Why You Should Buy This Camera Instead

The Fuji X100VI has been riding shotgun on the hype train since its announcement. And while it's a good camera, this camera is better. 

The Fuji X100VI has been so hyped up that it has apparently become the most preordered camera in history. There is even a limited edition version that is selling for astronomical amounts, considering the only thing you get from the limited edition version is a special logo on the body and lens cap. It's not even a special color or finish? But, while everyone is riding this hype train, I think it's important to point out that there is a better all-around camera available without any type of wait. And that camera is the Sony a7CR. And while I'll be primarily talking about the a7CR, an equally great option at a cheaper price point is the Sony a7C II. But more on that later! 

The first thing I want to do is talk about the specs because the a7CR beats the Fuji in pretty much every single spec category. Instead of a 40MP crop sensor, you get a 60 MP full frame sensor. And this is the same sensor found in the Sony a7R V, which is one of the best full-frame sensors in existence. You also get better image stabilization, with 7 stops on the Sony instead of the 6 stops offered by Fuji. The Sony also gives you better all-around autofocus. There are more points of coverage, and the focus tracking is faster and more sticky when it locks focus. This is because the Sony has an entire AI processing unit dedicated to advanced autofocus features. Things like the ability to track faces, eyes, animals, insects, cars, trains, and planes. And while Fuji also has this ability, more importantly, the Sony has human pose recognition. Which means it can calculate where and how the human form will move through a frame. For example, if someone has their back to the frame, as they turn, the camera can recognize this and begin locking focus at the point where the eye will be before the eye is actually available! So even though the Fuji X100VI does have upgraded focus ability compared to the previous model, after playing with one for a while, I could quickly tell that the tracking ability wasn't on the same level. Not terrible by any means, but still noticeably better on the Sony. 

From here, let's talk a bit about the physical aspect of the camera. The main selling point of the Fuji is its small compact size. But in fact, the Sony body is actually smaller and lighter than the Fuji if you compare the setup without a lens. Add one of the various compact Sony lens options, and you have a setup that is now bigger and heavier than the X100, but it's not too far away. For example, an a7CR paired with the Sony 35mm CZ f2.8 lens is 515 g for the body and 120 g for the lens. This leaves us with a total weight of 635 grams. In comparison, the Fuji is 521 g with body and lens. But the key here is that you get to choose which compact lens you want to have attached to the Sony. So while you are stuck with a 35mm equivalent on the Fuji, the Sony gives you a ton of possibilities. And although the Sony will never fit inside a pocket, as a past owner of an X100, I never once felt like that camera was a pocket-sized camera either. And when hanging on my shoulder from a strap, or even shooting with the camera all day, I think you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference in weight. In fact, I’d bet at the end of a long day, the Fuji would feel heavier because it just doesn't have as good of a grip when compared to the Sony.

Now, one area I do feel the Fuji wins is in general aesthetics. While I do Iove the silver version of the a7CR, especially paired with the silver Small Rigs bottom plate, the vintage vibe of the Fuji with the manual dials and viewfinder definitely feels more complete. If you need an optical viewfinder, then the Fuji is also the way to go. Though when I owned the X100 in the past, I found myself exclusively using the EVF or rear screen, so for me, it was sort of a wasted feature. 

But one thing the Fuji has I wish the Sony had is a joystick. While I've learned to use the touch screen to move my focus point when using the a7CR, I still think having a joystick would give a better shooting experience. That said, as a whole, the Sony has more customizable buttons, which results in a lot more in-the-moment functionality. So given the choice, I think I would rather have the extra buttons over the joystick, rather than have the joystick and very few custom buttons. And while the Fuji has those nice vintage dials, they are sort of a one-hit-wonder setup because if you decide to use the front or rear dials to control your shutter or ISO, the dedicated dials on top essentially become eye candy. Where on the Sony, the dials are fully customizable to do ISO, aperture, shutter, and exposure compensation, and you can even set the dial to control things like picture profiles, or audio levels.

Even better is that the Sony offers the 1-2-3 option on the main dial that essentially lets you have complete functionalities programmed to a simple dial turn. An example of this is that I have my 1 set for my everyday shooting, with aperture priority, auto ISO, AF tracking, and all that other fun stuff. But one thing I find myself needing occasionally is the ability to lock focus on something and not have the AF lock onto a face or eye. So rather than dive into the menu or use up a custom button to turn face detection on and off, I have dial 2 setup so that my focus mode changes to a non-tracking option and face and eye detection are turned off. And this would work for any situation where you find yourself needing to make multiple setting changes for certain situations. Maybe you want this 2-dial set to turn the camera to ASPC crop mode while also changing the drive mode to hi and the file output to uncompressed raw. The possibilities are pretty endless.

Speaking of APS-C crop mode, since the Sony is a full-frame camera, you can also shoot in crop mode which basically crops into the full-frame sensor so you're shooting on the same size sensor as the Fuji. And because the a7CR is a 60-megapixel sensor, you still get 26 MP in this crop mode. So now your lenses can do double duty with the Sony without a ton of compromise in comparison to the X100. For example, if you have a 24mm lens, you can shoot 35mm in crop mode. Or if you go with the 50mm G compact lens, you can get 75mm in crop mode. And it's this feature that led me to go with the a7CR instead of the a7C II. While the a7C II still has this ability, since it's a lower-resolution sensor, you obviously won't get as much resolution when in crop mode.

From here, one of the things everyone always loves to talk about is the film simulations for the Fuji, which is something I never really understood. I always shoot raw for flexibility in post-production. And if there is ever a set of images I want to quickly share with a certain style, I can easily just run them through Impossible Things Ai editing in Lightroom and have a basic style applied to all the images and also have them auto-adjusted for things like white balance, exposure, contrast, and even shadow recovery. If you really want those in-body film simulations, though, I found this place called Sony Film Simulations, where this guy figured out how to adjust the Sony Picture Profiles to emulate various film simulations. And because it's an outside service, you wouldn't be tied to only FujiFilm simulation and could instead use things like Kodak Portra 400 or Kodak Tri-X in addition to the Fuji simulations like everyone's favorite Classic Chrome. And while these film simulations aren't perfect, I don't think the ones baked into the Fuji cameras are perfect either. So, it all comes down to getting close to that style you're after. But again, for me, I'd rather keep the post-production aspect of photography outside of the camera. At least until someone can let me upload my own preset or style into a camera. 

Last thing we need to dive into is price. And both the Sony a7CR and a7C II are more expensive than the Fuji X100VI and that price doesn't even include a lens. Thankfully, there are a good number of reasonably priced compact lenses you can get for the Sony setup. But even then, if you go with the cheaper a7C II and a 24mm G lens, you’re looking to spend about $1,000 more than the X100VI. But that's assuming you can even get your hand on a retail copy. If you resort to eBay, you could be spending even more on the Fuji than you would on the Sony. And the only reason I could possibly recommend the Fuji over the Sony is if you need an optical viewfinder, you live for a joystick, or you need your camera to have vintage dials and a built-in flash. Otherwise, I think the Sony is all-around a better camera. And I'm not even getting into the video aspect, but the Sony has way better features and capabilities on that front as well.

In conclusion, while the Fuji X100VI has gained significant attention for its vintage vibe, compact form factor, and amazing image quality, the Sony a7CR still emerges as the superior choice for those seeking unmatched performance and versatility in a compact camera. While the cost is steeper, the features and capabilities you gain are worth the added cost. And even though the Fuji may have better aesthetics, I still constantly get comments and compliments on my Sony a7CR.