
I have not run any film through this camera yet but I can say what I like and don't like about it.
Bottom film advance: It is on the wrong side! If it was on the left like the Bell & Howell/Canonet 19 it would be easy and fast to use. Instead it is on the right where it requires you to reposition your grip and shutter finger to advance the film. If you use your left hand to advance the film your right palm interferes with the lever. The Bell & Howell/Canonet also has a little trigger that drops down and this makes finding the lever a lot easier where the Fujica has only a little round button to help.
Focus is like a 35mm slr, you turn the front of the lens. But the aperture is controlled by a lever at the rear of the lens where almost every other rangefinder has the focusing lever. Not bad but I am used to the focus being where this camera has the aperture control plus my tripod has a large mounting pad and this means that the aperture can't be set past f8 without the lever hitting the tripod mount.
Film counter is on the bottom of the camera (this one is not working) and you must turn camera over to check film count.
Auto exposure control with full manual control. Have not verified accuracy of auto mode but manual speeds appear ok. I like manual control because the selenium meter in this camera can't function forever and may not be functioning properly now.
Limited shutter speed range of B, 1/30 to 1/500 second.
Film asa range of 5 to 200 for autoexposure and this was not bad for this camera in 1962. It has an exposure compensation dial right next to shutter release. This is a great location and is easy to use. It is one stop in 1/3 stop increments. No "plus" compensation at 200 asa but it gradually kicks in one click at a time giving the full "plus" range at 100 asa. The reverse happens at the other end of the scale from asa 5 to 10.
Lens is coated but a little slow at f2.8 but I would expect very good performance. I'll post pictures when I get a test roll through it.
Rangefinder not functional and may have parallax correction. I'll add this to my list of repairs or tune ups.
As new this was a usable but somewhat limited camera. I'm sure its image quality will better any modern plastic lens point and shoot camera.
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