The small digital camera 'X half' was an emotional camera that allowed users to experience the experience of shooting with a film camera, where they could 'shoot without checking the preview and wait for the film to be developed until it runs out.'
Fujifilm will release a small film camera-style digital camera, '
FUJIFILM X half (X half) - Fujifilm X Series & GFX - Japan | Camera | FUJIFILM X Series & GFX - Japan
https://www.fujifilm-x.com/ja-jp/products/cameras/x-hf1/
·table of contents
◆1: What kind of camera is X half?
◆2: Shot with PROVIA
◆3: Shot with NOSTALGIC Neg.
◆4: Taken with REALA ACE
◆5: Summary
◆1: What kind of camera is X half?
The X half is a small and lightweight digital camera that is characterized by its film camera-like design, including parts like a film winding lever and an optical viewfinder. The appearance of the X half is summarized in detail in the following article.
A closer look at the appearance of Fujifilm's film camera-style digital camera 'X half', a unique camera equipped with a vertical monitor and optical viewfinder - GIGAZINE
X half is equipped with a vertical display and uses a vertical composition as the basic composition. If you shoot while looking at the vertical display, you can shoot in the same way as with a general digital camera, 'adjusting the composition and focus while looking at the display before pressing the shutter.'
The X half has a 'film camera mode' that reproduces the shooting experience of a film camera. When you switch to film camera mode, the preview will no longer be displayed on the display, and instead the 'number of shots' and 'AF / MF switch' will be displayed. In other words, you will have to rely on the optical viewfinder and your own senses to shoot without checking the preview.
Fujifilm digital cameras are equipped with a drawing mode switching function called '
The X Half has a part that looks like a film camera's wind lever, and in film camera mode you need to move the lever every time you take a picture.
Also, photos taken in film camera mode are recorded in a group by film as shown below, and the results cannot be checked on the camera's display.
So how do you check the results of your photos? You can do so by importing the film data into the dedicated app '
After development, the photo data is saved on your smartphone and can be viewed with the X half App or various image management apps. In the X half digital camera mode, you can enjoy a film camera-like shooting experience, as described above, in which you set the film, shoot without looking at the preview, rely on the optical viewfinder and your own senses until the film is used up, develop it, and check the photos.
Once developed, the photos will be saved on the SD card in folders organized by film type.
You cannot check the results of your photos on the camera's display, but once they are developed, you can transfer the images to a PC or other device to manage and edit them.
◆2: Photographed with PROVIA
So, to test the usability of the film camera mode and the shooting performance of X half, I set the camera to 'PROVIA', which is equivalent to the standard mode of a general camera, and went outside. The sample photos in this article have not been edited except for reducing the size, and you can see the original photos before reducing them by clicking on each image.
A daytime photo of a residential road. The date is printed in the bottom right, but you can disable imprinting the date in the settings.
A photo of the exterior of
Vegetables were sold at the store.
Shooting dal bhat (a set meal). The X half's viewfinder is optical, so there is a slight difference between the scenery seen through the viewfinder and the scenery captured in the photograph. For this reason, when taking a photograph that focuses on the shooting range, such as 'I want to record the entire plate of food,' a sense of distance is required, such as 'I need to be this far away from the subject to include it in the field of view.'
Photographing meat dishes. You can just decide that it's okay to deviate a little from the intended shooting range without thinking too hard about it.
Plums were on sale.
Photographing an old triangular cone. With recent digital cameras, the preview screen before shooting and the shooting result are almost the same, so it tends to take tens of seconds to take a single photo, focusing on composition, exposure, depth of field, etc., but with X half, you can enjoy a shooting experience that emphasizes your own experience, such as 'quickly taking a photo of a subject that excites you'.
◆3: Shoot with NOSTALGIC Neg.
Next, I set the film simulation to 'NOSTALGIC Neg.' and shot a nighttime city. 'NOSTALGIC Neg.' is a look born from the era of American New Color and the 'longing for a bygone time' that was in front of the photographers' lenses, and is characterized by 'sharp gradation,' 'shadows that sink into blues and greens,' and 'warmth with an amber base.'
Photographed at a supermarket after closing time.
There are fewer people walking around under the arcade as well.
The takoyaki shop was shining brightly.
Cases stacked in front of a greengrocer.
The exterior staircase leading to the second floor of the building. If you click to view the full-size image, you will notice that it has film-like grainy noise.
Photographing the street in front of the station at night from a high vantage point.
A brightly lit green leaf in a dark place.
The passage leading to the station.
The stairs leading to the interior of the building. 'NOSTALGIC Neg.' makes it easy to create an impressive finish even in casually taken photos.
◆4: Photographed with REALA ACE
Finally, I tried shooting with the REALA ACE. The REALA ACE has features such as 'deep, soft shadows and hard highlights,' 'clear depth,' and 'designed to suppress colors for subjects with high saturation.'
A slightly faded mailbox.
Playground equipment in the park.
bridge.
The riverbank as seen from the bridge.
I turned around and took the photo so that the underside of the bridge was also visible, creating a nice contrast.
I shot a roadside tree with the sun shining through it. What's interesting is that the shadow gradation is maintained even in backlit conditions.
Blue sky and bright green plants.
Even though it was the middle of the rainy season, the sky was dark with barely any clouds to be seen, so I tried to make the sky the main focus of the photo. I was able to effectively capture how the colors get darker the further away you get from the ground.
◆5: Summary
When I first started using the X half film camera mode, I was worried about whether I was taking good pictures, but as I got used to it, I started to enjoy the feeling of being able to take pictures while prioritizing the experience, rather than concentrating too much on the camera. Another nice feature is that it is small, lightweight, and easy to carry. Shooting in a vertical composition is similar to the feeling of shooting with a smartphone, so it is recommended not only for people who feel nostalgic for film cameras, but also for people who like to take pictures of interesting things they come across in their daily lives with their smartphones.
X half is scheduled to be released on Thursday, June 26, 2025, with an open suggested retail price. At the time of writing, pre-orders have begun at electronics retailers, and as an example, it is being sold for 118,800 yen on Yodobashi.com .
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