In the ever-evolving landscape of digital imaging, where technological advancements often lead to increasingly complex devices, Fujifilm has taken a distinctive approach with its latest offering: the FUJIFILM X Half. The X Half is presented as a modern interpretation of classic photo styles, specifically designed with emerging imagemakers in mind. Drawing inspiration from half-frame film cameras, known for their portability and casual use, the X half blends its modern functions with its “half frame DNA” to introduce a fresh perspective on content creation.

I was given a couple hours to play with the camera this afternoon in Koreatown, here in LA, and these are my findings.

Nostalgia Meets Portability

The design of the X half is built to fit the aesthetics of vintage film cameras, carrying on the classic form and function found in the Fujifilm X Series. Its retro design incorporates tactile controls reminiscent of analog photography, not unlike the X100 series. Available in silver, charcoal, and black (charcoal looks the best by the way) the camera is styled like a vintage film camera with dial-based controls not unlike a pared-down X100, and very similar in design and size to my Kodak (sorry guys) Ektar H35, a celluloid half-frame camera.

One of the most important things about the X Half is its compact size and light weight. At approximately 8.5 ounces (240g) with battery and memory card, it’s completely pocketable and would ride well in any sling bag, purse, or big pocket. While the body is made of plastic with what I believe to be aluminum accents, you can’t really tell. The tolerances are tight and it all seems very sturdy.

Physically, it features a manual aperture ring around the lens, adjustable between f/2.8 and f/11 and a dedicated exposure compensation dial with 3 stops adjustable in either direction with the shutter release button located in the center. I’ll get to this in a bit but it’s really all you need, in my opinion, and that’s all you get here. If you REALLY want crisp photos at 100% zoom, probably best to shoot around f4, but for online wide open works just fine.

Other physical controls include a still/movie switch and a playback button, along with a flash switch, as well as the “film advance lever” which either makes a 2-in-1 (talked about later) or, in photo reel mode, prepares the next shot. It’s silly, but it’s FUN. It can be charged internally over USB-C and takes standard SD cards and the usual block batteries found in the earlier XT and all X100 series cameras.

Core Specifications and Imaging Hardware

At its heart, the X Half is equipped with a 18MP, 1-inch BSI sensor, rotated 90 degrees to prioritize vertical composition in a 4:3 aspect ratio. The camera utilizes a fixed 10.8mm F2.8 prime lens, which provides a full frame equivalent focal length of 32mm which is the same FoV as your standard QuickSnap disposable camera, with a respectable minimum focusing distance of 10 cm.

For focusing, the X Half uses TTL contrast AF with single, continuous, or manual options. It’s not the snappiest autofocus (the entire camera is slow “ish” I must say) and basically only works center-weighted or with face-detect AF, but with this FoV and intent that’s fine. In lower light it can hunt a bit, but the little “flash” on the camera will turn on when it feels it’s too dark to focus reliably, which is helpful.

The camera features an electronic shutter with a top speed of 1/2000th of a second and has an ISO range from 200 to 12,800. Images are saved only as JPEGs, with no RAW recording option, which some folks online seemed to bemoan but this camera isn’t for people who use RAW, it’s for people who want a result now. It can even have its photos sent to Instax printers, which is pretty cool

The aforementioned LED flash is relatively bright but, being an LED, cannot freeze motion like a traditional Xenon flash and doesn’t provide the classic flash photography look. The camera also has a cold shoe, but one reviewer expressed disappointment that it lacks a center pin or PC sync port, limiting its functional use with classic manual flashes.

Storage is handled via SD cards (SD, SDHC, SDXC) located in a single slot next to the battery ala the X100. Fujifilm states a single battery can net you about 880 shots. I didn’t have the camera long enough to confirm that but it seems reasonable.

Touchscreen and Viewfinder

The X half features a new touch-screen interface, navigated using its two rear LCD monitors. The main screen is a 2.4-inch LCD Monitor with approximately 0.92 million dots, oriented vertically and looks way nicer than that sounds. It’s also bright enough that I wasn’t struggling with it in the sun (although I did max it out almost immediately). That main monitor handles most of your functions, but the little oval one to the left (reminiscent of a film canister window) operates kind of like a scroll wheel almost, allowing you to cycle through features or, more often, your Film Sims and Filters. It’s also where your “cancel” button ends up being a lot of the time.

While you can pinch-zoom to spot check your pictures, the back screen is really best used for composition and checking your settings as images are simply too small to evaluate effectively. That being said, the X Half has this really cool feature where you press the “advance” lever in and it shows you the last image taken, with the oval window showing you the film sim used, animating in together in a pleasing way. It’s by far my favorite way to chimp pictures now.

The camera features an optical viewfinder, also oriented vertically, but without a HUD like in the X100 or XPro series of cameras; described as a “tunnel style” optical-only viewfinder, it lacks a diopter and provides only a basic approximation of the framing with no markers, guides, or overlays. When using the “Film Camera Mode” you have to use the OVF, as the main LCD on the back becomes a permanent info display.

Film Simulations, Filters, and Custom Modes

A significant part of the X half’s appeal lies in its array of creative tools. It’s equipped with 13 Film Simulations, allowing users to emulate classic Fujifilm analog film varieties, although they are not customizable so your favorite “recipes” won’t apply here. While it doesn’t include every simulation found in other Fujifilm cameras (such as PRO Neg. Std/Hi, Eterna Bleach Bypass, or Monochrome), it features most of the popular options like Provia, Velvia, Astia, Classic Chrome, Reala Ace, Classic Negative, Nostalgic Negative, Eterna, and Acros. Personally I tend to bounce between Acros, Classic & Nostalgic Neg, and Classic Chrome. Reala Ace is too new for me to know if I like it, but I did shoot with it for a bit today.

In addition to Film Simulations, the X Half offers 26 unique filters to add creative touches. These include three new creative filters inspired by film photography, which I found myself using quite a bit: Light Leak, Halation, and Expired Film. Light Leak gives a random red flash somewhere in the frame (it’s truly random, you don’t know where it ends up til you take the shot), Halation adds a halo effect around hi-bright light sources, and Expired Film mimics the grainy look of older analog films (think that greenish base-layer fog). Obviously this is emulating things that you historically wouldn’t want in your film, but if you want perfection that’s not why you’re buying this camera. This is for fun and funk.

Other creative options include the usual Grain Effect option to add natural grain to images and movies (although I found them to be a bit heavier handed than usual) and a new “Date Stamp” function allowing you to imprint the date in the bottom right corner of images and movies, replicating the point-and-shoot look of the 90’s.

The camera introduces a unique 2-in-1 feature that allows users to combine vertical stills and movies into a diptych. In-camera, this is achieved by winding the Frame Advance Lever after capturing the first image or video. The next capture is then placed alongside the first, creating a composite of two images, two movies, or a combo of the two. This composite divides a 3:2 screen in the center, placing two 3:4 vertical stills/movies side-by-side with an art-directable barrier in the middle. This could be really fun for doing, say, a wide shot and a closeup to tell a story, or maybe a still of your OOTD with a video “twirl” to go with it, all in camera. The dedicated app (which we weren’t given access to due to it being in beta) can also be used to create 2-in-1 images from selected still image combinations, offering editing options like changing dividing line colors and sizes or swapping images. Regardless of how you make them, the individual images are saved separately so you get both images and the diptych for a total of 3 saved.

Perhaps the most distinctive feature is the Film Camera Mode, designed to digitize the experience of using a classic one-time-use film camera. In this mode, users select a Film Simulation and a “roll size” (36, 54, or 72 exposures) and the camera then provides an analog-like experience where images can only be composed using the OVF and you’re not allowed to review the images until you “shoot the entire roll”. After each image is taken, the Frame Advance Lever must be wound to proceed to the next shot, replicating the classic analog process. Once the “roll” is finished, the images are “developed” using the dedicated X half app, which generates a contact sheet (just like we used to make in the dark room!) and provides access to the individual images in a dedicated folder, which I rather enjoy. I’m a sucker for organization. Settings are fixed once the mode is started, and exiting the mode midway requires you to “abandon your roll” and your contact sheet, as a result, looks sad and empty. My only thing of note in this mode is that, if you’re really speeding through shots, sometimes the winding mechanism doesn’t keep up. You’ve gotta go a little slow, but this camera kinda wants you to even if it weren’t a software limitation. Also I kind of wish the advance lever had some kind of tactile feedback, as right now it’s quite smooth, but that’s somewhat picking nits as someone new to the idea wouldn’t know what they’re missing, so to speak.

The X Half also offers the convenience of direct printing to select Fujifilm instax smartphone printers. Compatible models include the instax mini Link2, instax mini Link3, instax SQUARE Link, and instax Link Wide. This allows users to print images on the spot without needing a phone or computer or whatever. It’s also nice that the 2-in-1 images fit exactly within an instax Wide frame, and the regular images fit in the… other… ones… Listen I don’t use those printers but I know they’re neat, sue me.

The X half can record something akin to Full HD (1080×1440) video at 24p, encoded at up to 50Mbps, vertically oriented and cropped into the same 3:4 shape as photos. I didn’t test it too aggressively but from a separate review I saw, you got 60 seconds before it stops. This is not intended to be a video camera, it’s a “moment” camera. A 60 second moment is plenty.

You’re not getting 4K, you’re sitting at 24p (which is “film like” right? Unlike 30fps which is not film), you’re not attaching external mics or lights, you’re just capturing the moment for the gram or your 2-in-1. Which is fine. That’s what it’s for! It’s fine that this isn’t a video-centric hybrid camera. It’s a camera for being IN THE MOMENT. If your moment lasts longer than 60 seconds, call a doctor.

I won’t lie, I did watch all the embargo-restricted videos last night, and reviewers expressed a mix of enthusiasm for the X half’s unique concept and frustration with some of its technical limitations. The camera’s deliberate simplicity led to several concerns for reviewers accustomed to more feature-rich digital cameras. The small, potentially hard-to-see touchscreens and the basic optical viewfinder were points of criticism. The reliance on touch controls over physical buttons was not preferred by everyone. The autofocus system was noted as basic and sometimes slow. The lack of RAW capture limits post-processing flexibility. The limited video features were a drawback for those interested in hybrid shooting. The cold shoe instead of a hot shoe and the LED flash were seen as missed opportunities (which I must say I agree with). And while the Film Camera Mode was conceptually liked, its clunkiness and the occasional unresponsiveness of the advance lever were noted as issues. Some reviewers felt the price point ($849 USD, a post-tarrif price) was somewhat high considering the limitations, especially compared to smartphones or other compact cameras.

ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE TRUE.

BUT.

The camera simply isn’t made for them. I’ll put it this way: my most viewed post on this website by far, after over a decade of writing here, was about point and shoot cameras. There’s a world beyond professional photography, cinematography, and content creation that the average person lives in, and they just wanna have fun. They don’t care about bit depth or frame rates or ProRes, they just want to disconnect from their immediate lives (more specifically, their phones) and live in a moment. They want to document that moment, of course, but the memory is always better than the document. What if the document had a veneer on it that reminded you of the moment, the memory of that moment, and represented that truth without “accurately” recording it? That’s what a lot of people want! If you’re a pro photographer, you don’t get mad at your subject for wanting to look their best right? It’s not an “accurate” representation of how they look all the time, it’s an “idealized” version. That’s what this camera is for; saving idealized representations of the moment you and your friends were in. Sure, you and I might know how to make that appear after the fact, but we do this for a living, the average person does not. We’ve all praised Fujifilm for years and years about their film simulations, this is just the next logical step down the line from pro to consumer. Let them enjoy the “90% of the way there” that Fujifilm cameras can afford them!

This kinda goes into what I was saying earlier about the exposure comp dial; I personally run my X100 on auto, in jpeg, with my settings the way I like them, and just ride that dial to account for different environments. This is basically that workflow manifest!

That being said, all of us there today were walking around with these cameras absolutely smitten, it seemed. We only had a few hours with them and were in an admittedly-boring part of Koreatown and even then were all going “wait when can we get one?” Yeah I can’t afford one, I’m on a journalist salary, but if I could have one I’d certainly use it! I own an X100V and I love it. Even with how compact, it’s too big to carry everywhere and still feels very professional or even “precious”. The X Half is just a fun little box that amazing pictures come out of that’s enjoyable to snap with. It’s a premium experience, at an admittedly premium price, for an enthusiast audience.

A Love Letter to Analog

The FUJIFILM X half represents a fascinating intersection of classic design and modern digital technology. It’s absolutely a gamble from Fujifilm, and one that I appreciate them taking the swing at. Inspired by the simplicity and unique format of half-frame film cameras, it offers a distinct shooting experience centered around fun, creativity, and delayed gratification. Your smartphone might do better in some areas, but do you have literally any fun whatsoever using your phone? I doubt it.

Ultimately, the X half is positioned not as a technical marvel designed to compete on specs, but as a lifestyle camera that aims to capture the spirit and workflow of analog photography in a fun digital package. It’s a device for those who appreciate the aesthetic, value the process of creation, and enjoy sharing moments in a visually distinctive way. As one reviewer eloquently put it, the X half is a “love letter” from Fujifilm to all things analog, embodying a genuine passion for the craft and experience of photography. Its success may well depend on whether its target audience embraces this blend of nostalgia and digital convenience, imperfections and all, but as it stands I think this thing is wonderful.

The FUJIFILM X half compact digital camera is expected to be available late June 2025 with a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price of $849.99 USD and $998.99 CAD. More information can be found at https://www.fujifilm-x.com/en-us/products/cameras/x-hf1/.