Chris Dodkin
West Coast Correspondent
This was my first real camera - the Fujica STX-1.
The first weekend after getting my student grant, I headed off to the local Boots, and came home with this wonderful contraption.
It was their entry level SLR during that time. The focal plane shutter was mechanical, with a top speed of 1/750th of a second and a flash synced at 1/60th of a second.
The shutter speed was shown along the left side of the viewfinder through a mechanical linkage.
Everything about the STX-1 was manual. No program modes were available.
It was a great way to learn the basics of photography, and I kept my local Supersnaps store in business doing all my dev and printing
Not many shots from that era have made it into the digital domain, but I do have this group shot from the Leicester Poly pirate radio crew, including your's truly!
Printed in the Poly's dark room - one of my early attempts at B&W dev and print.
I passed the camera on to my dad after buying a shiny new Minolta 7000 - and he put it to great use for years - being all manual it was right up his alley LOL
He's still got it somewhere, although he's now all 21st C and digital with his Olympus camera and Kodak digital print machine!
The first weekend after getting my student grant, I headed off to the local Boots, and came home with this wonderful contraption.
It was their entry level SLR during that time. The focal plane shutter was mechanical, with a top speed of 1/750th of a second and a flash synced at 1/60th of a second.
The shutter speed was shown along the left side of the viewfinder through a mechanical linkage.
Everything about the STX-1 was manual. No program modes were available.
It was a great way to learn the basics of photography, and I kept my local Supersnaps store in business doing all my dev and printing
Not many shots from that era have made it into the digital domain, but I do have this group shot from the Leicester Poly pirate radio crew, including your's truly!
Printed in the Poly's dark room - one of my early attempts at B&W dev and print.
I passed the camera on to my dad after buying a shiny new Minolta 7000 - and he put it to great use for years - being all manual it was right up his alley LOL
He's still got it somewhere, although he's now all 21st C and digital with his Olympus camera and Kodak digital print machine!