![Fujifilm X100F digital camera in a leather case.](/content/dam/images/g/u/1/4/w/8/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gu14y5.png/1485761672157.jpg)
It seems Fujifilm has painted itself into a corner with its latest compact camera, the X100F.
Quite arguably the X100F is the most beautiful digital camera ever made, the culmination of six years of refining something that started out as a very beautiful, old-school device (the original X100, back in 2011) that was then refined over the years, bit by bit, in response to user feedback.
Has there ever been a camera maker so responsive to its customers? It's hard to think of one.
So having made such a beauty, where can Fujifilm go after this one? Perhaps the only way is down.
![The controls are old-school, and quite magical to operate.](/content/dam/images/g/u/1/4/w/a/image.imgtype.afrArticleInline.620x0.png/1485730959947.jpg)
But that's not even what I mean when I say they've painted themselves into a corner.
The X100F, part of the Fujifilm "X" series of high-quality digital cameras, is the only member of the series you may call a "compact" camera.
It's got a non-interchangeable lens and, even though the grip on this model is fractionally (1mm) thicker than on the previous X100 models, it's still slim enough to fit into your pocket.
And you know what's happening to the compact camera market, don't you? It's vanishing, eaten away by the ever-improving mobile phone. So it's conceivable the X100F may be the end of the line for this delightful bit of retro camera gear.
But that's not even what I mean by the paint and corners.
![The X100F has a fixed lens, but you can add telephoto and wide-angle converters](/content/dam/images/g/u/1/4/w/4/image.imgtype.afrArticleInline.620x0.png/1485730959683.jpg)
The X100F is so named because it's the fourth in the X100 series. First there was the X100, then the X100S, then the X100T, and now the X100F. Second, Third, Fourth. S, T, F.
By that convention, the next model has to be the X100F as well. And then the X100S, the X100S, and it won't be until the X100E that the naming system works again.
If running out of new names is not enough to kill off a line of cameras, I don't know what is.
Many of the refinements in the X100F compared with the X100S are just that: refinements rather than big changes, little tweaks that let you know the company is listening to its fan base.
![It also comes in black.](/content/dam/images/g/u/1/5/7/3/image.imgtype.afrArticleInline.620x0.png/1485731230050.jpg)
For instance, you can now set the ISO through a command dial, or through a small window on the shutter-speed dial, rather than only through the menus, a seemingly tiny thing that can make a huge difference to operating the camera if you happen to be someone who likes playing with the ISO.
(I tend to leave cameras in auto ISO mode and tweak the exposure compensation, so for me it's not a big change.)
But there are some major changes to the X100F that may make it worth an upgrade, even for someone with the previous model.
Chiefly, the guts of the camera have been completely replaced, and now feature a 24.3 megapixel sensor (up from 16.3 megapixels), bringing it into line with Fujifilm's other flagship cameras, the X-T2 and the X-Pro2.
The battery has also been brought into line with those cameras, so that it's interchangeable for people who, say, use an Fujifilm X-T2 as their main camera and the X100F as their compact camera.
The new battery is quite a lot bigger than the old one, but don't expect extra battery life: with the extra megapixels and the significantly more powerful image processing engine, Fujifilm needed a bigger battery just to maintain the existing battery life.
I haven't had enough time with the X100F to speak about the quality of the images it produces. I only got an hour with it, at its launch in Kyoto, so this is just a hands-on review about what it's like to use. But it's very safe to say that, with the exact same image sensor and processing engine as the X-T2, its images will be sensational.
The fixed, 23mm (35mm equivalent) lens is, I understand, largely unchanged compared with the previous model, so you can expect images that are sometimes a little softer than if you shoot them with the equivalent lens on an X-T2 or an X-Pro2.
But that's not necessarily a bad thing. The genius of the X100 line of cameras is that it's a very quirky, very delightful camera to shoot with and, if it produces images that themselves have a particular quality, well then all the better.
You don't buy this camera because you want vanilla. You buy it because it has character. And because it makes you look awesome having it hanging around your neck. Let's not forget that factor. The X100F isn't just the poor man's Leica when it comes to bling. In some ways it's the thinking man's Leica, too.
Its hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder is better than anything you'll find on a Leica, for instance, and it now sports a 6x electronic zoom on it that, once you get accustomed to switching the lens dial between zoom mode and focus mode (something I found a little puzzling at first) does make it easier to focus than before.
And focusing seems faster than ever now, too, and no longer an issue as it has been on previous models. Not that I had an X100T to directly compare the X100F with during my tests.
The new command dial on the front is a great addition, too, as is the joystick on the back that lets you easily move the focus point.
Although I suspect that, with a camera like this one, one that's designed as much for quick, street usage as it is for more thoughtful photography, a lot of users won't bother moving the focus point anyway. They'll just quickly focus off the centre of the frame, then quickly reframe and shoot.
All in all there are a surprising number of improvements to the X100F that really do create the sense that this is a camera at the top of its game, that this is the camera all the previous models have been leading to.
So you do have to wonder, where do they go from here? Especially given Fujifilm's track record of improving cameras through significant firmware updates months or even years after they've been released.
Although actually there is somewhere for Fujifilm to go with the next version of this camera (which I'm guessing will move to Roman numerals and be the X100V).
It could take the incredibly responsive touchscreen it just added to the X-T20 and add it to this camera, for image review if not for actual photo taking, although I'm not sure touchscreen photo taking will suit this well thought out, delightfully retro camera.
So Fujifilm may well have painted itself into a corner with the X100F, but at least it has made sure there is a door in that corner.
John Davidson was in Kyoto as a guest of Fujifilm