One Fabulous Fujica

<p>Finally, I've found a couple of hours to put together a few words in praise of a very fine <br /> Fujica Rangefinder, the 35-EE. It came as a Christmas present and I held off using it until <br /> I had the time to savour the experience, and savour it I did... It's an astonishing camera, <br /> heavy and beautifully-made, with great attention to detail and finish. It's designers <br /> obviously decided to re-think the contemporary rangefinder concept, and produced a camera <br /> with a very clean appearance and favourable ergonomics. The winder is situated on the <br /> baseplate, a position I find very user-friendly, along with the frame counter, and the <br /> focusing is operated by a thumbwheel set into the back, just where one's thumb comfortably <br /> sits when holding the camera. Focusing is fast and accurate with a very bright split-image <br /> in the parallax-compensating viewfinder.<br /> <br /> Set smoothly into the top plate is a window for the exposure meter readout, and a dinky <br /> little dial that revolves in tandem with the focusing wheel to indicate your focusing <br /> distance and depth-of-field, both components beautifully machined and impeccably fitted into <br /> their housings, along with a gem of an accessory shoe. On the left side of the camera just <br /> below the top plate, is the film rewind, a cute little fold-out construction that works at <br /> right-angles to the direction of wind. Very clever, all designed to keep the top plate as <br /> uncluttered as possible.<br /> <br /> Surprisingly, despite a selenium cell meter and no battery power, the camera operates in a <br /> shutter-priority mode with manual over-ride. The Fuji Synchro MXL shutter operates from B <br /> through 1 second to 1/1000th, (perhaps a little optimistically!), and the 45mm F1:1.9 <br /> Fujinon lens ranges down to f.16. In auto mode you select a shutter speed in the shutter <br /> speed window on the lens barrel, set the aperture ring to "Auto", and let rip. And that's <br /> just what I did; the meter tells one what sort of aperture is in use, though sadly there's <br /> no indication in the viewfinder. There's an idiot button to move to get the speeds below <br /> 1/30th and into the camera-shake zone, and rather a long and imprecise shutter release, <br /> though this retracts back into a much more manageable device when the manual over-ride is <br /> selected.<br /> <br /> I was sceptical about Auto mode, knowing that it must be highly mechanical in the absence of <br /> battery power, so I took a couple of frames on Manual and then switched to Auto and let the <br /> beast have it's way. I was rewarded by 27 faultlessly-exposed negatives, to my delight and <br /> astonishment. And the lens...truly magnificent, as I think the relatively low-res scans <br /> I've included will portray. Quite apart from being possibly the best-finished rangefinder I own, the <br /> 35-EE's combination of quirky design, great handling and superb optics makes it a prize in <br /> my collection. The pics were taken on a roll of Agfa Optima 200 I'd been keeping <br /> in the fridge for a special occasion, the one monochrome being desaturated in P'Shop, just <br /> for the hell of it.</p><div></div>

<p>No.1</p><div></div>

<p>No.2</p><div></div>

<p>No.3</p><div></div>

<p>No.4</p><div></div>

<p>No.5</p><div></div>

<p>No.6</p><div></div>

<p>Rick,</p>

<p>I also have a Fujica EE. I love it. It is one great camera. Once again great photos. Just amazing. Now, if I could only produce photos like that with my Fujica EE......</p>

<p>Mike</p>

 

<p>That camera is a beauty, Rick! I love the photos especially #3. That grid over the meter is just decor, right? </p>

<p>Wonderful all around</p>

<p>Excellent photos. Love them all, especially "Wardell's Barn".</p>

<p>Great looking example of a 35EE. Not too long ago I was looking through some back issues of Pop Photo and U.S. Camera and I found an advertisement for this very camera. I wondered if there were any still around and working. Thanks for posting and great photos.<br>

These selenium powered shutter priority cameras really make one appreciate how efficient shutter priority automation can be. Just imagine with modern materials how good a RF or viewfinder camera could be made today. I think the last selenium powered camera with automation was the Olympus XA-1. It was totally programmed. I call my XA-1 my "anti-digital." With the emphasis on "going green" that we hear about I think using these classics is a great way to help our environment for two reasons: (1)- no batteries needed (2)- using the camera rather than letting it and its selenium decompose in a landfill.</p>

<p>very nice images Rick!, hey where do you live that it is so green and warm looking outside?</p>

<p>Again Rick, you get some of the best scans that I've ever seen out of a mini-lab! I'd shoot more film if my local Longs did sucha a good job. I'd also send my 35mm out to your family's lab if I could!</p>

<p>Rick--First off, I love the picture of the camera and the two box cameras the EE is posed on top of; very creative and artistic. If only my mind worked that way a fraction of the time...the camera itself is a beauty. I first learned of it in Tony Lockerbie's excellent write-up on it some time ago and have been hooked on Fujicas ever since. The quirky layout really works nicely, doesn't it? Everything sort of falls where it should and the camera is a real pleasure to handle. The lens is nothing short of amazing. Mine performed beautifully although the same lens in my Fujica 35-SE seems just a bit better, one of the best I've used in any camera. As always your pictures are great although I must say that these are some of the best you've posted. The color and sharpness are first class, and if these are just the scans I'd love to see the prints! Thanks for another great post. I hope to finish the roll in my 35-SE this weekend and post some shots from that roll soon.</p>

<p>Rick (and other stalwarts on this forum),</p>

<p>A wonderful job, as with all the ones I have seen from you. Very inspiring.</p>

<p>I am mostly a digital shooter nowadays and have been lurking here for a bit since I still love film, particularly the effect of projecting slides on a wall, and still once in a while take out my Nikon N70. But, I give primarily this forum credit for getting me nostalgic, so much so that I have dusted off my late father-in-law's Rolleicord which I have had for quite a few years now, and actually put my first test-roll of B&W film through it just to make sure it still works. I plan to get a CLA on it, and maybe put a Maxwell screen on it soon. My old Nikon F (which is actually my dad's, and is the same age as me, and on which I "grew up" on photography) and lenses are not in usable shape, but I did take it out and just enjoyed looking through the viewfinder again and focusing with the split-prism and firing the shutter just for the heck of it. It too is going to go for a repair soon enough.</p>

<p>I have to tell you that several of you guys, yourself, Andy, SP and others do a wonderful job with these threads with a picture of the camera first and then the images from it. There's something about nicely done shots of a classic camera, particularly B&W or sepia with appropriate DOF. Ooooooooooh! It's unfortunate that the term nowadays is "camera porn". But, whatever, it does have a strong tug on the strings connected to my brain, heart, and most unfortunately, my wallet. </p>

<p>I just wanted to tell you guys what a wonderful job you guys do here with these posts. Keep it up.</p>

 

<p>Lovely Summer pictures from Down Under Rick! Regards, sp.</p>

<p>Amazing job Rick, thanks for sharing.</p>

<p>Here's a bit more Fujica trivia: in the 60's the USA distributer for Fujica cameras was Ehrenreich Photo-Optical Industries, Inc. In an ad for the Ultima electronic flash (distributed by the same company) , the flash is sitting on top of a Fujica 35-EE.This was in the November 1965 issue of Popular Photography. Apparently, the 35-EE was out of production by this time as the Buyers' Guide for this issue only lists the Fujica Auto-M 35 and the Fujica V-2.<br>

BTW, looking again at your picture of your Fujica 35-EE, it looks every bit as pristine as the one in the magazine.</p>

<p>Great pictures and great write up. I have come to anticipate that every time I click on one of your postings Rick. The shady cemetery looks like a very peaceful place and a great subject to express composition skill(like you have) gently leading the eye into the frame.<br>

It is true what Sheldon observes above, your Fuji Frontier settings yield very clean and sharp images which further strengthens my belief that something is being done wrong in my Frontier at my local super drug store. My last Reala scans were grainy and with weird color casts even though they were shot under the warm winter sun light up here in the North Eastern United States. I am also concerned with how often the chemicals are changed in their processing machine etc.</p>

 

<p>Thanks a million to you all for your feedback and comments. I just wish I had more time to devote to these lovely old cameras...Anyway, specifically: <strong>Andy</strong> , you and Tony are mainly to blame for my involvement with Fujicas, but I'll find some way of getting back at you...Sadly, I now own two very pretty Fujica Auto-M's, both with stuck shutters and aperture rings. The nice folks over at the Classic Rangefinder Forum tell me it's typical of the breed, and far too expensive a fault to repair. <strong>Louis</strong> : Yep, I can't see any real structural reason for the grid over the meter, but guess it was going to be quite a large and dreary piece of glass, otherwise! <strong>John</strong> : If you haven't gathered, I'm down in little old New Zealand, in the height of a rather nice summer. <strong>Ralf</strong> and <strong>Sheldon</strong> : The Fuji frontier is a pretty sophisticated machine; at it's top limits it can produce scans from 35mm that will produce satisfactory 12 inch x 15 inch prints, or even larger if the original negative quality is high. But accurate film processing is absolutely essential. I'm sure the family would love to process your film, but the logistics of getting it from where you reside to a small island off the coast of New Zealand could be a little formidable. And <strong>Shash</strong> , thanks for your comments, and I hope the manual camera bug takes hold. Of all the various addictions I've cultivated, it's the one I enjoy the most...And <strong>Mike</strong> , thanks for all your usual interesting snippets of information.</p>

<p>"I'm sure the family would love to process your film, but the logistics of getting it from where you reside to a small island off the coast of New Zealand could be a little formidable."<br>

Well for comparison purposes, I'd be willing to pay shipping both ways, and processing costs....just to see. I'll email you :-)</p>