Show Notes
Greetings, you’re listening to the Liam Photography Podcast, I’m your host Liam Douglas and this is Episode 390 for Thursday February 15, 2024. In today’s episode I want to talk about my favorite accessories for my Fujifilm x100v camera. Now I know for many people this camera can be a sore spot, although I have no idea why. I just don’t see the point in getting bent out of shape about a camera or camera system.
Over the years I have shot with Canon, Nikon, Sony and Fujifilm just to name the big camera makers I have used. All of these companies make great cameras that do an amazing job at making images. Now I have never shot with or owned a Hasselblad, a Leica or a PhaseOne camera and I don’t trash them just because I don’t want to spend the big bucks to own one so I don’t understand all the people hating on the Fujifilm x100v, especially when many of the haters have never owned or shot with one.
For myself and many others out there, the Fujifilm x100v is the perfect Street Photography camera because is small, light weight and compact and it comes with an excellent quality 23mm F/2 lens, which is 35mm full frame field of view. And I am not the only one in the world who feels that 35mm is the perfect lens for Street Photography or Travel Photography as well. A lot of owners of the x100v use it for documenting their vacations, other moments with their families or just as their Every Day Carry camera and I fall into all of these categories.
Do I sometimes shoot Street Photography with anything else? Of course I do I can also use my Fujifilm X-Pro3 with the XF 23mm F/2 lens or I even sometimes take my Fujifilm GFX 50R with my GF 35-70mm lens set at 45mm, which is 35mm in full frame field of view. It all depends on the mood I am in and how big and heavy of gear I want to carry. However, when I want to be light weight and nimble shooting Street Photography, I always reach for the x100v. And premium point and shoot cameras are popular because of their compactness and Fujifilm is not the only camera maker to offer one. The original x100 came out in 2011 and Ricoh went the same route and release it’s original GR in 2013 for the same purpose, Street Photography. Over the years Ricoh has released the GR II (2015) and now the GR III (2019) and GR III X as well.
The Ricoh GR cameras opted for a 28mm full frame field of view lens for their Street Photography camera as it is another popular focal length for Street and the GR III X offers a version with a 40mm full frame field of view lens, which is also popular for Street Photography. I am not accusing Ricoh of ripping off Fujifilm’s idea of a compact premium point and shoot camera dedicated to Street, Travel and Every Day Carry shooting, but they might have opted to make the GR line for that reason.
Leica makes the Q2 and Q3 which are also used primarily for Street Photography and are also premium fixed lens cameras, albeit with a full frame sensor and the ability to shoot at 28mm, 35mm, 50mm and 75mm making them a bit more versatile, although with the digital tele conversion you can set the x100v to shoot at 50mm and 70mm as well as 35mm full frame field of view making it more versatile as well and Fujifilm also offers tele conversion lens adapters which I’ll get into in a bit.
Some people hate on the Fujifilm x100v because they feel it’s too expensive for what it is and with the hype from TikTok driving the used prices through the roof to double or even triple it’s original MSRP of $1,399 I would agree on the hyper inflated prices but the original MSRP seems reasonable to me. Just because you cannot afford, or don’t want to spend the original MSRP doesn’t mean it’s a bad camera. I can afford a Leica Q2 or Q3, but I will not spend $5,000+ for a compact point and shoot camera even if it is full frame. Just because myself and many others aren’t willing to spend that large amount of cash for a limited use camera doesn’t mean the Leicas are junk cameras either.
The Ricoh’s, on the other hand are a bit cheaper than the x100v at around $966-$1,100 for their GR III and GR III X cameras. The earlier GR cameras did have a built-in ND Filter and Flash like the x100v as well as the leaf shutter, but when they released the GR III line they removed the ND and the Flash so now it only has a leaf shutter like the x100v. Another drawback to the GR line is there is no built-in EVF or OVF for shooting, you have to shoot these cameras like a smartphone, using the rear LCD to compose and shoot. Ricoh does offer both the GV-1 and GV-2 add-on external view finders but I prefer that the x100v has them built-in and I personally only use the OVF when I shoot with mine. The GV-1 might be discontinued since I didn’t find them available at places like B&H and it was around $150 for that view finder, but the newer GV-2 view finder costs $250, so by time you add-on the view finder to the GR cameras you are at the same price as the x100v, but you still have no built-in flash or ND filters.
Alright, so now let’s talk about my favorite accessories for the Fujifilm x100v and why I love the ones I use. I will include links to these items in the show notes so you can check them out yourself, but for full transparency, they are Affiliate links. This does NOT change the price for you the consumer, only allows the show to make a few cents toward paying the bills.
This square metal lens hood is by far the most popular one for the x100v and I believe it’s because it tapers in and has an on/off lens cap with it. In my opinion, it is the nicest looking of the lens hoods for the x100v and the one I prefer, but Haoge does also make a square lens hood that is bigger and doesn’t taper in towards the lens that you can choose from as well. https://amzn.to/3SElMcT note that both of these lens hoods come in either silver or black to match your version of the x100v. I personally think the fist lens hood makes the camera look the coolest and since it tapers in toward the lens it doesn’t interfere with the use of the built in flash if you need to use it for portraits. The larger one will partially block the flash but if you use an external flash mounted in the hot shoe, then no worries using either one. There are a few other companies that make square lens hoods for the x100v so you have some flexibility there but the Haoge ones are my personal favorite.
This is a very nice and compact carrying case for the x100 line of cameras and works with not only the x100v but all previous models as well. I love this case for the times I want to travel as light as possible or have a limited amount of space for what I can take with me such as on a plane. This case features an elastic strap inside to hold the camera firmly in place so no worries about it sliding around or falling out when you open it. The case has nice zippers and also a carry handle built in on the outside for easy carry but it does NOT give you any pockets for extra items like memory cards or batteries. You can, however add extra memory cards into the case if you use the card holder I will talk about in a moment as it is only the size of a credit card.
JJC Dedicated Metal Hand Grip L Bracket Anti-Slid Holder
JJC is another company that makes a lot of great camera accessories not just for the x100v but for most any camera on the market. I love this plate as it gives me a more pronounced hand grip for holding the small x100v in my huge hands and it also gives you a built-in Arca Swiss plate on the bottom for easy attachment to your favorite Arca Swiss ball head, which in my case are my PlatyBall Ergo and Elite ball heads. Another great feature of this hand grip is the fact that it does NOT block your access to the battery/memory card door, which means you don’t need to remove it to get at those two items when out shooting.
JJC Deluxe Metal Thumb Up Grip
Another of JJC’s great accessories for the x100v is their Thumb Up Grip, which is inserted into the hot shoe to give you better grip and ergonomics when carrying the camera. This is just a basic metal thumb grip and Haoge makes them as well, but I went with the JJC one as it is $3 cheaper than the Haoge and it has a black patch in the middle of the hot shoe area which I think makes it look nicer since my x100v is the black and silver version. There is another company Lensmate and they make a folding Thumb grip which has a hinge so you can pull the grip back away from the dials on the top of the camera to make them easier to reach to make changes to your settings. The big downsides of this thumb grip are it’s price at $60 vs $21 and $24 for the JJC and the Haoge ones, but for some reason it also takes 8-11 days to get one for some reason so I can only assume it’s because they must ship directly from China instead of having them available via Amazon Fulfillment. All of these Thumb grips are available in both silver as well as black so you can get one that color matches your x100v.
If you have been listening to this show for any amount of time you know that one of my most highly recommended items are Wasabi Power batteries for your camera. Wasabi Power has been around for quite a long time now, since 2001 and they make in my opinion some of the BEST third party batteries for cameras especially. I have been using Wasabi Power batteries in my cameras since they first came on the scene in 2001 and I cannot say enough about the high quality of their batteries. Some third party batteries drain faster than the OEM ones and some have to be charged with their own chargers but Wasabi Power doesn’t have those restrictions. I have been able to change my Wasabi Power batteries in the camera using USB-C with no issues in ALL of my Fujifilm cameras that offer in-camera charging and same when I shot with Canon. Wasabi Power batteries are also a fraction of the cost of your OEM batteries, with the 4 pack I have listed here only costing $30! Wasabi Power does offer their own chargers for when you want to charge multiple batteries at once and they also offer combo packs where you can get 2 batteries and a dual battery charger for $28 as well.
Haoge Lens Filter Adapter Ring
Haoge to the rescue again if you happened to buy a used x100v and it didn’t come with the original Fujifilm Filter Ring, you can pick this one up from Haoge for $10 instead of paying Fujifilm’s premium price for a new one. Again Haoge offers theirs in both silver and black editions as well so you can get one that color matches your camera and allows you to attach filters to help weather seal your camera!
Although I am generally not a fan of UV filters for cameras as a form of protection I do like this one as it gives you a quick and easy way to weather seal the lens on the x100v which is very handy. NiSi also makes very high quality filters period so you don’t have to worry about this one causing strange artifacts in your images when you are out shooting all day and it’s $39 so not terribly expensive.
PEAK Design Cuff Camera Wrist Strap
Again, if you’ve listened to this show for any amount of time you already know that PEAK Design is one of my all time favorite camera strip makers on the market today. Their nylon snap buttons that attach to your camera make it quick as easy to add on their wrist strap or any of their neck straps as well. The Cuff strap is only $34.95 and comes with the anchor buttons and they even give you a spare one in case you need it. The fact that their buttons for the anchor change color over time to warn you when they are getting worn enough to eventually fail is also a nice feature to keep your camera gear safe. In addition to the Cuff strap I also own the Peak Design SL-BK-3 Slide, Camera Strap, Black and it is hands down one of my favorite camera neck straps. If you are not a fan of their actual neck strap and have one you already love because it has gel or extra padding, you can still buy the PEAK Design Anchor Links for $24.95 and add them to that favorite strap and still have the PEAK Design quick connect system for speed and strength and not have to tie your strap to your camera directly. If you buy extra PEAK Design buttons you can use that one strap with all your cameras should you have more than one!
The next two accessories I want to talk about are actually made by Fujifilm themselves and there are not third party options. The first is the WCL-X100 II wide angle conversion lens. This lens add-on allows you to change your x100v from 35mm full frame field of view to 28mm which is the same focal length as the Leica Q2. Now you can have a slightly wider field of view for landscapes or Street Photography either one and since it’s made by Fujifilm it will NOT degrade your image quality.
This conversion lens for the x100v made by Fujifilm allows you to convert your camera from 35mm full frame field of view to 50mm, which is awesome if you want to use your x100v for portraits either in your studio or of your family when out on vacation or around the home. The nice thing about this lens add-on is since it is a Fujifilm product it does NOT crop into the image sensor to give you 50mm, instead the cameras internal system will upsample the images to give you 50mm without any cropping or loss in image quality so you still get your entire 26.1MP of sensor resolution. The big difference with the Mark II versions of these lens add-ons is the fact that they have a magnetic in them that allows your x100v to “see” them when attached and automatically change to that focal length and update your EVF and OVF accordingly so you still get an accurate field of view. The Mark I of these lenses, all those settings had to be changed manually in the camera menus.
Most Slim & Compact SD Memory Card Case
I absolutely LOVE this memory card holder just because it is so small and light weight and only the size of a credit card so I can carry it in my Ridge Wallet if I want to. It can hold 4 SD cards, two on each end and keeps them nice and secure while also protecting them from the elements. The price tag isn’t too shabby either at between $8-$12 a piece on Amazon and it also comes with a photography cheat sheet for those of you that are new to photography, you will always have that quick reference card handy with this SD card holder!
Ok that will wrap this episode of the Liam Photography Podcast, let me know what accessories you have for your x100v or any other x100 cameras in the show’s Facebook Group! Also, remember that next week, February 20th, 2024 is the next Fujifilm X Summit where they are expected to announce the new x100vi and all of the upgrades to this newest version of the x100 line of cameras!
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