Fuji X100V was my perfect Street Camera — Then I sold it.
- 28mmStreet
- Jun 19, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Dec 21, 2025
June 2025 blog #15
Just 10 days shy of 2 years I sold my Fuji x100v - a camera that redefined my street photography - forever.
It catapulted me into candid Street photography or classic street photography, showed me how to improve my Street photography using and since becoming utterly obsessed with the 28mm focal length and last but not least made me experiment with black and white street photography - which I come to prefer.
Oh and I almost forgot... kickstarted my journey as a film Street photographer as of 2024.
That's a lot a credit to give a camera.. honestly it paved the way for me to be able to re-define everything or maybe the correct term is more .. flip everything I knew about street photography on its head.
The fuji-fication
When I bought the Fuji x100v back in June 2023 the camera had already been on the market since 2021 without any major hype. Back then it almost flew under the radar but then suddenly the Fuji x100v became the nombre uno darling, the overnight star for all the tiktokers out there.
The fuji x100v had reached super stardom and it was the most hyped camera in 2023.
Naturally I also sloowly started to notice the hype - I don't have tiktok and never will but the star power of this camera transcended generational gaps and platforms and soon Youtube was also flooded with praise for this camera.
Without going into details - I can completely own the fact that the hype got to me and I started to watch an unhealthy amount of videos on why I needed that exact camera.
I convinced myself that this camera would do wonders for me.. it would allow me taste that sweet film experience albeit a close one, that I was actually craving.
Fast forward a bit - I actually managed to secure a brand new copy of the Fuji x100v from a local retailer - even in my favorite color, all black. I was super excited like I won the camera lottery or something.
After 3-4 weeks of waiting I finally received the camera, and that feeling of excitement that had been building up for many months - well I can reveal it felt flat - like the gas had been let of the ballon.
WHY?
Because within the first few days of using the camera - it did not live up to my extremely high expectations.
Were some of the expectations unreasonable, sure, maybe - I don't know.
The first thing I noticed was that the camera was quite slow to focus and the auto focus itself was subpar to my Sony camera at the time, the Sony A7C.
I actually made a video about this initial experience - watch it here.
Slowly my gut was telling me; "you made a bad decision, getting caught up in the hype and buying a 3 year old camera and a crop sensor non the less.
Also at this point in time there were heavy rumours on the imminent release of the mark 6 (VI).
I had major buyers remorse to say the least.
Anyway after some soul searching I came to the conclusion after the trouble I went through to get this camera. I could at least give it a fair shot.
 The slow and steady mindset change..
With this new mindset of giving the fuji x100v a fair shot I ventured on a journey that I would later come to call - the redefining of my street photography.
I started to use the fuji x100v as my main edc camera (everyday carry) replacing my beloved and workhorse camera the Sony A7c.
The more I used the fuji x100v for street photography the more I started to like it. It started to grow on me.
There are two major things that paved the way or breakthrough for me - from not liking the camera to loving it:
I used it mostly to do candid street photography
and I "paired" it with zone focus
These two things made all the difference for me.
In the beginning I subconsciously treated the fuji x100v exactly as my Sony 7c - a full frame interchangeable camera, exactly the opposite of the fuji x100v. A crop sensor fixed lens camera.
Once I started to treat the camera for what it could do for me and the type of street photography need it would fulfill it started to have its own place in my street kit.
 Everything I knew..flipped on its head
As the months went by I got so used to fuji x100v as my daily driver I've pretty much carried it everywhere with me.
The camera was just so convenient to carry around with me whether I was going out for grocery shopping, meeting friends or going to work. I always wanted to carry it with me.
Combining it with using zone focus - albeit it's not a true zone focus system as on rangefinders - it worked well enough for me (it was more of a hybrid fuji version).
Nevertheless a true game changer for me and my street photography.
I also started to show interest for candid street photography. Back then (2023) I wanted to get closer to my subjects to capture more raw, intimate type of photographs. I've given myself a challenge which was one of the reason for buying the fuji x100v in first place, its compact size which would be perfect for that type of street photography, being all stealthy and all.
Basically this little point and shoot camera, made it so easy and fun to explore this new type of street photography I felt a strong desire to explore.
Ugh and finally I came to like (by force) using the 35mm focal length again after years of not shooting it. (Feel free to watch some of my Youtube videos for more context).
Well the love for 35mm didn't last long as I ended up buying a 28mm conversion adapter lens.
This adaptor made the existing 35mm equivalent lens into a 28mm equivalent, thus started my long held obsession with the 28mm focal length.
In the interest of keeping this blog short(ish) I will not dive into my wonderful obsession of the 28mm.
Slowly everything I knew about doing street photography flipped on its head. My gear, my shooting style and what I thought I knew started to change - drastically.
Everything seemed so different yet it felt so natural and fun and most importantly I had a renewed and reignited passion for street photography once again.