Fujica MP (GER) In Depth Analog Camera Review

FUJICA MP - The Hidden Model of Fujica Analog Camera. In Depth Review.

 

The Fujica MP (a.k.a Fujica GER by international market) is released in 1970s for indonesian market, this camera is soo unknown that there are no reviews about it. but is that really an understatement?

1. Design

this camera has the name on the upper right side (which then it'll be covered by your finger while shooting), and a flat rectangular shape with curve that are slightly angled at top and bottom. 

with it's small body it has a solid weight to dimension ratio for me.

1a. Front

on the front (from the left of the pic) we have mechanical timer, Fujinon f1:2.8 38mm lens, range finder for focus peaking, and optical view finder.

1b. Back

on the back, there's back door, view finder, and film advance indicator

1c. Top

on the left you'll found film rewind, hot shoe mount, flash indicator, battery check indicator, film ready indicator, film counter, and a lever.

 1d. Bottom 

battery compartment, rewind lock, and tripod mount on the right

 

1e. Left

pc sync port for flash

1f. Right

literally nothing.

Overall, this camera has a solid weight for it small body, but since the tripod mount is too far to the right once you put this thing on tripod you'll found you camera bit tilted to the left . and also I am not too confident holding it, because there is no support such as rubber grips or some bulge. but luckily i have the original case which can improve my hand grip little bit.

2. Electronic

the electronic in this camera is powered by 2 pieces discontinued PX640 battery, if you have patience you can go find the design of the LR44 to PX640 adapter then take it to the nearest machinist to make the adapter using copper.

electronics in this camera is soo important. It controls the shutter, auto, and light meter. which means that if your camera doesn't have a battery, then you won't be able to take pictures and the lever will get stuck like Minolta X series does.

to turn on and off the camera just simply half press the shutter button and the battery check indicator will light up, that also can be seen from the optical view finder. To turn off your camera, stop pressing the shutter button and the battery check indicator will turn off indicating that the camera has no power anymore. yes, as long as you press the shutter button the battery check will remain on.

3. Optical Viewfinder/Rangefinder

moving up to the viewfinder, it has sort of blue tint with yellow patches as the composition guide. on the right side you'll found round light once you press the shutter button. that's your battery indicator and on the top left you will find the flash logo lit up due to the incoming light. I can't be sure, but I assume it is a sign for it original flash that the flash is ready to use and will reflect light through the flash indicator towards the viewfinder.

On the other hand, the rangefinder has a fairly sized landscape rectangle shape for me. with the same transparent yellow as the outline of the composition patch it has enough contrast to indicate whether it already in focus or not. but I haven't seen quick access to easily calibrate rangefinder

4. Lens

as you can see the guide number is at 28 or f 11 and i'm shoting this in cloudy-sunny day. that mean i've been shooting 13 exposure of kodak vision3 500t at 1/30s which i think it will be very overexpose. "press f please"

anyway, moving on to the lens, it has focal length of 38mm at f 2.8 which is making it one of the widest focal length in its class but the aperture ring is indicated the guide number for the flash. and i don't know if this also happen in other model but the focus ring got stepping or click feel at 1 meter, 1,5 meter, and 3 meter of zone focusing. 

5. Film Chamber 

the film camber can be access by lifting up the rewind knob. once it opened you'll found  presure plate, film spool and the roll slot placed on the left side and a gear that connected to the film wind indicator.

How the camera works

now you know something about your camera, it's time to operate it 

1.  place 2 PX640 or LR44 with adapter, 
2. check if the battery is properly working by advance lever first and then hold down the shutter button. the battery check indicator will light up near the hot shoe or you can use hard way by peek it from the optical view finder.
3. open the film chamber by pulling up the rewind knob
4. put the film on the right side upside down
5. push down the  rewind knob 
6. pull the film lead on to the slot of film spool
7. advance the lever 1 time to make sure everything is tight 
8. close the back door
9. advance again until the film counter is showing number one.
10. set the asa on the camera as same as the film spec
11. put the aperture ring to 'A' or auto to make your life easier
12. you ready to shoot.

Conclusion

so that is Fujica MP. a 40+ years old camera, Even though there is no manual shutter speed and I had a hard time understanding the guide number but it wasn't a big deal as the auto feature made my life easier. anyway i hope i can update soon to give you the sample night-street photo including that over expose of kodak vision3 500t. that's the end of this article don't forget to leave a comment down below, and subscribe so it'll let you know that i already uploaded that blunder photo. cheers.