Fuji Improves Old-Style Film Advance by Getting It Backwards
The Fuji DL-400 Tele has proven to be one of the more innovative 35-millimeter compact cameras on the market. The camera uses a system called “film prewinding.”
After you load the camera the entire roll of film is wound to the last frame. As you shoot each frame the film is wound back into the cassette. The theory is that if the camera back is accidentally opened you only expose the unused film, not the film already shot.
Other features include a frame counter that works in reverse--it tells you how many shots you have left, not how many you’ve shot. The camera uses a virtually foolproof drop-in loading system and Fuji’s “landscape button” that overrides the automatic focus and sets the focus at infinity. This would be of use if you are shooting a scene through a window glass. The glass normally would fool the camera’s automatic-focus capabilities. The camera uses 35-mm f/3.5 and 70-mm f/6.7 lenses.
There is one down side to this camera: the high price. The camera lists for $329.
Canon has introduced the Sure Shot Zoom. This 35-mm compact camera has taken the point-and-shoot concept to the limit. The camera features a built-in 35- to 70-mm zoom lens. The camera, which weighs in at one pound, is scheduled to be out at the end of the month with a list price of $460. The prices on compact 35-mm cameras have skyrocketed because of many of these gimmicky features. The concept of a wide and telephoto lens built into the camera definitely should be considered when purchasing a compact 35-mm, but leave the zoom lenses to SLR (single-lens-reflex) cameras.
Is it Kodachrome or is it Memorex? Minolta has introduced a device called a still video back, which will allow you to put your pictures on a video disc.
It translates the pictures into electronic images that then are stored on a floppy disc. It sounds high-tech, which it is. It sounds expensive, which it is.
All of which should leave you somewhat wary of buying this device. It has no applications for most photographers. This is especially true when you consider that you also have to purchase the still-video recorder, the still-video printer and the still-video floppy disc. If you see it in the store, don’t stay still, keep moving.
At this time, the quality of still-video imaging is very poor. The age-old process of silver imaging is still the best.
The photography column, which runs each Saturday in Orange County Life, is intended to help both the serious amateur and weekend shooter. Send questions or ideas to Robert Lachman, Chief Photographer, The Times, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, Calif., 92626.
