Desmolicious
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 The pitfalls of the high end film P&S | |
ocean2059 wrote:
Desmolicious wrote:
Short version - my awesome Fuji Klasse W swims wid da fishes.
Long version - my awesome Fuji Klasse W seems to have died today. Was out n about, shot one roll of film with no issues. Loaded another roll, by exposure 6 it refused to function. Battery was good, and I also had a fresh spare that I tried.
By refuse to function, when it was turned on it continuously flashed 'mf' (manual focus), did not respond to any dials, did not respond to the shutter button. Then turning it off no longer retracted the lens but the LCD panel turned off.
Turning it back would result in a faint single click sound. Opening the film back and closing it - same faint click sound.
I managed to rewind the film that was in the camera - that worked - so that was salvaged. When I push that rewind button again - same faint click.
Get home, take out the battery. Have the film back open. Put battery back in and replace the battery cover but do not tighten it. Camera makes grumbling sounds. Release pressure on battery cover so contact broken, then reapply pressure. More grumbling sounds. Tighten battery cover, turn camera on and off suddenly the lens retracts. Put the roll of film back in - it loads it like nobody's business. Give shutter button half push - lens focuses and all info on the panel and in the VF light up correctly.
Turn camera off, lens retracts really sloooooowly.
In a few moments, back to the previous non-working nonsense. Rewind film, put it in my perfect Nikon N80 that cost me $20.
I paid $650 for this camera a couple of years ago. They now go for $1000+. And this is why I would never recommend any of these expensive P&S cameras. They all are on their last legs, but as the Fuji was the newest of them all, I thought it's legs would be a bit longer..
Pour one out for my Fuji homie.
Huss, sorry to hear about your Fuji. I am sure that you enjoy using it while it lasted as I remember seeing images that you posted taken with the camera. Similar things happened to me about 10 years with my Leica Minilux P&S died all of sudden due to the electronic board failure. I managed to salvage the lens in the Minilux and had it sent to Japan to converted to a M-mount by MS-Optics. I still have the lens and use it occasionally at least. Lately, I have been looking at the Konica Hexar P&S but I really shouldn’t!
The Fuji did take awesome pics - basically the lens was fantastic (typical Fuji) and it had a super easy to use exp comp dial on the front of the camera.
But I do think Fuji basically dressed up cheap bits with a few fancy extras to make this camera. While it does have a metal skin, it does not feel 'built' like a Contax does. And the film loading and advance sounds were super noisy and agricultural sounding.
Also the AF was super slow (but accurate). My much cheaper Fuji Work Project focuses much quicker (more in a bit). The exp info in the VF would wash out in sunshine... but the lens and exposures from the Klasse? Perfect.
I was hoping when Leica announced their all new film camera... it would be the Minilux/CM re-imagined. That would have completely made sense as their is a desire for a quality compact AF 35mm film camera and no-one else makes any quality 35mm film camera! But no, they released the MP dressed up like an M6.
Back to Fuji... so I also have two Work Projects which also have a 28mm lens (excellent at that), a huge VF - much better than the Klasse - but your typical stripped down feature set. Biggest loss is the lack of EV compensation. But it does have a very cool zone focus setting, plus it's AF is much quicker than the Klasse.
So... looks like I'll be using that but I may still make a trip down to Deans Camera Repair in Torrance and have him take a look.
Bottom line - I would not recommend paying big money for any P&S. Unless I happen to be selling one. 
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