The Fujica Pocket 350 Wide was a low to mid-range camera for Kodak 110 pocket film*(see below) with a special feature, it has a wide angle lens.
The company made quite a range of pocket cameras, including SLR models.
There is little information about when Fuji started the 110 cameras,
Submin says they were early, Subclub says they were late.
*
110 film was introduced by Kodak in 1972. The film sits in a cartridge,
like Kodak's earlier 126 film, but is much smaller. A frame is 13mm ×
17mm, has one perforation per image to control film advance and 24
frames per cartridge (12 were also available). The film is protected by
a backing paper like 120 film. The frame number is visible through a
window at the back of the cartridge. The basic film is ordinary 16mm
film which was already on the market, so it could be processed in
existing machines. The small picture size made very small, pocketable
cameras possible.
Kodak introduced with its 110 film a line of
Kodak Pocket Instamatic cameras which were followed by
cameras from other manufacturers. Most cameras were cheap
point-and-shoot, but very sophisticated models were also made. Small
digital cameras made 110 film obsolete. Bit by bit manufacturers stopped making 110 format film (Fujifilm in 2009), but in 2012 (and 2019) Lomography made a large batch of 110 film, followed by other firms.
The
Fujica Pocket 350 Wide has a fixed focus wide angle lens, a
built-in close-up lens, single speed and a choice of 3 apertures. Its main features are:
20mm F5.6 lens, 4 elements in 3 groups, 3 apertures, min. focus 1m, 0.4 with close-up lens Single shutter speed, 1/125 Size 126x52x28, Weight 130 gr. 100
ISO only, parallax indication marks, close-up lens with pre-focussed rangefinder
Camera and strap. Big and bright viewfinder with bright framelines, only parallax indication, but a pre-focussed rangefinder for close-ups. Camera front.
Seen from above. Aperture slider with weather symbols, accepts intermediate settings. Cable release socket next to the shutter button. Slider for close-up lens.
Back view. Film advance under the viewer. The
window will show the film type and the frame number, when a cartrigde
is inserted. Seen
from below. Tripod socket. Camera
film compartment open.
The camera has a standard hot shoe.
Camera and instructions, English version and multilingual.
The camera came with its original pouch which decayed beyond usability.
This is just to show you how it looked like.
The
camera is very easy to use, nothing to silde open.
It has no
manual settings except aperture via weather symbols. You only
have to frame, which is easy via the bright finder. After taking
a picture, you have to advance film and cock shutter via the wheel
under the finder. Putting
a film is easy as well,
you drop the film into the compartment, advance to the first frame and
that's it. The close-up lens has a pre-focussed rangefinder for 40cm,
you have to move back and forth to meet the correct distance.
It's
a low to mid-range point and shoot camera
with the advantage of a wide angle lens. There are only few 110 cameras which feature wide angles.
