Instagram: http://bit.ly/DLAinsta | Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1nuUUeH | Flickr: http://bit.ly/1UcnC0B | 500px: http://bit.ly/1Sy2Ngu Follow Craig @ https://www.instagram.com/craigstoffersen/ Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at: B&H Photo: http://bhpho.to/1TA0Xge Adorama: https://howl.link/nt4zdz1goa7ql Camera Canada: http://bit.ly/DLACameraCan Sony Canada: https://www.thesonyshop.ca/?ref=abbott Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HrY64d Amazon Canada: https://amzn.to/3qG1p18 Ebay: http://bit.ly/DustineBay Into the AM Clothing: https://bit.ly/intotheAMda and use code DUSTIN10 for 10% off Fioboc Clothing: https://tinyurl.com/FiobocDA20 and us code DUSTIN20 for 20% off Make a donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/dustinTWI ============================= Table of Contents: ============================= 0:00 - Intro
View Video Transcript
0:00
[Music]
0:10
hi I'm Dustin Abbott i'm here today to
0:13
give you a camera view and usually when
0:16
I am doing this kind of thing I'm here
0:18
to talk about sensor specifications
0:21
autofocus performance all of those
0:24
performanceoriented
0:25
details but today's camera is a very
0:28
different kind of camera the Fujifilm XF
0:31
it's really all about the vibes and a
0:34
whole lot less about the performance if
0:36
you're looking for the kind of camera
0:38
whose specifications are going to jump
0:40
off a page at you it's not going to be
0:42
the X but if you are looking for a
0:45
camera that is about the experience
0:47
about having fun and you tend to love
0:49
the vertical format well the Fujifilm X
0:52
half maybe here to capitalize on the
0:54
success of their X100 series today we're
0:57
going to dive into this and look a
0:59
little bit less at the performance we'll
1:00
talk a little bit about that but really
1:02
this camera it's not about performance
1:05
it's about the experience and so I'm
1:07
going to do my best to try to detail
1:08
that today let's dive in and let's take
1:10
a look today's episode is sponsored by
1:12
the all-new Phantom Tracker 2.0 phantom
1:15
has not only seriously upgraded the
1:17
visual look of the card but now we have
1:19
a superior build quality made with
1:21
tempered glass and metal alloys this
1:23
credit card size tracker can be locally
1:25
tracked via a 90 decel beeping noise but
1:28
also on a global level via Apple's Find
1:30
My Network and its map the addition of
1:33
NFC means that you can also use the card
1:35
to trigger an automation just tap it the
1:38
tracker fits perfectly in any wallet or
1:40
bag and assures you won't lose your
1:42
valuables it has a built-in rechargeable
1:44
battery that can be easily charged via
1:46
any wireless charger and a single charge
1:48
can last up to 6 months the Phantom
1:51
Tracker 2.0 makes for a seriously cool
1:53
gift so visit store.fanomwallet.com
1:56
and use code dustin20 at checkout for
1:59
20% off that's store.fanomwallet.com
2:02
and use code dustin20 for 20% off so
2:06
let's take a closer look at the design
2:08
and the features here so first of all
2:10
this thing is actually pretty pricey
2:12
it's priced in the US at about $849
2:16
right about a,000 here in Canada it's
2:18
going to vary obviously from market to
2:20
market from there but certainly I think
2:23
that Fuji is pitching this probably a
2:26
little bit more on the premium side
2:27
definitely relative to performance but
2:30
then again Fuji is probably the best
2:32
company there is out there at the moment
2:34
at capturing the whole vibes movement
2:36
and allowing them to really market some
2:39
of these products at a little bit more
2:40
of a premium price point so maybe it
2:42
will sell like hot cakes wouldn't
2:44
surprise me at all the first thing that
2:46
stood out to me when I took this out is
2:48
just how small it is this really is very
2:50
very compact in fact it is half the size
2:53
of the X100 series so it allows it to be
2:56
really really compact 4.2 2 in wide 2.5
3:00
in tall and just 1.8 in deep that's
3:04
105.8 mm x 64.3x
3:08
45.8 mm now obviously you're not going
3:12
to get much of a grip here this is more
3:14
of a pinch camera than it is wrap your
3:16
fingers around some kind of grip but
3:18
again then it is extremely light and so
3:21
throw that wrist strap on put it in your
3:23
hand and because it's so lightweight and
3:25
that weight's going to be a constant
3:26
because it's a fixed lens means that
3:28
it's pretty easy to just throw there and
3:30
pretty much forget about it because it
3:31
only weighs if you don't have the
3:33
battery and memory card in it it only
3:35
weighs 191 g or 6.7 O and with the
3:38
battery and memory card in it's still
3:40
only 240 g or 8.5 o which is really
3:44
really impressively small
3:47
now there's not a lot going on here if
3:50
you look at the front it's got a really
3:52
clean look this is the charcoal silver
3:55
that I'm reviewing there's also a
3:57
classic silver along with a black finish
3:59
this uh this charcoal silver actually
4:02
looks quite cool it's kind of a graphite
4:03
color i really like the look of the
4:05
camera again that's something that Fuji
4:07
does great some of those classic grip
4:09
textures that you know go all the way
4:11
back to you know an old SLR that I've
4:14
got sitting over here it's a great look
4:16
from the front there is a little what
4:18
looks like a small LED panel and that is
4:20
the builtin flash there's a switch on
4:23
the side so that was without the flash
4:25
here is with the flash it's not super
4:27
bright obviously but it is enough to
4:30
give you a little bit of fill what I
4:32
found is that when using it to fill in
4:34
decent light as you can see here I was
4:35
able to put together a dip tick the one
4:37
on the left is a without any kind of
4:40
flash the one on the right is with the
4:41
flash i actually like the look with the
4:43
flash a little bit better however when
4:45
the flash is needing to pump up a little
4:46
bit more for example in this back lit
4:48
situation it gives you that classic over
4:51
flash look that I'm not a big fan of but
4:55
some people seem to love for some reason
4:57
now on the back of the camera we've got
5:00
a few controls but the main thing here
5:02
is a vertical which is very rare a
5:05
vertical LCD screen and so this whole
5:07
camera is designed around the idea of
5:08
being able to shoot vertical photos in a
5:11
more comfortable setting instead of
5:12
having to rotate here it's able to shoot
5:14
horizontal but to shoot vertical images
5:17
so the sensor the LCD everything is
5:19
oriented in that vertical fashion the
5:22
LCD itself is 2.4 in and has a
5:26
resolution of 9 920,000
5:29
dots frankly I was actually surprised to
5:31
hear that the specification was even
5:33
that high i'm not blown away by the
5:36
resolution here but you know you can
5:39
double tap into it it's decent amount of
5:41
resolution and in fact there's a sub LCD
5:43
on the side that is actually really an
5:45
extension of that same screen but it
5:47
gives you some more uh touch
5:48
capabilities there i did find that this
5:50
LCD was very difficult to see out in
5:53
very bright conditions and I really
5:56
missed actually having an EVF there
5:58
where I could at least review images in
6:00
the viewfinder you can't do that
6:02
obviously because it's an optical
6:04
viewfinder and so I did find shooting in
6:06
bright conditions to be a bit of a
6:08
challenge there now if you rotate the
6:11
camera and you shoot in this position
6:13
you still get vertical images that come
6:15
out of it you're going to have to
6:16
manually rotate those it doesn't auto
6:18
rotate them at least from what I could
6:20
see i also found that using this optical
6:23
viewfinder to be a little bit of a
6:25
difficult experience uh for one thing
6:27
it's only 0.38
6:30
uh times optical and so it's a 90%
6:33
coverage it's not very high
6:34
magnification you don't really see a
6:36
whole lot in there and so I actually I
6:39
didn't see as far as like manually
6:41
focusing I didn't see anything change
6:43
there you're not going to see any kind
6:44
of changes live in the optical
6:47
viewfinder and so that just means that a
6:49
manual focus in particular is a real
6:52
challenge and you know some people will
6:54
love the old school experience of
6:56
shooting through that optical viewfinder
6:58
uh I'm finding that I'm a thoroughly
7:00
modern man and so I don't love it myself
7:03
there's not a lot of physical controls
7:04
here there is one switch that allows you
7:06
to switch between stills and and movies
7:10
and there is a playback button that you
7:13
can push if you want to review images
7:16
now in that everything else is operated
7:18
by touch and so on that sub LED on your
7:21
normal thing if you're scrolling up and
7:23
down it is to change your different film
7:25
simulations if you go up you you scroll
7:29
up on the main menu you open up kind of
7:31
your quick menu you scroll down and
7:34
it'll give you two options either to go
7:35
into pairing or the film camera mode if
7:38
you swipe to towards the right it gives
7:41
you a couple of options there film
7:43
simulation and the different filters if
7:45
you're wanting to change the looks and
7:46
then if you go the other direction it
7:48
gives you uh so swiping to the left it
7:50
will give you your more main menu and I
7:53
do like the fact that you can man uh you
7:55
can help to navigate that by using the
7:58
sub uh LED here or LCD and that will
8:01
open up different options that you can
8:03
then operate by touch on the main LCD
8:06
you know the controls I will say I think
8:07
that they've done a pretty fair job of
8:09
it i miss I mean Fuji is typically known
8:12
for having lots of physical controls i
8:13
kind of miss that but I do think that
8:15
they've done a pretty decent system that
8:17
works i think that most people will be
8:19
able to figure it out and get
8:20
comfortable and familiar with it fairly
8:22
quick i will offer one caveat to that
8:25
our only control dial here is actually
8:28
an exposure compensation wheel on the
8:30
top and the shutter buttons in the
8:32
middle of that so what I find is if you
8:34
want to shoot in manual mode it's really
8:36
quite a pain because in manual mode you
8:38
actually have to touch on the shutter
8:41
speed area on the screen and then you
8:43
have to scroll right or left to try to
8:45
get to your desired shutter speed it's
8:47
not quick and so I find actually to me
8:49
the fastest way and best way to use this
8:51
camera if you want a little bit of
8:53
control over the images is to shoot in
8:55
AV mode um aperture priority and what
8:58
that allows you to do is then just to uh
9:01
you can control the aperture on the
9:02
lever on the lens itself and then you
9:04
can use exposure compensation to tweak
9:06
your exposure a little bit and that
9:08
seems to work best in my opinion when it
9:10
comes to that
9:12
there is on top just a cold shoe it's
9:15
not a hot shoe so you can't use any TTL
9:17
flashing and there is a lever here on
9:20
the back that operates kind of like old
9:23
school um film cameras where you can use
9:26
it to advance your image when you're in
9:28
the film simulation mode more on that in
9:29
just a moment in the meantime you can
9:31
actually use it if you pop it in it
9:34
allows you to look back at the previous
9:36
image taken and then if you hold it out
9:38
it will take you into the uh the dip
9:41
tick or the twoin one mode to where you
9:44
taken one image and then you're going to
9:46
take a second image and it's going to go
9:48
ahead and combine those into the side by
9:50
side image so you can use it for that
9:52
and then of course that leads us to the
9:54
film simula or film camera mode film
9:57
camera mode the camera really does a lot
9:59
of different things the first step
10:00
you're going to do is you're going to
10:01
control what what uh film roll you're
10:04
going to use so what camera stock you're
10:05
going to use so you you know you go
10:07
through those different options and so
10:10
you choose which one you're going to
10:12
shoot with then you go into your setup
10:15
and that's going to be how big of a roll
10:16
you've got anywhere from 36 up to 72
10:20
shots in that you choose whether or not
10:22
you want the date stamp on and then your
10:25
exposure mode once you start that you go
10:27
into that and you get a different LCD
10:28
reading so you can't use the LCD for
10:30
composition it's basically just going to
10:33
and you have to advance in between each
10:35
shot you have to advance like you would
10:37
with film and so you can't really see
10:39
what you have shot until you develop
10:41
that roll through the XAF app and so you
10:43
can connect via Bluetooth and transfer
10:45
those images you can develop them you're
10:48
going to get the the the old negative
10:50
sheet looking and get all of those
10:52
images at that point and so if you're
10:54
really wanting to go kind of old school
10:56
you have to just compose using the
10:58
optical viewfinder to give you a really
11:00
old school experience you can choose
11:02
that for me it's kind of gimmicky but
11:04
for some people they might really really
11:06
enjoy it and it's got you the cues you
11:08
know when your role is done and so for
11:10
that whole time you're going to be
11:11
shooting in that particular film
11:13
simulation because it's it's in essence
11:15
like you're just using that role and so
11:17
if you're wanting to see for example how
11:20
that that look is going to apply in a
11:22
variety of shooting conditions you might
11:23
try just shooting a roll on that but
11:26
anyway it's it's it's an experience and
11:28
so some people will probably love that
11:31
and will find that to be fun there is
11:33
just a USBC port in terms of
11:35
communications you can charge the camera
11:37
via that and then you can also transfer
11:40
images things like that from that on the
11:43
bottom we have a single SD SD card slot
11:46
and then the battery is the MPW126S
11:50
you can get it's rated at 880 frames so
11:52
you can go a long time uh in between
11:55
charges there the lens itself is a Fujon
11:58
10.8 millimeter f2.8 lens and so that's
12:01
a 32mm full-frame equivalent and you do
12:05
as mentioned you have aperture control
12:06
on the lens and you do have manual focus
12:09
control as well we'll talk a little bit
12:11
about that when we get into the
12:12
autofocus section in just a moment so
12:15
overall a fairly simple control scheme
12:18
the biggest standout here is how small
12:20
and how light this camera is ergonomics
12:23
are okay i they're not mind-blowing to
12:25
me but I suspect this is a camera that
12:27
some people will have a lot of fun with
12:29
so let's talk about autofocus now
12:31
autofocus on the X half is interesting
12:34
rather than most cameras that I review
12:36
these days that have autofocus points
12:38
that number into the hundreds we've got
12:40
nine autofocus points contrast AF points
12:43
and in fact when you go to look on
12:46
screen you have got a center box that
12:48
you cannot move around either via touch
12:51
and of course there are no other
12:52
controls to allow you to move around so
12:54
really we're back to what I would call
12:56
focus and recompose you focus in the
12:59
center of the frame and if you want to
13:00
recompose you move off center a little
13:02
bit focus speed is not amazingly fast
13:06
and obviously it's between the focus
13:08
system and then the focus motor and the
13:12
lens itself and because it is a fixed
13:14
lens those two things are inextricably
13:16
tied together and so autofocus speed is
13:20
you know it's leisurely it gets you
13:22
there and you will get a confirmation
13:24
you do have the different focus modes in
13:26
terms of having AFC or AFS or manual
13:29
focus you can get eye detect but eye
13:32
detect it works in some situations it
13:35
doesn't work particularly well in others
13:37
i found for example if I was in any kind
13:39
of backlit situation I was not getting
13:42
any kind of eye detect i was just mostly
13:44
getting some hunting back and forth so
13:46
low light conditions back lit situations
13:49
this focus system is not sophisticated
13:51
and it doesn't like those kinds of
13:53
situations i also found unfortunately
13:55
that if I went into the film camera mode
13:58
and I was only using the optical
14:00
viewfinder the optical viewfinder is
14:02
basically just glass it's not really any
14:04
level of magnification there's no kind
14:06
of focus confirmation going on there and
14:08
so frankly you don't really have a sense
14:10
of what is being focused on in that film
14:13
camera mode and of course you're not
14:15
able to use the LCD for that during that
14:17
time what I found when I went to develop
14:19
my roll is that uh probably at least
14:22
half of the images were not properly
14:24
focused particularly this camera really
14:27
doesn't seem to like if it's a closer
14:29
subject it wants to jump to the
14:31
background instead even if the the the
14:33
front subject is really quite obvious
14:35
and so you have to be really intentional
14:36
about that and so if you're shooting in
14:38
normal mode you have the opportunity to
14:40
see okay it's not focused in the right
14:41
area you can try to focus once again but
14:44
in that film camera mode you don't have
14:46
that option and so there was a lot of
14:48
throwaways if you want an authentic film
14:50
experience well maybe that's it right
14:51
there so don't buy this camera if you're
14:54
looking for any kind of high-end
14:55
autofocus performance because autofocus
14:57
is it gets the job done but it is fairly
15:01
leisurely i will also note on the manual
15:03
focus side of things on this lens that I
15:06
found that when I was shooting in the
15:07
film camera mode and using manual focus
15:10
it does give you a distance scale on the
15:12
LCD screen I didn't find it particularly
15:15
accurate and so I was about 3 m 10 plus
15:19
feet away from my subject and so I I
15:23
focused to that proper zone and what I
15:26
found is that when I looked at the image
15:27
later because I was in the film camera
15:29
mode I found that focus was really out
15:31
only about 4 feet a little over a meter
15:34
away from here so I didn't find that
15:36
scale to be all that accurate and so
15:39
focus is interesting and so in most
15:41
cases I would say that autofocus does
15:43
work better than manual focus manual
15:46
focus you need a lot of rotations if
15:48
you're at close subjects and then it
15:49
speeds up a lot if you're at more
15:51
distant focus distances and so it's
15:55
without the LCD screen it's very hard to
15:57
manually focus with the LCD it's still
16:00
not all that easy because you're not
16:01
getting any kind of magnification not
16:03
any kind of real focus confirmation and
16:05
so manual focus can be a little bit of a
16:08
challenge so overall uh focus was an
16:11
experience don't buy the X half if
16:13
you're looking for an high high-end
16:15
autofocus performance for sure so a lot
16:18
of those same truths we just talked
16:20
about in the autofocus section they are
16:21
going to apply for autofocus during
16:23
video as well it doesn't seem to be
16:26
particularly sophisticated to me but you
16:28
can see here I mean focus does move from
16:30
one subject to another again everything
16:33
is vertical here so this shoots in a
16:35
limit of full HD except for it's not the
16:38
typical res you know um resolution frame
16:41
size it's 1080 by 1440 uh your shooting
16:45
your shooting options are basically your
16:47
standard at 24 frames per second and
16:50
then you can shoot the high-speed mode
16:51
at 48 frames per second uh you can put
16:55
videos side by side in a similar kind of
16:57
thing again to me that feels a little
16:59
bit gimmicky but you know maybe you'll
17:01
love that footage looks pretty budget it
17:04
um it it's not particularly high
17:06
resolution it seems to me like it gets
17:08
noisy really really quick and so it's
17:10
going to look better in uh good lighting
17:13
conditions but if you're shooting into
17:15
high ISO range it falls apart pretty
17:17
quickly so on that note let's talk about
17:20
the sensor itself so our sensor here is
17:24
a smaller 1 in sensor and it is right
17:28
under 18 megapixels of resolution now if
17:31
you're doing the side byside uh you know
17:33
the the half image dip tick style you
17:37
can get up to 33 megapixels that's
17:40
combining two images on one frame but
17:42
each one of those individual images is
17:44
only going to be right under 18
17:46
megapixels so the sensor itself uh one
17:49
of the limitations here is that there is
17:50
no shooting in RAW so it really makes it
17:53
important to choose the look you want in
17:55
camera because you don't have the same
17:56
flexibility you would with other Fuji
17:58
cameras that you could shoot in RAW and
18:00
then choose your film simulation after
18:02
the fact in this case you're going to
18:04
need to choose your film simulation up
18:06
front and obviously that's a big part of
18:08
the overall shooting experience here you
18:10
also have the ability to dial in things
18:12
like hellation light leaks grain
18:15
different looks and so that you can get
18:17
in camera a kind of look a recipe that
18:20
you like and I think you're going to
18:21
have the most fun with the camera if you
18:23
really learn the looks that suit you and
18:26
so that you can get images that are
18:27
interesting obviously one of the the
18:30
common things that's going to be here is
18:31
adding on the date stamp to give it kind
18:33
of that retro vintage type look and so
18:35
that is one of the things that you can
18:37
do now obviously I'm not going to do the
18:39
same kind of sensor deep dive because
18:41
frankly the sensor wouldn't hold up all
18:42
that well i did find for example in this
18:45
shot I didn't realize that the shutter
18:47
limit was only 1/2,000th of a second so
18:49
it came out very overexposed and so what
18:52
I found is that I was able to recover in
18:54
the JPEG reasonably well but there still
18:57
are some hot spots in there some places
18:59
where the highlights were blown out i
19:02
found generally that I just didn't have
19:04
the same kind of latitude for
19:06
manipulating images after capture so I
19:09
wouldn't say that dynamic range is
19:11
anything to write home about and
19:12
certainly the type of high ISO
19:15
performance Fujifilm a lot of their
19:18
sensors do quite well in this metric
19:20
this sensor not so much and so I found
19:22
that if I was shooting an any kind of
19:25
higher ISO situation let's say anything
19:27
above 60,600 3200 definitely I would
19:31
start to run into is issues where
19:33
there's just a lot of color noise in
19:35
there you can see at this shot at 12,800
19:38
which I would not recommend shooting at
19:40
that it's just kind of a mess there's a
19:42
lot of blotchiness here and there and
19:44
also some generalized kind of smoothing
19:47
and loss of contrast as it tries to cope
19:50
this is not a sensor that's designed for
19:52
the extremes but rather this again this
19:54
is the feels the vibes kind of camera
19:56
it's shooting in more optimal situations
19:59
and if you shoot there you can get some
20:00
images that have a decent amount of
20:02
sharpness one thing that Fuji seems to
20:04
always do well is colors and so you use
20:06
the right film simulation you can get a
20:08
nice look and so in some ways the
20:10
interesting the images it can produce
20:12
can be interesting but if you're looking
20:14
at it from a te technical perspective
20:17
it's not going to wow you i was able to
20:19
get some images that I liked out of the
20:21
camera but again I'm not sure that this
20:22
is a camera for me this is a camera more
20:25
for my 21-year-old daughter who recently
20:28
went out and bought an old point andoot
20:30
camera because she likes the look of
20:32
images that are overflashed and washed
20:35
out and have this kind of more analog
20:38
old school kind of vibe to it and if
20:40
that's what you're looking for well this
20:42
obviously is going to give you a far
20:44
more range of control when it comes to
20:45
the film simulations and some of the
20:47
retro light leak kind of looks you can
20:50
dial into in camera that's really the
20:52
best part of this sensor so my
20:55
conclusion is is that this is a really
20:57
unique camera and I I think about it
20:58
it's like would this camera even have
21:00
been released even five years ago but
21:02
Fujifilm has really tapped into what I
21:05
would call the lifestyle camera market
21:07
and so they are marketing those that are
21:10
looking for a more nostalgic type
21:12
experience this is designed to where it
21:14
can be used with some of their little
21:16
portable uh printers and so you can
21:19
really have more of a film developing
21:21
type experience along with that and some
21:23
people are really going to love that
21:25
whole vibe that whole experience this is
21:28
camera is obviously more about fun than
21:30
what it is about performance and so if
21:32
you're looking for p performance Fuji's
21:35
got a lot of other cameras that are
21:36
going to serve you better but if you're
21:38
more of that vibes type person that
21:40
wants a camera that looks cool in your
21:42
lifestyle and is just fun to use well
21:46
the Fujifilm X may just be the camera
21:48
that you've been looking for i do think
21:50
they're asking too much for it but what
21:53
do I know they'll probably sell a ton of
21:55
them if you want more information you
21:56
can check out my full text review that
21:58
is linked in the description down below
22:00
and there are some buying links is there
22:02
as always thanks for watching have a
22:04
great day and let the light in
22:07
[Music]