Last Updated on 02/21/2024 by Chris Gampat
It was only a matter of time until the hype took over. When the Fujifilm X100V became hot on the 2nd hand market, the prices rose because no one could get them first hand. With the Fujifilm X100VI announcement, it seems we’re seeing the same craziness. After that, a whole lot of other craziness happened. The company created a ton of hype with bought media around the Fujifilm X100VI. We stated that it’s the best toy camera of 2024 in our review in progress. And the company announced that the X100V is now discontinued. Now that Fujifilm announced that they’re only making 15,000 pieces a month, guess what happened.
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The Fujifilm X100VI Price Has Tripled
On eBay, the Fujifilm X100Vi has already tripled in price — going from $1,599.99 up to $4,500. Sane people will go to Amazon or Adorama and purchase it for its price. But there’s actually interest in it. Thankfully, Fujifilm didn’t do a collaboration with SUPREME to drive demand up even more.
Now, here’s the even crazier thing about it all: if you go to some of the listings on eBay, you’ll see that people are actually actively watching and putting themselves on the waitlist. So, yes — people are willing to pay $4,500 for a camera like this.
Luckily, the price of gaffers tape, which will need to attach the filter to the camera instead of paying for the filter ring adapter, is still pretty cheap.
It Happened With Leica Too!
The Leica Q3 is only maybe around $1,000 more than the hype price. Believe it or not, even the Leica Q3 has an elevated price on eBay. The Leica goes for just under $6,000 brand new and for as expensive as $7,279.95 on eBay.
Surprisingly, the Ricoh GR III dropped in price on eBay. This can lead one to believe that the industry wants more weather-resistant-ish cameras — specifically premium compact cameras. Canon and Sony believe people don’t want them and instead go for smaller, interchangeable-lens full-frame cameras. But could they really be missing out on a market that they’re not taking advantage of?
The Demand for Good Compact Cameras
Clearly, we can all see the effect of fanboyism and cults made by brands. Fujifilm’s followers and those on TikTok are diving into the hype like hungry pets who just ate and are glutton for more. With Fujifilm only being told that they can deliver 15,000 units a month, the second-hand market is bound to be really lit in the next few months. In fact, it might last until the holiday season.
Fujifilm gets its sensors from Sony. And currently, the X100VI, XT5, and XH2 are the only cameras that use this 40MP APS-C sensor. Sony’s own a6700 uses a 26MP sensor — around the same that the XH2s uses. The XH2s will likely be much available then as Sony is presumably more or less taking the same sensor and adding an X Trans layer to it. But a 40MP sensor which isn’t even being made into their own cameras doesn’t seem logical to make in mass unless there’s a massive order. Fujifilm has also said that they’re not totally sure yet about supply. Perhaps Sony could end up being the problem here.
This, again, is why I’ve kept saying that the industry needs more sensor manufacturers than Sony.