Well, at least it's different.
Fujifilm today introduced their odd new compact camera, the X half. It's half X100, half fad starting, half over-thought, half film nostalgia, and half half frame, all rolled into one. At first glance there's a lot to unpack. At second look, it's a pretty simple camera that is trying to win you over with its "differences."
That starts with using an 18mp 1" image sensor vertically, and thus the Rear LCD is vertical, as well (and small at 2.4"). While it looks like it has a viewfinder, that's really a static optical framing tunnel with no information relayed. You get two dials, one switch, one button (besides the shutter release), one swipe area, and one film-like (advance) lever. You can only take JPEGs (or FullHD videos). It even has a near-lens flash to produce red-eye.
Much of what Fujifilm's trying to push here is style, not substance. The press release says "rediscovering and reinventing the charm of film photography in a digital format." To me that's a bit like doubling down on a cheaper and less sugary soft drink they already are vested in. It's "cool" to limit yourself to the number of exposures a roll of film can provide, for instance, though apparently Fujifilm thinks that 12, 24, or 36 isn't enough, so it's 36, 54, or 72 on the X half instead (ironically, the battery lasts 880 images CIPA ;~).
The Sigma bf camera was a rethink at simplification of the photo capture process. The Fujifilm X half is a whimsical impression of what photo taking should be like. It's nice that we're getting camera companies thinking outside the box they're in, but there's a lot of style over substance going on in these new designs. And in adding style, your options get simplified and focused, not necessarily where you'd want them to be.
No doubt the creator/influencer market will rush to Fujifilm X half and it will sell well, at least as long as whatever fad this is lasts. dpreview described it as "profoundly silly." I wait for a proponent of "take only one image a day" quests to take up this camera. They won't have much to think about except what's in front of the camera every day, and if they use the film mode, they'll be waiting at least a month before they can see a full "contact sheet" of their images and change to a different film simulation.
For about the same price (at least here in the US), Fujifilm also sells the X-M5 with a kit zoom. More and better pixels. More and better control. More and better speed. More and better focal length. More and better video. Same film simulations. That should tell you something about the X half. It's less than half the camera.
