Fujica 35 FS

I love this new find! The Fujica 35 FS is a very compact, solidly built zone focus point and shoot camera that features a Fujinon 35mm f2.8 lens. I haven't been able to find much out about it online and they appear to almost never come up on ebay. This one did, however, and was pretty much ignored (which was to my benefit of course). It came to me with the original flash (although the flash was garbage due to battery corrosion), the original manuals, and case (hard shell case with red felt lined insert - quite nice). I didn't have the highest hopes for it, figuring it hasn't remained popular for a reason perhaps. But that assumption was dead wrong. After shooting my first test roll (see gallery of images), I can say I'm very impressed with image quality - very sharp lens! I'm baffled as to why this little gem isn't more popular. The only reason I can think of is that perhaps not many were made and sold, so there just aren't many to collect.

LIKES: Small and compact, yet feels solid and well made; very sharp and fast lens; 49mm filter size is still common; hot shoe for flash; two shutter speeds only, 1/250th and 1/30th which are manually switchable using a ring on the lens - and the camera works without a battery, but only at those two speeds with the aperture wide open at 2.8. While that's not very flexible, it will make a good camera for handheld available light night shots!; doesn't beep at you when there's not enough light - thank you Fujica! And lets you take the photo regardless - just a red light in the viewfinder so you know.

DISLIKES: Uses the old mercury battery that is no longer available - Zinc air replacement available, but they don't last long; ASA only goes to 400; Can't find anything else about this camera to complain about.

Right: Town Landing Pier in Falmouth, Maine. Photo taken with a Fujica 35 FS using Fujicolor Superia Xtra 400 color print film.

View gallery: Fujica 35 FS Sample Images