No camera in our store has had a stranger few years than the X100V. It launched in 2020 as a well-reviewed fixed-lens compact, went viral in 2022, became impossible to buy new, and sold used for more than its list price for the better part of two years. Then the X100VI arrived in 2024 and was also impossible to buy for a while. Things have settled now, which makes this the right moment to ask the question in the title.
The short answer
Buy the X100V if…
- You can get one for clearly less than a used X100VI
- 26MP is plenty for you (it is, for most people)
- You don't need stabilisation for your shooting
- You like the slightly smaller, lighter body
Buy the X100VI if…
- You want IBIS for slow shutter speeds and handheld video
- You use the in-camera digital teleconverter (50mm and 70mm crops) often
- You want the latest subject-detection autofocus and film simulations
- The price gap to a used X100V is small, which it often is now
Spec sheet, the parts that matter
| Fujifilm X100V (2020) | Fujifilm X100VI (2024) | |
|---|---|---|
| Sensor | 26.1MP APS-C X-Trans CMOS 4 | 40.2MP APS-C X-Trans CMOS 5 HR |
| Processor | X-Processor 4 | X-Processor 5 |
| Lens | 23mm f/2 (35mm equivalent), the redesigned "II" lens | Same 23mm f/2 II lens |
| Stabilisation | None | 5-axis IBIS, rated up to 6 stops |
| Base ISO | 160 | 125 |
| Viewfinder | Hybrid optical / 3.69M-dot EVF | Hybrid optical / 3.69M-dot EVF |
| Rear screen | 3" two-way tilt touchscreen, 1.62M dots | 3" two-way tilt touchscreen, 1.62M dots |
| Video | 4K30, 10-bit internal | 6.2K30, 4K60, 10-bit internal |
| Autofocus | Face/eye detection | Adds AI subject detection (animals, birds, vehicles) |
| Film simulations | Includes Classic Neg and Eterna Bleach Bypass | Adds Reala Ace and Nostalgic Neg |
| Battery | NP-W126S | NP-W126S |
| Weight | roughly 478 g | roughly 521 g |
| Weather sealing | With the optional adapter ring and filter | Same |
| Typical used price | Roughly $1,100 – $1,400, down from its peak | Roughly $1,400 – $1,700, close to the $1,599 list price |
Those used prices are the part of this article most likely to be out of date by the time you read it. Check the current Fujifilm listings on Aperture.market and the X100V and X100VI sold-price pages before you decide what a fair offer is.
What actually changed
IBIS. This is the headline. Fujifilm fitted a five-axis stabiliser into a body that's only about a millimetre thicker and 40-odd grams heavier than the X100V. For a fixed 35mm-equivalent lens, stabilisation means handheld quarter-second exposures in a dim restaurant and video that doesn't look like a walk. If you've ever pushed an X100V to ISO 6400 to keep the shutter speed up, this is the feature you were missing.
40 megapixels. The X-Trans 5 HR sensor is the same one in the X-T5 and X-H2. The practical benefit on an X100 isn't big prints; it's the digital teleconverter. The crop modes that simulate 50mm and 70mm now leave you with roughly 20MP and 10MP files instead of 12MP and 6MP, which turns a gimmick into a feature. The cost is slightly more noise at high ISO than the 26MP sensor, pixel for pixel, and larger files.
Autofocus and simulations. The X100VI gets the X-Processor 5 and the subject-detection autofocus from the newer X bodies, plus the Reala Ace simulation. Face and eye detection on the X100V is still good, but it's a generation behind in tracking anything that isn't a person.
"The X100VI is an X100V with the two complaints fixed. That's a compliment to both cameras."
What didn't change
Almost everything you touch. The lens is the same 23mm f/2 II, which was redesigned for the X100V to be sharper close up and wide open, so there's no optical reason to upgrade. The hybrid viewfinder, the tilting screen, the control layout, the leaf shutter with flash sync at fast speeds, the built-in four-stop ND filter, the battery and the weather-sealing-with-adapter arrangement all carry over. If you hand someone both cameras with the badges covered, they'll need to take a slow handheld shot to tell them apart.
The price bubble, and where it is now
For most of 2022 and 2023, a used X100V in clean condition sold for well above its $1,399 list price, sometimes a lot above, because Fujifilm couldn't make them fast enough and social media had turned it into an object. We sold them at those prices and told buyers, every time, that the camera was great and the price was not. When the X100VI launched at $1,599 in early 2024 it inherited the same backorder, and for a stretch of months used X100Vs and used X100VIs sold for nearly the same money.
That's over. The X100VI is in stock at most dealers now, which has pulled used X100VI prices to just under list and used X100V prices well under that. A clean X100V in 2026 is a reasonable buy at roughly $1,100 – $1,400; it's a poor buy at anything approaching the X100VI's price, because for a couple hundred more you get IBIS and a newer sensor. The rule is simple: if the gap is under about $300, buy the VI. If a seller wants 2023 money for a V, keep walking.
Buying used: what to check
The X100 is a camera people carry everywhere, so check the body for dents on the corners and the top-plate dials, and look at the lens front element for cleaning marks (the exposed front element is why Fujifilm sells the adapter ring). Make sure the hybrid viewfinder switches cleanly between optical and electronic modes, that the optical finder's overlay lines up with the EVF, and that the rear screen hinge tilts without play. Test the aperture ring and the shutter speed dial for crisp clicks, and the focus-by-wire ring for smooth travel. Pull the battery door and check for the broken latch that affects a few bodies. On the X100VI, point the camera at a wall, half-press, and listen: a faint click from the IBIS parking is normal, a loud rattle isn't. Ask for the shutter count, which Fujifilm bodies don't display in the menu but which you can read from a RAW file with a free online tool.
Our condition guide explains how sellers on Aperture.market grade bodies, and if you're selling your X100V to fund the VI, the AI listing writer will draft a description that mentions the right generation and accessories. Aperture.market charges zero commission and shows each seller's location, so for a camera this popular you can meet in person, check the finder and the front element yourself, and pay a price that reflects 2026 rather than 2023. The Fujifilm listings are the place to start.