July is not December

So, I ordered an X100VI from B&H on the third or fourth day of general availability, back in February. Last week I got a friendly note saying "you'll probably be waiting until December 31st for that."

So I stewed a little, then Luke suggested maybe I could just order from a local dealer and at least let them earn the interest on my delayed gratification. I pinged a local dealer and a friendly sales person told me their wait list was around ten people, but that Fujifilm hasn't been super consistent or communicative.  I went ahead and ordered.

Last night I got a notification that my order had shipped, and it arrived this morning. That's much better than December 31st.

This is exciting. Since the  X100S—released in 2013—I've had this idea in my head of what I wanted the X100 series to do. The X100VI introduces IBIS, and that was the last thing on my list. They probably could have kept the X-Trans IV sensor from the X100V—I was very happy with that on last year's San Francisco vacation—but it even picks up the X-Trans V you can find on the X-T5.

I don't know if there's any other product line I've been this engaged with for so long, and with so much satisfaction over how it has shaped up. In my early digital days, I was excited about the Canon PowerShot G series, but they used that line as a way to drive people into the Digital Rebels, so there were constant feature regressions with each release, and I gave up. I had a lot of hope when Pentax came out with the K100D, but the same "cannibalize the low end to drive upsells" thing came into play there.

My first X100S was bought in reaction to all the games manufacturers play to drive you ever upmarket. I loved the form factor, the physical controls and the hybrid viewfinder. I loved that it was comparably specced to Fujifilm's flagships. The 23mm lens threw me at first, but I got over it and it became my home focal length. I did eventually get an X-T2 for the flexibility of interchangeable lenses, but the X100 series is the Fuji product line I've cared about and paid close attention to, and each iteration has made it a little better.

Other people could probably name stuff they've felt is a regression, or isn't moving forward to their satisfaction, but it feels generally immune to upsell nonsense because it is pointedly its own thing in the Fujifilm lineup. You pay a ton for it, you know what you want it for, and Fujifilm seems to understand that while it may be  a gateway drug into Fujifilm's sensibility, it would be a mistake to make it worse to force you to shift into the ILC segment. You're welcome to stop at the X100 series.

I'm not sure that I'm constitutionally capable of not trying out new cameras, but the X100 series has always felt like the "desert island" one to me.