Fujifilm X-T100 Performance

Generally slower-than-average performance for a mirrorless camera.

Power on to first shot was much slower than average for a mirrorless camera these days, at around 2.7 seconds, though that's partially because the 15-45mm PZ kit lens needs to extend before it can be used. (Note that High Performance mode which is supposed to improve AF speed and reduce the time to restart the camera after turning it off only reduced startup time to around 2.5 seconds.) Switching from Play to Record mode and taking a shot was also somewhat sluggish at about 1.7 seconds.

The Fuji X-T100's full autofocus shutter lag was slower than average for a mirrorless camera, though there is a "Pre-AF" option which may help in the real-world by continuously focusing even when the shutter button is not pressed half way (that does however reduce battery life). The Fuji X-T100's full-autofocus shutter lag (with the subject at a fixed distance) was 0.316 second using Single Point AF-S mode (center) with the 15-45mm kit lens at ~50mm equivalent (without Pre-AF enabled).

With the built-in flash enabled, the X-T100's full AF shutter lag increased to 0.542 second to account for preflash metering.

Manual focus shutter lag was 0.192 second, while prefocused shutter lag was fairly quick at only 0.047 second.

We retested the X-T100's lag times using electronic shutter mode to see how using it impacts performance. As you can see in the table above, electronic shutter increased lag times significantly.

Note that the X-T100's High Performance mode didn't help with AF speed or shutter lag in our lab tests. In fact, enabling it slightly increased full AF shutter lag.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance.

Single-shot cycle times were also slower-than average at over 1.4 second, and the X-T100 has a pre-press penalty (if you press the shutter button too soon after a previous shot, the camera ignores it and you need to press it again).

The highest speed full-resolution "Continuous H" burst rate was decent for an entry-level ILC, clocking in at about 6.0 frames per second, no matter the file type. The Fuji X-T100 also offers a "Continuous L" mode rated at 3 fps, but we didn't test that mode in the lab. We did however test the X-T100's 4K Burst mode which worked as expected, capturing 8-megpaixel JPEGs at the camera's 15 fps 4K video frame rate. Note that the electronic shutter is used in 4K Burst mode, so there can be some distortion and/or banding depending on subject/camera motion or artificial lighting.

Buffer depth was quite generous with for best quality JPEGs at 58 frames before slowing down, and the buffer full rate was still pretty fast at about 4.1 frames per second. When shooting RAW or RAW+JPEG files, buffer depth dropped to 16 and 15 frames respectively, but that's not bad for its class. Buffer clearing was reasonably quick at 5.6 seconds after shooting a max-length burst of JPEGs, 10.3 seconds after a RAW burst, and 11.8 seconds after a RAW+JPEG burst.

Recycling the flash after full power discharges took an average of 4.3 seconds which is on the slow side.

Bottom line, the Fuji X-T100's performance is generally slower than average, even for an entry-level model. Startup time, mode switching, AF speeds and cycle times are all on the slow side. It's not all bad news, though. Full-res burst speed is decent for its class and JPEG buffer depth is quite good, however RAW buffer depth is significantly lower but still not bad for its category. Prefocused shutter lag is pretty good, and the 4K Burst mode can capture 8MP JPEGs at a pretty swift 15 fps, however some competing models offer the same feature at 24 or 30 fps.

Battery Life
Good battery life for a mirrorless camera.

The Fuji X-T100 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack for power, and comes with a single battery and an AC adapter for in-camera charging via the USB port. The CIPA-rated 430 shots per charge (Fujifilm does not say if that's with the EVF or LCD) is above average for a mirrorless camera, but still much lower than most DSLRs. As is usually the case, we recommend getting a second battery for your X-T100 if you plan any extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))