X100V or Pen-F dillema?

[The Kathmandu Cat]

Hello! New member here from Kathmandu, Nepal up from the Himalaya mountains. I don't own a Fujifilm camera yet. I use the Olympus Pen-F for my daily walkabout, street shooting and a Nikon D500 for action and wildlife. I’ve always been interested in getting a fix focal length camera and the X100 is just so good looking, as is the Pen-F.

I’m considering getting the upcoming X100V when they come out next month but don’t want to clutter up too much gear so maybe sell the Pen-F? But then I love the little Pen-F and am quite sentimentally attached to it. Do you think owning both the Pen-F and the X100V would be overkill? Maybe I’ll love both? Anyone else here also own both the Pen-F and a X100 camera, what would you do? Hmm....dilemmas! 😊

 

[EdricBF]

Keep the Pen-F, IMHO, and see if you can enjoy a fixed-focal length lens, no IBIS camera like the X100. If you use the Pen-F with only one fixed lens and IBIS is not important, then it is a no-brainer...

[fordfanjpn]

I have both and suggest that if you can afford to keep them both, you should do so. I thought about selling my Pen-F when I got the X100V since I mainly shoot with Fuji cameras, but the Pen-F is such a cool camera that I can't quite bring myself to part with it. 

[le boecere]

I don't own the digital version of the Pen F, or any of the X100's, but what would prompt me to keep the Pen F is that it's an MILC, whereas the X100's are not.  I'd want both, if I could afford them.

[neal3K]

I have a X100S and an X100F.  I would love to have a Pen F too.

[WaveDancer]

On 1/13/2020 at 11:26 AM, The Kathmandu Cat said:

Hello! New member here from Kathmandu, Nepal up from the Himalaya mountains. I don't own a Fujifilm camera yet. I use the Olympus Pen-F for my daily walkabout, street shooting and a Nikon D500 for action and wildlife. I’ve always been interested in getting a fix focal length camera and the X100 is just so good looking, as is the Pen-F.

I’m considering getting the upcoming X100V when they come out next month but don’t want to clutter up too much gear so maybe sell the Pen-F? But then I love the little Pen-F and am quite sentimentally attached to it. Do you think owning both the Pen-F and the X100V would be overkill? Maybe I’ll love both? Anyone else here also own both the Pen-F and a X100 camera, what would you do? Hmm....dilemmas! 😊

 

Stick to the Pen-F and wait! The X100V has some issues, like getting hot and grinding noises when focusing manually! 

[dgt]

I have a Pen-F and an X100T. While I really enjoy the X100T, I don't think I would sell the Pen. I do own a couple of other Olympus cameras and several lenses. The Pen is a unique camera in my opinion; the colour/monochrome knob on the front sets it apart and it is also such a 'nice' camera to use.

I think both it and the X100 series are special cameras and worth keeping in my opinion.

[slclick]

I sold my Pen F and haven't looked back. Cute yes, fun in certain aspects, sure. Cramped controls, poor menu system, jpegs very noisy. 

 

The V is in another league. Usable jpegs, great button layout, especially with the joystick (finally) best in class EVF, decent battery life, great in hand feel (I have large 1X2 hands) A wonderful travel camera and companion to my FF gear. LOVE.

[narapo]

Had a Pen-F too which I sold. The pictures taken with the Pen-F, using Pana-Leica 15 mm prime or Oly 14-42mm Zoom  were usually great, but quickly getting very noisy at no-so-high ISO. I went to Japan in 2018 with the Pen F & Oly Zoom and a Leica Q  and sold the Pen-F just after that after comparing the pictures (you can look at a selection of them here : https://www.flickr.com/photos/87789424@N08/albums/72157676265569797/with/46947520482/). I have kept the Leica but it is a little too big and heavy or wandering around so I have just bought the X100V and the IQ seems to me miles ahead of the Pen-F. The Oly menu system was also too complicated, and I love the possibilty of custom function settings offered by Fuji and the quality of film simulations ; the Mono and color modes offered by the Pen were more gadgety than usable to me. 

The Micro 4/3 is doomed anyway, with Olympus recently sold and Panasonic pursuing its alliance with Sigma and Leica.

 

[neal3K]

Got me a Pen F this month with analog controls like the Fuji X100 series.  I ended up with the metered model, the Pen FT though.

 

 

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[ROTR]

I use the Olympus OM-D EM-1 system for most work these days - the system is so light even with a bagful of lenses and fantastically capable (compared to the Nikon D700 based full frame kit I used to have) and I wouldn't swap it but I now also have an X100V which is a delight when simplicity and ease of use with great quality is what I want - it takes me back to my Leica M6 days!  The Pen F has the same potential flexibility as the OM-D but if you only want to use it with a 17mm lens I'd say go with the Fuji instead - nicer to handle and better quality results.

[Lee Moody]

I have both and love them both. If you can keep them both please do. 

[BillB.]

I have both the Oly Pen-F and the Fuji X100V and I wouldn't sell either.  Both cameras are great in their own way.  In fact, following my purchase of the Fuji X100V, I learned to appreciate my Pen-F yet more.  The Pen-F feels as good, and perhaps better, than the X100V in the hand.  The Pen-F has image stabilization while the X100V doesn't.  The Pen-F takes interchangeable lenses while the X100V doesn't.  

Back in the old film days, at times, I carried two identical cameras, one with color film, the other with Black and White film.  These days, I (once in a while) carry two cameras (the Pen-F and the X100V), the Pen-F with a 50mm (equivalent) lens aboard, the X100V having a 35mm (equivalent) fixed focal length lens of course.  Both cameras together are small and light enough to fit in a small camera bag. 

Just maybe, later on, you'll decide to sell the Pen-F (or the X100V).  But why hurry to do so?  Take your time; shoot with both cameras for a while.  Perhaps a year from now you'll decide to sell one or the other.  And perhaps you won't.  In the meantime, you'll have two great cameras to use. 

Hope this helps,

Bill B.