Fujifilm X half – a digital camera that makes you wait for your photos

You take 40 photos of the same sunset with your phone. Then you never look at any of them. Ever. They just sit there, eating cloud storage you pay for.

The Fujifilm X half is a small digital camera that pretends to be a half-frame film camera, right down to a lever you pull after every shot. It even has a mode that won’t show you your photos until you’ve finished the “roll”. On paper, that sounds like a terrible idea. I want one anyway.

What is the Fujifilm X half?

Fujifilm announced the X half in May 2025. The name comes from half-frame film cameras, which squeezed two tall photos onto one normal 35mm frame. The X half copies that idea digitally: its 1-inch sensor sits upright, so every photo comes out in portrait (3:4) unless you turn the camera on its side. Just like your Instagram stories.

It’s small. Fujifilm says it weighs 240 grams (8.4 oz). There’s a fixed 10.8mm f/2.8 lens (32mm equivalent), an optical viewfinder, and a vertical 2.4-inch touchscreen on the back. Next to it is a skinny strip that shows which film look is active, like the little window on the back of an old film camera.

How does it work?

You can shoot it like a normal point-and-shoot. Pick one of 13 Film Simulations (Velvia, Classic Chrome, Acros and friends) or one of the filters like Light Leak, Halation and Expired Film, and fire away.

The fun part is the Frame Advance Lever on top. In 2-in-1 mode you take a photo or video clip, pull the lever, take another, and the camera glues the two side by side into one file. A diptych, if you want to sound clever at parties.

Then there’s Film Camera mode. You choose a film look and a roll length of 36, 54 or 72 shots. From then on, the screen only shows a frame counter, there’s no preview, and you frame through the viewfinder. You pull the lever between shots like it’s 1985. When the roll is done, you “develop” it in the X half app, which also makes a contact sheet with film strip borders. It can also print straight to some instax printers.

The good and the not-so-good

What I like:

• It’s a camera that wants you to stop checking the screen. That’s a weird thing to pay for, and also exactly the point.
• Amateur Photographer says it does a great job of copying the film experience without the cost of buying and developing film.
• TechRadar’s reviewer was still using it more than a month later.
• Fujifilm rates the battery for up to 880 shots per charge when you use the optical viewfinder.

What could be better:

• It only shoots JPEG, no RAW. Fine for most people, annoying for editors.
• RTINGS calls it slow and disappointing from a technical point of view, and Digital Camera World points to mediocre specs for the money.
• Several Amazon buyers say the advance lever has no real resistance or click, so it feels a bit like a toy.
• It’s not cheap for what’s inside, and several reviewers say so.

Who is the Fujifilm X half for?

People who love the idea of film but not the price of film. It’s a great gift for someone who scrolls past 3,000 phone photos and remembers none of them, or for a friend who keeps saying they’ll “get back into photography”.

Skip it if you care about pixels, low light and fast autofocus. Then you want a proper camera, or just your phone. If you like the screen-free idea but not the price, the Camp Snap 2 does it for a fraction of the money. The Kodak Charmera is the tiny keychain version of the same fun, and the Paper Shoot camera is the one with a paper case.

Where can I buy the Fujifilm X half?

Fujifilm sells it in black, silver and charcoal silver. The black one on Amazon was about 450 bucks at the time of writing (October 2026), down from a list price of about 650.

Pull the lever. Don’t look. Trust the process.