Fujifilm X100VI Diary

I've never made a gear review and I think it should leave it like that for now. But as most photographers and almost every Fujifilm shooter I just love using the gear. And as much as I like using it I like to talk to like-minded friends about it and occasionally I write about it too.
In this regularly updated blog post I describe my gear journey from buying my first camera to this day. Let's be honest! As this is going to be a neverending story I decided to write updates and changes to "What's in my camera bag" on a regular basis. My latest entry in this blog is that I preordered the Fujifilm X100VI APS-C camera. I assume that this camera will be with me for a long time, so instead of writing a simple review, I thought it would be a better idea to go for a diary kind of user report.
So this is what this page will be. As of now, March 7th,  I'm still waiting for my X100VI to be shipped. I'm holding back a s good as I can not to buy any accessoires before I have tried the X100VI in it's pure form. Hopefully I can start this blog with Day One of experiencing my new camera soon.

Day 1: The arrival (postponed)

It's the 26th of April and what should have been a first entry in this diary of an unpacking of "my precious" will now be an altercation with the Fujifilm launch strategy.
As most customer of the new Fujifilm X100VI I don't have my camera yet. And I don't know when I will receive it. As so many others I ordered minutes after the launch. Until today there is no information on when the camera will be delivered. Instead I've been told (as so many others) that the latest preorders will probably be delivered in 2025.
The delivery problems alone are a big letdown for all Fuji enthusiasts but what makes it worse is that Fujifilm continues to advertise the product. A product that is unavailable for the foreseeable future. In the beginning I consumed all content by the mdia, influnecrs and Fuji themselves about the product. I enjoyed the test, reviews and all the other stuff about that beautiful camera. But after a while I was asking myself why every micro-influencer  on YT and IG already have a camera. Some of them have both color versions and the limited edition X100VI. What about the paying customers?
The expectations were that the X100VI would be available to all within a reasonable timeframe. Or at least we expected a better availability as with the X100V. Fuji moved its production from Japan to China. Probably to produce at cheaper costs but hopefully also to produce faster. They could have given themenselves all the time in the world. Preproduce and then launch the product. An why not do it as all the others. Do a commercial launch as with the Fuji Summit (which was great. In fact I loved it and especially subtle art of advertising as in this video. The timeless value is a masterpeace) but say that Fuji will start delivery by May. Customers are used to that strategy and it gives the manufacturers the possibility and time to produce. To lanuch and immediately announce the shipment was a big mistake and made the launch a failure. Economicly the X100VI will be a huge success for Fuji, but for the time being the reputation in the Fuji community has a scratch. I'm sure there will only be a small scar left when time has passed but I would love Fuji to be more in touch with their followers. Say something. Take a stand.

Day 120: Still waiting
The Fujifilm Summit took place on  20th of February. We have now the 18th of June. So almost 4 month later there is still no sign from my vendor or Fujifilm that my camera will arrive annytime soon. It could have been 120 wonderful days and several events and occasions where I could have used the X100VI, but nope!

Day 240: Still waiting 

It's fall season. Still waiting for my camera to arrive.

Day 270: The arrival
On 30th of November the X100VI arrived. About 9 month after I've ordered the camera in the first minute it went online I can finally see if it lives up to all the hype and if it was worth the wait. I almost expected the arrival to be accompanied by fanfares and I thought about rolling out the red carpet for the delivery agent.
So, now that I have it I'm going to actually use it and share my thoughts on it. I'm not talking about the unboxing experience. It's what you expect from an expensive device, althought it's nowhere near to what you get from an Apple device. But honestly, I couldn't care less. The seconds of unpacking a device do not compare to the years of actually using it. But the same lack of being curious about the packaging I had for the initial operation. If you know one Fuji menue, you know them all.  It's good, but there are better systems out there.
Far more important to me is how does it feel when I pick it up? Does it fit into my hands, is it ergonomic, and of course, how does it look.

Day 320: First shooting
It's now middle of January, almost one year after the announcement of the camera. I have worked on the first bunch opf pictures I've made with my Fuji X100VI. I took these photos about 2 weeks ago, as we had a heavy snowfall. In this area we do not get much snow and some years it does not snow at all. I shot some pictures for my Seasons of a tree project and I tried to get a little creative as well.  I've done quite a bit of editing on the pictures as I wanted to give them an analogue look, as so many try to get wehn using the Fuji X100 series. So here are the first shots.