Fujifilm has a brand new pint-size addition to its X-series cameras coming in late June: the X Half. It’s an 18-megapixel “half-frame” digicam with a portrait-oriented sensor and viewfinder and a set 32mm-equivalent f/2.8 lens.
Regardless of being digital, the X Half is all concerning the classic movie aesthetic. The $849.99 digicam is so devoted to an analog-like life-style that it’s acquired a whole secondary display only for choosing one among its 13 movie simulations, and it doesn’t shoot RAW photographs in any respect — simply JPGs, for a extra what-you-see-is-what-you-get expertise.
Fujifilm’s definition of a half-frame is a bit completely different from the normal one. Often, a half-frame movie digicam just like the Pentax 17 captures photographs measuring 18mm x 24mm (round half the dimensions of full-frame / 35mm format). However the X Half makes use of a 1-inch-type sensor measuring 8.8mm x 13.3mm, which is about half the size of the APS-C sensors in different Fujifilm cameras just like the X100VI and X-T5. So I suppose it counts on a technicality.
However just like the Pentax 17 and different precise half-frame cameras, the X Half is all about taking informal, enjoyable snapshots and bringing it with you in all places. It weighs simply 8.5 ounces / 240 grams and is sufficiently small to slot in most small baggage and even some outsized pockets. The X Half is shut in measurement to a standard disposable digicam, however not like a one-time-use movie digicam it has a correct glass autofocusing lens with aspherical corrections, and it even shoots some primary 1080 x 1440 video. (Although, in my briefing on the digicam, Justin Stailey of Fujifilm North America described the lens as having “some character.” Which is commonly a colourful means of claiming the lens isn’t the sharpest.)
As soon as you are taking some pictures by way of the X Half’s conventional optical viewfinder (that’s proper, there’s no EVF or hybrid finder right here) or its portrait-orientation 2.4-inch touchscreen, you may connect with a devoted smartphone app (launching barely after the digicam) for further features. You may create your personal two-up diptychs like a standard half-frame digicam, although right here you may select the 2 side-by-side footage, or you may go for two movies or one image and one video.
Fujifilm has baked different analog-inspired options into the X Half app, like a Movie Digital camera Mode that collects your subsequent 36, 54, or 72 photographs and arranges them right into a contact sheet. However the movie nerdiness goes deeper than that, because the digital movie strip might be branded with the movie simulation you used. There’s even a fake movie advance lever for making diptychs, and in Movie Digital camera Mode it forces you to make use of it between taking every shot.
You may lean additional into the movie kitsch by including filters, like a light-weight leak impact, expired movie look, or a ’90s-era time and date stamp to the nook. After all, for the reason that digicam doesn’t shoot RAW, your chosen filter and movie simulation are totally baked into the JPG file. You may’t undo any of them or change it later in post-processing such as you’d usually be capable of with a RAW.
Fujifilm is actually taking a singular strategy with the X Half, making an attempt to seize the curiosity of youthful picture lovers who in recent times have been drawn to the imperfections and vibes of classic movie and getting older point-and-shoot digital cameras. I don’t know what number of of them might be leaping on the alternative to scratch that artistic itch with an $850 digicam in comparison with options costing a fraction of that — like a $70 Camp Snap for digital or any 35mm disposable movie digicam for $10 to $20 — however even when it’s half the enjoyable I had with the Pentax 17 it ought to show time.
