Can't get an X100VI? Your iPhone can shoot like one

26 September 2026

If you can't get an X100VI, an iPhone won't replace the camera, but it can get closer than you'd think to the photos. What it can match is the colour, the 3:2 frame and one-button shooting, with a RAW file behind every shot. What it can't match is the sensor, the lens and the viewfinder. Here's an honest look at both, and how to set an iPhone up to shoot like the Fuji.

Why people are looking

The X100VI sold out when it launched in early 2024 and never really caught up. In January 2026 PetaPixel reported it was still routinely backordered and sold out at B&H, while also being the best-selling compact camera at Yodobashi Camera in 2025. Fujifilm had raised production more than once. In June, PetaPixel reported it back at the top of Tokyo retailer Map Camera's best-seller chart for May, over two years after launch.

Much of the appeal is the JPEGs: Fujifilm's film simulations and the recipes people build on them. That part can travel. iMore made the same point in 2024 in "Can't get hold of a Fujifilm X100VI?", which rounded up filter cameras like RitchieCam and editors like Dehancer. This post goes one step further. It sets the phone up to shoot the look, not just filter it afterwards.

What an iPhone can't match

Honesty first. According to Fujifilm's specifications, the X100VI has:

• A 40.2MP APS-C sensor. It's many times the area of any iPhone sensor. That means shallower depth of field at the same framing and cleaner high ISO.
• A fixed 23mm f/2 lens, 35mm-equivalent. The iPhone 18 Pro's main camera is 24mm-equivalent, and its 2x option is 48mm. Neither is 35mm. The 24mm is wider, so you frame tighter by stepping in, or crop afterwards in Photos.
• A hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder. A phone has only a screen held at arm's length. Nothing replaces an eye-level optical finder.
• Dials and a leaf shutter. Shutter speed, ISO and exposure compensation are physical controls, and the leaf shutter is near-silent and syncs flash at high speeds.

If those are the reasons you want the X100VI, keep waiting, or look at a used X100V. A phone app won't fix them.

What an iPhone can match

• The colour. This is the big one. Chobial's built-in films were solved from a Fujifilm camera's own RAW developments. The same RAF file was developed neutral and then with each simulation, and the difference was measured in CIELAB. Chobial Chrome is our take on a Classic Chrome-type look, Chobial Negative on Classic Negative, Chobial Nostalgia on Nostalgic Neg, and Chobial Natural on Reala Ace. They're live in the viewfinder, so you see the look as you frame.
• Recipes. Fujifilm recipes are tone, colour, white balance and grain settings on top of a simulation. You can rebuild them the same way (see Fujifilm recipes on iPhone).
• The 3:2 frame. The X100VI shoots 3:2. Chobial has a 3:2 frame line. It's a mask, not a crop, so the full sensor is kept.
• A shutter button. On iPhones with Camera Control, click it to shoot. Light-press to pick Film, Exposure, ISO or Shutter and slide to change it. That's the nearest thing on a phone to an exposure compensation dial.
• Manual exposure. P, S, ISO and M modes, exposure compensation in third stops, and manual focus with focus peaking.
• RAW behind every JPEG look. An X100VI shooter keeps the RAF so they can re-run the simulation later. Every Chobial photo is a RAW negative that you can re-develop with any film, including ones you make later.

Doing it in Chobial

1. Load Chobial Chrome or Chobial Negative from the film strip (tap the film in the bottom-right corner). See your first roll.
2. Choose the 3:2 frame. Step in a little to make up for the wider lens.
3. Turn on DISP › Histogram and Zebra, and set exposure compensation the way you would on the Fuji's dial.
4. In iOS Settings › Camera › Camera Control, choose Chobial so a click opens it and shoots, even from the Lock Screen (Camera Control). The locked camera offers the built-in films.
5. For a tripod or a group shot, use the Apple Watch as a remote shutter, with a framing preview and a 3 or 10 second timer. The iPhone needs Chobial open.
6. Later, open any frame in the editor's Film tool and develop it again with another film.

Habits that transfer from the X100VI

Much of what makes an X100VI enjoyable is how you use it, not the hardware. Three habits carry over well:

• Commit to one look per outing. Load one film and leave it. You'll learn how it treats skin, sky and shade, the way Fujifilm shooters learn a recipe. Because the RAW is kept, committing costs nothing.
• Expose for the film, not the screen. Most Fujifilm recipes suggest a little positive exposure compensation. Do the same with EXP in third stops, and watch the zebras so bright skies don't clip.
• Fix white balance for consistency. The X100VI lets you set a Kelvin value. Chobial does too (2500–10000 K), so a whole set of frames shares one colour instead of drifting shot to shot.

Other options

• RitchieCam is a simple no-edit camera from Ritchie Roesch of Fuji X Weekly (PetaPixel).
• Pearla is a subscription camera app with profiles inspired by Classic Chrome and Classic Neg (PetaPixel).
• Dehancer and Lightroom apply film looks after the shot.
• Another compact: the Ricoh GR has a 28mm-equivalent lens and its own colour modes, but it has had shortages too. If that's where you're heading, see the GR look on iPhone.

If you get the X100VI later, the phone still has a job. You can import its RAF files into Chobial (Develop other cameras' RAW) and develop them with the same films you've been shooting on the iPhone.

Fujifilm, X100VI, Classic Chrome, Classic Negative, Nostalgic Neg and Reala Ace are trademarks of FUJIFILM Corporation. Ricoh and GR are trademarks of Ricoh Imaging Company, Ltd. Chobial is not affiliated with either company.

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