Tips for the Original Fuji Klasse

Frank Petronio

Frank Petronio

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So I picked up an original Fuji Klasse, albeit by way of Canada, which means it is sitting in a post office in Alberta until their postal strike is resolved.

Any tips? I've only seen a few threads and vague internet lore devoted to this camera. I'm hoping it falls in between my experiences with a Hexar AF and an Olympus Stylus... (i.e. it being compact but with a little more control, but maybe not quite as Leica-like as the Hexar).

Can it be fired without loading? And will it remember to keep the flash turned off after I turn the camera off?
 
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I had the newer Klasse, and it would not fire without a film loaded. Also, I understand the ability to have the flash default off was a feature of the newer Klasse, not the old one. The older one has a much better scale focus feature though, the newer one required too many button pushes to be useful.
 
I have the Klasse original. It will not remember the flash setting after you switch off the camera. So you need to consciously off the auto flash every time you turn it on. Something the S and the W is better at. However, it is easier to set focussing distance than the S or the W.

The lens is fantastic, detailed and high contrast.
 
I had one for a short time years ago. Flash will not stay off after power down, unfortunately. The low top shutter speed is what caused me to ditch it (I had a Contax T3 which I preferred).

The lens is seriously good Frank, I think it might sneak up and surprise you. Very nicely built cmera as well. Enjoy!

Kent
 
I believe wide open it was something like 1/290th. At some apertures it can get up to 1/1000, if I remember correctly. I like using lenses wide open so that was a bit of an annoyance to me.

That said, great camera! This is more of a nit-pick on my part. I think the reason it happens may be due to the shutter design (leaf I believe).
 
Better than the Hexar AF IMHO. I've got the Rollei version, the AFM35 and the pictures have more contrast and the metering is way better than my Hexar AF. Only my opinion and others may disagree, but this is my experience of using both. It's also pocketable which is something the Hexar is not.

Paul
 
I got one of the original Fuji Klasse cameras a few months ago. I've only put a few rolls through it and am waiting on another few to come back from Dwayne's but so far I'm impressed. The lens is rather sharp and the camera is very quiet.

I'm really impressed by the build quality of the camera. It's rock-solid with no squeaking or rattling and the coating on the lens is beautiful. I looked at the Klasse S and W before buying the Klasse and I just couldn't justify the added expense of the newer models.

Here's a blog post that I just put up tonight with some images from mine: http://heymatthew.blogspot.com/2011/06/show-some-klasse.html

Enjoy it!! :)
 
I used such a camera for about one year.
The lens is very sharp.
I used this camera mainly with ISO100 film to force the lens to use larger apertures.
I never used the flash.
Everything is automated.
 
Exposure Comp with Fujifilm Klasse (original)

Exposure Comp with Fujifilm Klasse (original)

I just picked up this camera for a project. I don't have the manual but the controls are all simple and intuitive - except for exposure compensation. I'm able to get in and select exposure comp values but honestly I'm not sure what the values mean. Once in the exposure comp sub-menu, you can toggle through the following values:

With AEB set to 1.0:
0 - 1
0 1
- 1 1
-1
1

With AEB set to 0.5:
0 - 5
0 5
- 5 5
-5
5

It seems clear enough that I am selecting full stop increments in the first case, half stop increments in the second, but still - WHAT? Are these Bracketing parameters rather than exposure comp?
 
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