Fujica AZ-1

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The Fujica AZ-1 was one of the last [1] M42 mount SLRs made by Fuji. It was sold starting in 1978. It was a successor to (and a slight simplification of) the Fujica ST901, also offering aperture-priority auto-exposure with TTL metering. The key differences between the ST901 and AZ-1 are as follows.

  • The AZ-1 has an exposure lock, so upon metering, the shutter speed setting is remembered regardless of subsequent changes to the lighting or aperture setting. The ST901 however does not lock-in the initial reading, and continues to respond to changes so long as the meter remains activated.
  • The AZ-1 has a bank of seven LEDs, while the ST901 had a digital display.
  • The AZ-1 supports an auto winder connection, while the ST901 does not.
  • The AZ-1 has a reduced number of mechanical shutter speeds.

The camera has a cloth focal plane shutter with flash sync at 1/60th second. Only three manual shutter-speeds are available: 1/1000, 1/250, and 1/60 second, and there is no exposure metering with these settings; but they continue to function even when when batteries are dead or absent.

A Fujinon-Z 43-75mm f3.5 - 4.5 zoom lens or a Fujinon 55mm f1.8 were available with the AZ-1 as alternatives to the Fujinon 50mm f1.4 kit lens. The AZ-1 was the first interchangeable-lens SLR to be offered bundled with a zoom lens as standard.[2] Fuji modified the M42 lens mount to permit open-aperture metering by adding a tiny protruding tab at the rear of the f-stop ring to communicate the chosen aperture to the camera's meter.[3]

Specifications

  • Lens mount: M42
  • Exposure: TTL center-weight, aperture-preferred automatic exposure, AE lock, with two SpD photocells.
  • Shutter:
    • Electronic: 1/2 to 1/1000s
    • Manual: 1/60, 1/250 and 1/1000 with B
  • Finder: split image, microprism, ground glass
  • Flash Sync: 1/60
  • Self-timer: 8 sec
  • Battery: 3x 1.5V silver oxide (SR44)
  • Size: 133 x 87.5 x 50.5mm
  • Weight: 580g

Notes

  1. While the AZ-1 began to appear for sale in 1978, it was officially launched for export in June 1977 (according to Fujifilm's 50 years of Ayumi), so predates the last M42 fujica (the ST605 II) by a whole year.
  2. The Nikkorex Zoom35 of 1963 offered a permanently-affixed 43-86mm zoom.
  3. See camera-wiki.org's list of available Fujinon lenses. M42 Fujinon ST lenses (with the aperture tab) can be somewhat scarce, but both Tamron Adaptall and Vivitar TX adapters were offered featuring the special ST aperture tab.

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