Six Essential Accessories for the Fujifilm X100F

So you just got a new Fujifilm X100F? Congratulations on your new, great camera. You might think about, which accessories you could need? Well, maybe I can help you a bit. Here is my personal list of six essential accessories for the X100F that complements the camera ideally for my personal preference of shooting.

#1: Two Extra Batteries and Dual Charger

Being used to shoot with a DSLR I never thought too much about batteries, however the X100F is a mirrorless camera. Even though I typically disable the LCD screen and use the optical view finder instead of the electronic one I can easily drain one battery after half a day shooting on the street. Therefore I strongly recommend to get at least one extra battery to be able to shoot a day long and an additional third one as backup or for the evening, should the day become a bit longer.

But how do you charge 3 batteries in the evening? While you can charge one battery in the camera using the USB port and another using the original Fujifilm charger, there is still one battery left, that cannot be charged at the same time. Therefore I have bought a dual charger by Blumax. On Amazon.de you can get a set with two spare batteries. As you can see in the image I have bought another secondary battery (the red one) first, before I have bought the charger bundled with one extra Blumax battery after I had noticed that just one single spare battery could become troublesome.

Bonus point for the Blumax dual charger. The charger uses adapter plates to become compatible with a wide range of camera batteries. I have ordered adapter plates for my Canon LP-E6 batteries. When I travel I have to pack just the Blumax charger with the adapter plates to charge both types of batteries.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Later the Blumax battery you can see bloated during charging. I noticed that after inserting the battery. Luckily I was able to get it removed, but this could have easily bricked my camera. As a consequence today I am no longer using any 3rd party batteries any more and only original Fujifilm batteries.

#2: Lens Hood and Lens Cap

The X100F has a fixed lens. Any scratches on this lens are scratches on the camera as you cannot simply exchange it. So you need some extra protection. The problem with the X100F: you cannot simply put a protection filter on it as you need an adapter ring for screwing a filter on it. Do not dare to simply mount an adapter in reverse on the lens' thread. While focusing the front element is moving!

Therefore the best protection in my opinion is to use a lens hood. I have opted for the JJC LH-JX100, which isn't too expensive, but still is a very solid option made of metal. The lens hood consists of an adapter for the hood that serves as filter adapter also. However there is one minor issue now. You do not want to screw of the adapter all the time when you want to put the Fujifilm lens cap on. But when you just remove the lens hood and leave the adapter screwed on the lens the original Fujifilm lens cap does no longer stick well and falls off easily.

Therefore I strongly recommend to buy a cheap standard 49mm lens cap, which you can simple put on the lens hood adapter even while the lenshood is attached. With this combination you can keep the solid lens hood on all the time, while the lens front element is protected from dust.

#3: Wrist Strap

I do not like neck straps. Period. Never liked them. When I am shooting on the street I carry a shoulder bag around my neck anyway. The camera strap would be just the second strap that always gets into the way of the bag strap. Plus I like to have the camera ready all the time, so I am holding it in my hand anyway. And when I need my hands for other things I just put the camera into the bag.

However holding just the bare camera gives me an insecure feeling. Therefore I have opted for a wrist strap. There are many, many options that all work equally well, so choose the one that you like most.

In the case of the classy looking X100F I wanted something that looks classy as well and have opted for a leather wrist strap by Opaion, which works very well for me.

#4: Bag

Then I found the Megagear MG1329, which looks like a cheaper rip-off of the Ona Bond Street as it offers almost the identical measurements and features for less than half the price, plus more secure strap hooks.

And I must say I love this bag. It looks great. It is lightweight. And it fits just everything I need for a street photography day.

#5: Soft Release Button

Really? A red soft release button as an essential accessory? Yes, you are reading right.

I admit that at first I wanted to get this soft release button by JJC just because of its look. However this little button changes the shutter press feeling quite a lot. The shutter button on the X100F is pretty stiff. As I am used to a much softer shutter button on the Canon, this soft release button makes it much easier for me to perform the half-pressed and final shutter activation. It's hard to describe. I think you have to try this on your own. 

I have my camera set to make no noise and as I am using the optical view finder, I have also disabled the picture preview. So I have no other feedback, when a picture was taken other than pressing the shutter. Without the soft release button I sometimes missed a shot as I accidentally thought that the half-press was already the final press.

When you buy a different soft release button make sure that it comes with a O ring that is placed between the shutter and the soft release button, which prevents the button from unscrewing itself and getting lost.

 #6: Lensmate Thumb Grip

As someone, who is used to the grip of a bigger DSLR, I always struggled to hold the X100F comfortably with one hand until I got the Lensmate LM X100F thumb grip.

It took me just a few seconds to realize that I will no longer be able to live without this little gadget. It makes holding the camera so much more comfortable and for a view finder styled camera like the X100F a thumb rest works much better than a thicker grip as you hold your right hand more to the right of your face in contrast to a camera with a centered view finder like a DSLR, where you hold your right hand more in front of your face and therefore angle your arm more to the side.

The Lensmate thumb grip for the X100F is not cheap at a price of little less than $60. And in addition it is not available in Europe from any retailer, so I had to ask my nice colleagues in the US to deliver that one to me. 

There are other alternatives that are also cheaper, however what makes the Lensmate thumb grip unique is the possibility to fold it back: The X100F has this dial on the back right where the thumb is conveniently resting, plus it has the new combined ISO/Shutterspeed dial on the top that you can not only turn, put also pull and turn. This makes it hard for thumb rest designers to find a proper design for the X100F. Either the thumb rest is above the rear wheel, which still makes it harder to operate this wheel plus makes it harder to use the top dial. Or the thumb rest lever is so thin that it becomes wobbly.

With the Lensmate thumb grip, you can simply fold it back and access all functions conveniently, yet you still have a large and comfortable thumb rest.

That's my list of essential accessories for the Fujifilm X100F. Do you own an X100F as well? Is there an accessory that you cannot live without? Please tell me in the comments below.

This post was migrated from my earlier blog. Comments got lost during the migration unfortunately.