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This retro-styled camera offers loads of tactile control dials, evocative film simulations, and a hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder, all of which combine to create a unique shooting experience.

If you want a compact camera that can rival the Ricoh GR III in image quality, but run-and-gun shooting isn’t your style, the Fujifilm X100VI is a great way to go. Though it offers a powerful blend of cutting-edge tech, including a 40-megapixel stabilized APS-C sensor and a high-resolution hybrid viewfinder, its old-school design and its array of 20 nostalgic film simulations truly set it apart.

This camera’s emphasis on manual control and aesthetic creativity encourages a slower, more contemplative shooting experience that may suit some photographers better than the GR series’s shoot-from-the-hip style. And the film simulations—while great on their own—allow you to extensively tweak them to create your own unique personal visual identity.

But as with the GR III cameras, the X100VI’s lens—35mm f/2, in this case—doesn’t zoom, so it’s less versatile than what you get with some of our smaller-sensor picks.

It has almost everything you can ask for in a high-end compact camera. In many ways, the X100VI plus-ones most of what the Ricoh GR III offers. Its sensor is higher-res, its screen tilts, and even its fixed focal length is a little longer. The body is also weather-sealed (though the lens requires an adapter ring and filter for full protection), while the GR III is not. It’s simply a lot more camera.

But that complexity comes at the expense of, well, expense: The X100VI typically costs $600 more than the GR III. It’s also slightly less portable and a lot less discreet, especially since its ascent to TikTok fame. If you go street shooting with this camera—especially with the silver version—you’re going to get noticed.

The retro appeal is real. The X100VI has a design that recalls film-era Fujica cameras, as well as iconic rangefinders from Leica and other legacy brands. It’s made from aluminum and has pleasingly tactile dials for every major adjustment, including aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and exposure compensation.

As a result, unlike most modern cameras, it’s a joy to use in full manual mode. And even if you shoot in aperture priority, you can leave everything else on auto and adjust the aperture ring to get the depth of field you want. We can’t say exactly why, but we found that method more satisfying than turning a DSLR-style control wheel.

But that old-school design brings some compromises. Like the film cameras it emulates, the X100VI isn’t an ergonomic delight. It’s a metal brick, with a minimal grip around the front and little purchase for your thumb on the rear.

You can fix that, to some degree, by adding accessories—a thumb grip that mounts at the hot shoe, a front grip that screws into the tripod mount, and so on. But this is already an expensive camera, and extras add up quickly. They also add bulk to the camera. People who have smaller hands may be less annoyed by this problem than we were, but we think many people are likely to find the ergonomics wanting.

Its image quality is similar to that of our top mirrorless camera pick. The X100VI uses Fujifilm’s APS-C–sized X-Trans V HR (high-resolution) 40.2-megapixel backside-illuminated sensor—the same sensor found in the company’s X-T5, which we recommend in our guide to mirrorless cameras.

While some full-frame mirrorless models offer upward of 60 megapixels, we think that’s overkill; 40-megapixel models, which provide impressively sharp details and lots of room for cropping, are more than enough for amateurs and pros alike. Speaking of which, the high-resolution sensor in the X100VI allows for two digital teleconverter modes that crop the image to extend the focal length to 50mm (at 20 megapixels) or 70mm (10 megapixels).

The sensor is also stabilized (for the first time in the X100 series), providing up to six stops of compensation for hand movement. That means you can shoot in very dim environments with slow shutter speeds and still get crisp results.

The lens is great (mostly). Fujifilm has paired its high-res sensor with a lens inherited from the older X100V. Overall, it’s very sharp and contrasty, especially when stopped down a bit. At wider apertures, it delivers an old-school rendering that’s every bit as evocative of film-era rangefinders as the camera’s physical design is.

But photographers who are used to the clinical perfection of today’s DSLR and mirrorless lenses may be frustrated to find that the X100VI’s lens is pretty soft wide-open at f/2 when shooting near its minimum focus distance. (It does, however, represent a notable improvement over earlier X100-series models, up to the X100F.)

The lens also flares badly when you’re shooting with the sun or other bright lights anywhere near the frame, a trait that the GR III shares but to a lesser extent. And like the GR III’s lens, this lens doesn’t produce well-defined sunstars, though the upside is that its bokeh is beautifully smooth at f/2.

Fujifilm’s film simulations are a joy to use. Beyond this camera’s retro styling, Fujifilm’s film simulations are its sharpest hook. In many cases named after iconic film stocks from the late 20th century—think Astia, Provia, Velvia, and the like—these modes try to emulate the films’ characteristics in digital form.

In general, they do a beautiful job, and each stock simulation serves a distinct purpose: Astia is saturated and soft, Velvia is vivid and bold, Classic Chrome is slightly desaturated and contrasty. The list goes on.

You can make your own, too. But perhaps the coolest and most addictive thing about Fujifilm’s film simulations is that you can create your own. The X100VI offers seven custom shooting modes in which you can tweak one of the stock film sims, adjusting the dynamic range, white balance, saturation, sharpness, shadow and highlight adjustments, and much more.

Not only does this mean that you can create your own visual identity, but it also means that you can get great JPEG images that don’t require extensive post-processing. Hundreds of user-created recipes are available online too, if you’d prefer to just load a sim and start shooting.

The hybrid viewfinder and the tilting screen add versatility. The X100VI, as well as other X100-series cameras, features a unique hybrid viewfinder—simply pull a lever on the front of the camera, and it switches between optical and electronic. In optical mode the viewfinder also offers a smaller, inset electronic rangefinder view that lets you punch in on your point of focus, as well as review the shot you’ve just taken.

The rear display tilts up 90 degrees for shooting at low angles or down 45 degrees for shooting over your head. Unlike the Fujifilm X-T5’s screen, though, this model’s screen can’t tilt in portrait orientation—just landscape. Even so, it’s a useful upgrade over the GR III’s fixed monitor.

The video quality is very good, but this is primarily a stills camera. You can shoot at up to 6.2K resolution at 30 fps with a slight crop or drop to 4K 60 fps with an even smaller crop. The camera even has a 1080p 240 fps mode for slow motion, and you can record in an F-Log2 profile with more than 14 stops of dynamic range. In-body image stabilization works with video, too, as does subject tracking.

All of that is great, but the X100VI is far from Fujifilm’s best choice for video recording. For one thing, you’re stuck with one lens. But beyond that, this camera lacks a full-size HDMI port (it’s Micro HDMI only) and a 3.5 mm audio jack (so you can’t add a mic), and to switch between stills and video you need to go menu-diving, as there’s no physical switch.

It isn’t as small as the GR III, but it still fits easily in a jacket pocket. Although the X100VI is a compact camera, it’s significantly chunkier than our other fixed-focal APS-C pick. To be specific, it’s about 17% wider, 21% taller, and a whopping 61% thicker (largely because the lens doesn’t retract) than the Ricoh GR III. Here’s a visual size comparison of the two cameras.

The upshot is that while the X100VI still fits comfortably in a jacket pocket, tucking it into jeans is probably a no-go.

It has its own array of add-on accessories. In addition to the aforementioned adapter ring and protective filter, available add-ons include a telephoto conversion lens that narrows the focal length to 50mm, a wide conversion lens that expands it to 28mm, and a lens hood that may help a bit with flare.