FUJIPET 6X6 120 CAMERA
As far as I know, there are three Fujipet models. The camera I will focus most of my attention on is the original 120 roll film camera as seen on the front page. It takes 12 6x6 shots on a roll of 120 film, color or black and white. It was first introduced in 1957 (Showa 32) with production ending in 1963 (Showa 38). There were minor design changes and a few different colors throughout its life, which I attempt to catalogue on the Camera Gallery page.
Technical Specifications:
- Plastic or glass, single element, fixed lens.
- 70mm.
- f11, f16, f22, two plate, with no detent.
- B, 1/50 leaf shutter.
- 6x6 cm ‘Buroni’ format (Bronica - 120 in Japan) for a 56 x 56 mm exposure.
- Base is tripod threaded.
- Flash shoe (cold, with ext sync socket).
- 120x100x75mm, weight:332g.
The key components are as follows:
The lens is plastic in some cameras and glass in others. It is fixed focus (seems to lose focus at around less than one meter). The main body is plastic, with the top being aluminum. The back and bottom piece is also aluminum. As you see, it has a two-lever shutter mechanism. You first press down 1, which "charges" or cocks the shutter, then press 2 to take the picture. Cocking the shutter does not open the shutter. The opening and closing is done by lever 2. I'm not sure why it was designed this way, as one-click cameras were available at the time. It's part of the charm. The shutter itself is a leaf-shutter. The textured color surfaces are glued onto the body. They tend to peel apart, but are easy to glue back on. There are two feet on the bottom for stabilization when storing. The aperture lever acts as the third foot. The notches on the sides are for the camera strap.
There are two shutter settings. I probably stands for Instant and B for bulb. The little red switch slides easily from one mode and back. In bulb mode, you can hold down 2 for as long as you want, keeping the shutter open for extended exposures. Here, you can see the counter window through the open shutter in bulb mode.
The aperture lever under the lens attached to a ring that surrounds the barrel. It slides smoothly from side to side.
The aperture ring offers 3 different graphics. I assume this was done to make it completely obvious for everyone using it. The right side offers apertures of 11, 16 and 22. The top is a visual representation of the aperture opening, from wide to small. The left side offers sunlight variations.
The hood is a simple aluminum or plastic ring that slides out from the body. It is loose and tends to move around a lot on its own. The first model had an aluminum hood, while most are plastic. Very late models seem to have some sort of plastic piece on the lens barrel to lock the hood in the out position. One thing to note about the plastic hoods is that they all have "burn" marks on them. Never appearing in the same place, eahc hood has its own special scar(s) that look as of they were damaged...but all of them have the burns. I have no idea what these are from...most likely some manufacturing foibles...but what, I couldn't say. So fear not if your Pet has these marks.
The Pet uses an external bulb sync flash. It fits on the shoe and plugs into the barrel. Note the hood must be extended to plug in the flash on most models. The plug is closer to the body on early Pets. Releasing the shutter sets off the flash. I don't know if there is an official Fujipet flash.
The Fujipet winds film to the left (as you hold the camera) instead of to the right. I have no idea how common this is with 120 cameras. The film rolls through upside down, but there are upright numbers on 120 film for this design, so it must not be unusual. The back side has a counter window for viewing the numbers on the film. The silver piece on the bottom serves as a tripod mount and holds the back cover of the camera.
The Fujipet next to a 35mm camera for size comparison.
And next to a Diana, or Diana clone in this case.
Note that the Fujipet does not generally leak light. It has a solid aluminum back that screws tightly into place. This kind of goes against the trend for toy cameras. Most toy cameras are built very cheaply (Dianas and Holgas), or are just very old (Brownies and box cameras). The plastic lens makes the camera a toy. There are a few later models that sport a glass lens, and I don't consider the 35mm cameras to be toys, as they are basically "real" cameras, though very cool looking real cameras. My black Fujipet does have some kind of leak on the side that adds a large flare, but I'm told this is very rare. My guess is the seam isn't flush...but I don't really mind. The red Pet has no leaks.
To counter the plastic lens effects (mainly vignetting), the film plane on the inside of the camera is curved. You can see this in the photos that aren't cropped on the Photo Gallery page. I find it particularly interesting that they spent so much time designing a very well-built camera that counters the effects of a plastic lens, rather than just using a glass lens. I guess the initial R&D stage was cheaper than producing precision glass lenses for all the cameras sold.
In creating this camera, Fuji intended to open up the Japanese photography market by including women, children and beginners. Until then, photography had generally required high-end equipment (other world markets had already introduced popular "family friendly" cameras, such as the Brownie, long before). Design was a joint venture between Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and the Konan camera laboratory. Fuji sold nearly a million Fujipets by 1963, making a domestic sales record at the time. The original selling price was 1950 yen. To distinguish the 120 from the other Fujipet models, it earned the nickname "Thunderbird."
Words from a Fujipet User
The camera for boys & girls of Fuji and its name was also Fujipetto. The factory of Fuji Film was located on the north side of Imaizumi Elementary School (in the old Yoshiwara city, in Fuji prefecture).
Nobody used full names these days, so it was only called the ‘Film’. The company houses were also along side the school, and a classmate’s father was a factory manager there (Suzuki-san).
A monthly manga was our favorite magazine – we used to read it while eating chipped-ice in our favorite mom-and-pop candy store. One day I went to play in Suzuki-san’s house and we discovered an accumulation of ‘Children’s’ Science’ magazine. We did not have money to buy such magazine, we were very enviable, and went crazy and read.
Since Suzuki-san was Film employee, although I do not know if he was ‘rich’, he had Fujipet laying in his house.
Then probably Fujipet was considered garbage and thrown away. Now it is remembered in our hearts…
FUJIPET 120EE
The Fujipet 120 EE was introduced in 1961. It uses no batteries, just a selenium cell to move a snappy variable slot aperture over the opening depending on how much light there is. Note the single lever for releasing the shutter.
The later model EE, commonly referred to as EE-2, looks about the the same but has a meter sensitivity knob added to the side Also note the gold badge and the differences on the lens. I believe this camera was made for export due to the increase in popularity of color film in the US and Europe. This information and photo come from this site.
PET 35
The Pet 35, a 35mm version of the camera, was introduced in 1959 to meet the needs of the growing 35mm market. This camera employs the dual levers and can be focused.
