I take my Fuji X100 everywhere. It is by far the best travel camera I have ever own. Excelling at both street scenes and landscape, the X100 is at the top of my packing list before any trip.
Easy to swing over the shoulder, I sometimes forget it’s there! The vintage look just further adds to this camera, thieves think you have a old film camera and won’t bother and potential photo subjects think you’re an art student and won’t care! It really is the best of both worlds.
Below is just a quick sample of some of the pics I’ve taken with this camera. It excels at low light and the fixed lens is sharp as a razor.
While the camera, is not without it’s quirks, once you get used to them you’ll be quickly taking photos like a pro. I love the quick access to full manual control and the physical buttons for shutter speed, exposure, and aperture.
I bought the Fuji X100 over the X100s simply because I was able to get the X100 for such a deal – less then $600 used. Scour Ebay, Amazon marketplace, or photography forums and you might be able to come up with the same deal. For those buying used, look into the sticky aperture problem. Basically only buy the camera if its either been sent in and fixed by Fuji or in a serial number batch where it didn’t have the problem to begin with.
With the most recent 2.0 software update (Don’t get me started how awesome it is Fuji is still updating this camera), I haven’t felt the need to get the X100s. Fuji increased the focus ability and start-up times dramatically, two of my pet peeves with the camera.
For starters I’d recommend the Lensmate Thumbrest (also available in black) – it allows you to more easily hold the camera with one hand. The included charger is a bit of a pain to pack so I bought a cheap-o one on Amazon that included some batteries and it hasn’t failed me (yet).
I love my Fuji X100. It’s far lighter then my SLR, takes much, much better pictures then my old Canon S95, and is a blast to use. I highly recommended it for anyone traveling abroad.