NickTrop
Veteran
Fuji (God love'em) bangs out some very interesting cameras every so often... C'mon - a new medium format folder? A fixed-lens film point-n-shooter? Unfortunately, these are the camera equivalent of an Edwige Fenech to me - fun to oogle in pics, but nothing I'll be fondling in real life anytime soon... However, one of the cool things about cameras, lenses etc., is that there are a gazillion of them... with a little digging, you can sometimes unearth a hitherto relatively unknown camera that fits the bill without spending a small fortune. This is especially true, me thinks, of the film "point-n-shoot" era cameras.
So, here's my $0.99 (plus ship, including a little beat to hell carrying case...) point-n-shoot beater that I have dubbed the "Poor Man's Klasse W" because it's one of the few point-n-shoot cameras that has a fixed lens wider than 35mm. Like the Klasse W it has a 28mm lens. Unlike the Klasse, it has a laughably slow 5.6 lens. That gave me pause - but, I'm guessing that its designers, Konica-Minolta, figured that this isn't the camera people will be using to sneak around in ambient light with wide aps. It's a point-n-shoot. People will shoot outdoors - where 5.6 is plenty. Indoors people will simply use the flash.
No controls over anything except the flash. Auto exposure/auto focus(?) (- my guess is it's fixed focus with a focal length this wide and aperture this slow, dunno...) However, I like how the flash control is implemented with a conveniently-located toggle on the front of the camera. It's stays in auto by default. If you want force flash for a shot to use as a fill flash, pull it toward you. If you want to turn flash off, pull it away from you. You have to hold it in this position as a spring in the switch pulls it toward its center "auto" position.
The other kinda weird thing about this camera? Despite being a late-90's era (guessing) fixed lens film point-n-shooter, It's in stock on Amazon for $25
Minolta AF101R 35mm Autofocus Camera
by Konica-Minolta
http://www.amazon.com/Minolta-AF101...8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1295713041&sr=1-8
Plastic but well-made. It only comes in black so it's "professional". - about the size of a bar of soap. Very little on the web about it. A couple owner reviews drew raves, and the few pics taken with it look decent enough. My guess is that I'll be pleasantly surprised by the lens. It's Konica-Minolta after all with its widest ap being f5.6, on a later-model point-n-shoot. I loaded it and taken a couple shots with it but haven't gone through a roll yet, which may take a while. I'll post some samples when I do.
So, here's my $0.99 (plus ship, including a little beat to hell carrying case...) point-n-shoot beater that I have dubbed the "Poor Man's Klasse W" because it's one of the few point-n-shoot cameras that has a fixed lens wider than 35mm. Like the Klasse W it has a 28mm lens. Unlike the Klasse, it has a laughably slow 5.6 lens. That gave me pause - but, I'm guessing that its designers, Konica-Minolta, figured that this isn't the camera people will be using to sneak around in ambient light with wide aps. It's a point-n-shoot. People will shoot outdoors - where 5.6 is plenty. Indoors people will simply use the flash.
No controls over anything except the flash. Auto exposure/auto focus(?) (- my guess is it's fixed focus with a focal length this wide and aperture this slow, dunno...) However, I like how the flash control is implemented with a conveniently-located toggle on the front of the camera. It's stays in auto by default. If you want force flash for a shot to use as a fill flash, pull it toward you. If you want to turn flash off, pull it away from you. You have to hold it in this position as a spring in the switch pulls it toward its center "auto" position.
The other kinda weird thing about this camera? Despite being a late-90's era (guessing) fixed lens film point-n-shooter, It's in stock on Amazon for $25
Minolta AF101R 35mm Autofocus Camera
by Konica-Minolta
http://www.amazon.com/Minolta-AF101...8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1295713041&sr=1-8
Plastic but well-made. It only comes in black so it's "professional". - about the size of a bar of soap. Very little on the web about it. A couple owner reviews drew raves, and the few pics taken with it look decent enough. My guess is that I'll be pleasantly surprised by the lens. It's Konica-Minolta after all with its widest ap being f5.6, on a later-model point-n-shoot. I loaded it and taken a couple shots with it but haven't gone through a roll yet, which may take a while. I'll post some samples when I do.
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