35mm SLR Cameras: Fujica v Pentax

The Fuji image Film Company was established in 1934, and at the start created photographic films for the japanese home market. Within the early Nineteen Forties, they began to turn out glass for military use, and in 1948 began creating cameras. In 1971, Fuji created their 1st 35mm SLR camera - the Fujica ST701.
 

In the early Nineteen Seventies, the 35mm SLR camera most favoured by serious amateur photographers was the Pentax Spotmatic. Alternative manufactures made models that were probably even as sensible, however none commercially rivalled the dominance of the Spotmatic.
 

The FujicaST701 boasted terribly similar specifications to the Spotmatic II - it even shared identical M42 rib lens mount - however Fuji stepped prior to their competitors by being the primary company to use semiconducting material blue photocells rather than CdS. Semiconducting material cells were claimed to react a lot of quicker, and reply to a wider vary of sunshine levels than CdS. Indeed, all camera makers eventually adopted silicone polymer cells. Additionally, the ST701 was smaller, lighter, and had a brighter finder than the Spotmatic II.
 

In 1972, a second Fujica SLR camera was launched - the ST801. This offered open aperture metering (via silicone polymer cells), a lens protection system, and 7 semiconductor diode finder indicators rather than a standard needle. The open aperture metering (and lens protection system) needed a brand new changed lens mount, and marked the beginning of a divergence from the established M42 mount. The claimed advantages of the semiconductor diode system was the absence of a mechanical mechanism, eliminating meter deviation caused by shock or mechanical failure, and it absolutely was higher for low lightweight shooting. Whereas none of those options were innovations, the ST801 was one in all the primary cameras to compile all of those characteristics.
 

In 1973, the Pentax Spotmatic F was introduced. It absolutely was primarily an open aperture metering variant of the previous Spotmatic, and it too needed a brand new changed lens mount. Fujinon and Pentax lenses ceased to be altogether interchangeable (a undeniable fact that appears to elude several of today's second-hand image instrumentation sellers). On paper, the ST801 was still a better-specified camera.
 

Meanwhile, Pentax had been acting on a brand new variety of auto-exposure system. In 1971 the einsteinium was launched (an improved version of the Electro Spotmatic, that was oversubscribed solely in Japan). This camera featured open aperture metering with mechanically elite shutter speeds, indicated by a finder pointer (aperture priority auto-exposure). In 1973 the einsteinium was upgraded because the einsteinium II, with an innovative electronic step-less shutter. The einsteinium and einsteinium II ensured that Pentax remained a dominant force in amateur SLR cameras.
 

In 1974, Fuji introduced a rival to the Pentax ESII: the Fujica ST901. It too featured open aperture metering with mechanically elite step-less shutter speeds (aperture priority auto-exposure), however claimed another 1st in private design: a digital semiconductor diode shutter meter within the finder (as 1st seen in early 70's calculators and digital watches). Once again, Fujica looked as if it would be technologically prior to Pentax.
 

Sadly, shortly once the introduction of those high quality cameras, the race between Fujica and Pentax had run its course, and therefore the glory days of each firms were effectively over.
1975 was a year of great amendment for Pentax. the corporate introduced its own lens mount, the K bayonet (which incorporated a lens protection system), in conjunction with a brand new set of impermanent  "K" cameras primarily based heavily on the Spotmatic format. A year later, Pentax abandoned the Spotmatic body form, and introduced a band new smaller camera vary (the M series), maybe because of growing quality of the Mt. Olympus OM-1 (and variants), that has set new standards of compactness.
 

The ME was associate degree aperture priority motor vehicle exposure camera (with no manual override), and therefore the flux unit was a totally manual camera. each featured giant bright viewfinders (as found in Fujicas), however neither was innovative. The MX, for instance, was very little quite a reduce Spotmatic F.
 

Meanwhile, Fuji curst their version of the M42 lens mount, and made another new camera in 1976: the ST601. A bit like the new Pentax cameras, the look lacked innovation, and was primarily a variant of the five-year-old ST701. withal, the 600 series camera oversubscribed well within the budget sector of the SLR market.
 

Elsewhere in 1976, alternative firms were gaining prominence. Canon's AE-1, for instance, introduced the primary use of microprocessors, and steered the longer term of camera style in an exceedingly new direction.

Pentax continued  to provide insignificant M series variants (mostly lesser models once the 1980 ME Super). Fuji equally and trivially updated their camera range: the ST601 became the ST605 in 1977, the ST605n in 1978, and therefore the ST605 II in 1979. The ST701 became the ST705 in 1977, so the ST705w in 1978. The ST801/ST901 were replaced by a lesser hybrid - the AZ-1 - in 1978. All were pretty boring offerings, however the model vary was given an extra lease of life in 1980 because the STX series once, like Pentax had done antecedently, Fuji introduced they own lens bayonet mount system.
 

Neither company had any longer style triumphs that rebuilt their position as market leaders, or created their product serious competitors to the new market leaders. By the middle Eighties, Fuji withdrew utterly from the 35mm SLR market, whereas Pentax struggled on, however mostly became a run of the mill complete.