Last fall I got a well used 2nd hand Fujifilm X100F that the previous owner had forgotten on top of a car during a trip to Chile and the camera had rolled on some rocks and thus the OVF doesn’t always work and the shutter button is a bit loose feeling.
Surprisingly the camera has become my most used camera because of the small size, quality of out-of-camera JPEGs and proper control dials to use manual mode. I’m not using the dials on top of the camera, but the front- and back control dials as I’m accustomed to using them on other cameras.
The straight out of camera quality of the photos is so good that I haven’t bothered to edit a single RAW file from the camera and have exclusively used the JPEGs. Since there is no editing process afterwards, the stylistic decisions happen at the time of taking the photo and I noticed that instead of worrying about all the different technical aspects of a shot, I’m checking and deciding what looks good instead.
The 35mm equivalent fixed lens is a blessing and a curse at the same time: you’re left with camera to take photos with no possibility to upgrade or change the setup. The limitations feel freeing since there is no heavy & expensive bag of lenses to carry around and no “What lens would work best for this? Can we stop for a sec, I need to change a lens” etc. and none of the awkwardness that happens someone takes out a full-sized DSLR at a hangout. Just a cute hisptery “film” camera that no one finds weird, intimidating or professional in any way.
I don’t remember who said that the X100 series is a hobbyists or a professional’s free time camera and I have to agree with that. If you know what you’re doing and know that the fixed 35mm works for you, it’s fantastic. Wouldn’t recommend it to be anyone’s first or starting camera due to the limitations and not so good autofocus.