07.27.06

Neko Tech – Fuji Fotorama FP-1 Professional.

Posted in Technical, Articles at 1:45 pm by filmwast

For some curious marketing reason Fuji designated their 1980/90s instant camera range Fotorama. I suppose with a largely in-country only market, the brand name was appropriately English-hip at the time. Like the Daihatsu Naked is now.

The Fotorama range included mainly Fuji-film specific instant cameras such as the popular (at least in Japan) F-50 and the 90ACE. The range however also included a few cameras capable of using native format Polaroid Type-600 films, including Fuji’s own excellent range of compatible films (FP-3000B, FP-100C etc). As well as the passport photograph cameras (FP-14 & FP-UL), it also included the FP-1 Professional in 1995.

1995 Fuji Fotorama FP-1 Professional.

While the passport beasts can be had for under 1000 yen, an FP-1 will cost at least 50,000 in reasonable condition. Some MiB appear at prices in excess of 70,000 yen.

Designed primarily as a proofing tool, it has a tripod socket, collapsible bellows, is rangefinder configured, and the largely plastic body is equipped with a manual 1/500, f3.5 lens.

It is very well built, light and easy to use, with the cover opening with a nice firm snap, and the bellows-track nice and tight. No metering is provided. You can see the cocked shutter lever through the viewfinder.

The carrying handle and strap configuration are nicely designed to make it at least partially useable in the street. Though, it does make people wince a little when you point it at them sometimes. The RF focusing works well under a wide range of lighting conditions via a bright yellow circle in the VF.

To my knowledge, the FP-1 was the second-last rangefinder to accept Polaroid film to be built. The last being Polaroid Japan’s hand-built 185 from 2000-3. Polaroid Japan’s 600SE too is in there somewhere.

Polaroid 600SE.

The last of the 185s are over 150,000 yen, but reasonable 600SEs can be found for under 10,000 yen. Based on the Mamiya Universal, the 600SE perhaps being a reasonable alternative with the added benefit of interchangeable lenses.

2003 Polaroid 185.

The 600SE is built like a tank, and if you do not mind carrying something with the gross weight similar to very same tank, it makes a great alternative. While not as sweet perhaps as a Pathfinder with a Type-600 back, the FP-1 does offer a reasonable alternative for hi-resolution Polaroid work.

Also available at a similar time was the Konica Instant Press. A FP-1 clone, or, maybe the otherway around.

Konica Instant Press.

Nondebeicho. Type-665.

The FP-1 works very well with both Polaroid’s Type 665 positive/negative film, producing extremely high resolution negatives, and also with Fuji’s own FP-3000 for almost no grain, and the most amazing range of grays you will ever see in an instant B&W film. Color too is nice sometimes; either well-kept new stuff, or well expired old stuff.

Ikebukero. Fuji FP-100C.

(JapanZine, The Gaijin Eye. January 2005)

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Tomigaya. Expired Type-668.

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Danchi. Expired Type-668.

All Fuji Polaroid compatible cameras appear to only accept rectangular format - ‘professional’ not ‘consumer’ square format - films. If you have the cash, the problem will be finding one - snap it up if you can.

Next month: Ricoh’s Tin Box. Have fun.

07.08.06

Neko Tech - The Submarine.

Posted in Technical, Articles at 2:03 am by filmwast

Compact 35s have a certain appeal, but sometimes you just need a little extra. Sub f2 perhaps, a bit of telephoto, and for me the occasional wide. The trade off of course is cost; interchangeable lenses are never the cheapest, and good bodies too come a few points above the routine camera purchase.
 
As efficient as the Ninja Canonet was (http://filmwasters.com/blog/archives/42), it just wasn’t going to cope with a lens change very well. Emotionally perhaps, but physically oh, the pain…
 
Alternatives considered included the Hexar RF (too complicated), Minolta CL and CL-E (too expensive, fraught with tech problems, including wide lens incompatibilities), Fuji TX-1 (big! expensive!), the Contax (just because) and Leica (but where’s the fun in that?).
 
Moderate in price, and reasonable in features, the Voigtländer Bessa R3a however seemed a viable option. When the gray version was released, and with fellow filmwasters also using Cosina Bessa, I was on board like a rat up a drainpipe.

Cosina Voigtländer Bessa R3a.

From the Cosina stable, it comes in the company of the re-issue Zeiss Icon and the 250-year anniversary Bessa M. Sturdy and well made, it makes a good low-profile camera for my urban exploring. Not as small or quiet as the Canonet (nothing is), but still quieter (and lighter) than many others.
 
Adjustable frame lines for 40/90, 75 and 50 – but who uses that? Not me. Hot shoe, synched at all speeds. Not used that either. External flash sync (lost the rubber plug Day One in the woods). Never used that…
 
However, exposure compensation and exposure lock functions work a treat. The combination shutter speed, exposure compensation and ISO-setting dial is well configured and very easy to use. I’ve become a bit of a fan of exposure compensation, so that kinda fits with my shooting profile nicely.

 Ochanomizu. T-Max 3200.

Lenses? A f1.4 thing for inside abandoned buildings, and a 21mm for the wideness I was craving. As it turned out, it stays fitted with the 21mm mostly, with the 50mm f1.4 being used for lower light situations. The fifty is the S-C version for occasional cute use in color too.

Gen Ryu. Fuji PN400.

Loaded with either XP2 or T-Max 3200 behind the 50mm or 21mm, I am very happy with the results. 21mm in the street is fun, you’ve got to get right in there, but the results are pleasing.

 Shinjuku. T-Max 3200.

 

 

 Kamiyama-cho. XP2.

 

 

 Ofuro. T-Max 3200.

I am not normally a fan of extraneous accessories, but with the 21mm mounted the center-of-gravity is wrong and the camera hangs up-side-down. The side-grip solved this problem so The Sub hangs sideways. Though bought for its extra strap mount, the grip does make holding the camera easier too. Funny that.
 
The only sticking point is the double-jointed rewind crank often fouls the body on frame advance, locking the film transport. The first time this happened I freaked, and nearly junked the roll. A tap on the crank fixes this instantly, but it still annoys every now and then.
 
While I miss the Canonet’s QL system, and super-quiet shutter, I now get the nice wide-angle result I was craving. Heaven.
 
Next: Fuji Fotorama FP-1 Professional. Have fun.