Fujica STX-1

The second camera in the project, 12 months of film http://brettgardnerphotography.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/12-months-of-film.htm is the Fujica STX-1. It was manufactured by Fuji during the late 1970's and early 1980's and is a fully manual SLR. I purchased mine from eBay for £35.00 including postage. It's in amazing condition, with only minimal scratching to the sides and bottom, and it feels really good in the hand, being well built with an all metal construction and dials that feel nice and solid to the touch. It has a maximum shutter speed of 1/750 sec and a low shutter speed of 1/2 sec with a bulb mode also present. The camera does require a battery but only to run the exposure meter which is an old fashioned needle type. Mine came with a Fujinon 50mm F1.9 which seems to be a reasonably sharp prime lens. The viewfinder is nice and bright and looking through it and focusing before taking a shot is easy and a bit of a joy. The shutter release itself is quite loud and not particularly well damped but it does the job and the overall shooting experience is somewhat pleasant. That was until it developed a fault where the advance lever went loose after cocking the shutter thus rendering the camera useless. I managed to rectify the problem by unscrewing the bottom plate of the body and somehow manually releasing the shutter. ( don't ask me how )  It seems fine now so I'll probably run another film through it soon and see if the problem rears it's ugly head again.  Like the Praktica I used a cheap Agfa Vista 200 ISO film but seeing as the light levels have generally dropped now that we're in the Autumnal months, I was able to utilise the camera's fast prime lens to produce some lovely shallow depth of field images.

The rather handsome Fujica STX-1

 

The film rewind dial

The Fujinon 50mm F1.9 prime lens

Shutter speed dial, shutter button and film advance lever 

I decided to return to a previous photographic haunt, an old abandoned chicken farm not too far from my house. You can see the previous post here - http://brettgardnerphotography.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-old-chicken-farm.html  The weather was pretty good, nice light and some great colour. It was good to have a roam around the site again, taking in the sights of the decaying buildings, everything still and silent, a place lost in time. The Fujica was the perfect partner, something else from a previous era. I enjoyed using it, it forced me to slow down and look around, take in the atmosphere of the place. It helped transport me back to a time when the pace of life was just that little bit more sedate and i liked it. Well done Fuji.  

Guess I'm gonna ignore this

Looking down the length of one of the large chicken sheds

One of the old chicken feeders

Autumn leaves

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