The plastic fantastic wonders of the 1980s and 1990s generally receive no love – especially looking back on them with our digitized eyeballs in 2017. These overlooked (even when new for the most part) cameras were the bridge cameras for many photographers that were moving away from their bulky SLRs from the 1970s and looking for something easy, carefree and light to take with them on short outings and family get togethers. The 35mm format was the clear winner in the format wars, now manufacturers wanted think-free 35s that were as easy to use as falling outta bed (?).
This Fuji Discovery 90 Date was introduced in May 1993 to an already crowded plastic 35mm marketplace. So how to stand out? Drop-in loading, auto focus, auto exposure auto rewind and auto wind was a good start. A big bright viewfinder centered over the lens – and macro capability (23 1/2 inches / 60cm). Auto flash. How about a good price too? And free film? Free batteries… sure. $10 in coupons too!!! Fuji did everything it could to sell these things, and they did alright too. It helps that you make film.
We like our recently acquired Fuji… it feels balanced in my hand and I like the big centered viewfinder. The lens is a Fujinon f8 34mm lens – we can’t wait to run a roll through it to test it out. By the way, the Fujicolor expired in May 1997.
Thanks for your visit… check back when we run a roll through it. Do you have a favorite plastic fantastic camera? Let us know.
Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S9900W
Chris
Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris 
I am liking the 80s plastic cameras more and more. They are usually cheap and easy to find. At the moment my favourites are the heavy duty cameras, especially the Konica Genba Kantoku DD. It was just so sharp, and simple to use.
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I never really looked at them closely before but I’m finding a few that catch my eye. I enjoyed using the Yashica you sent me and it will be interesting to compare the images from it to this one (I don’t think they’ll be close). I’m betting the Yashica will do much better. This little Fuji is interesting though… we’ll see. I’ll have to check out the Konica – I don’t know much about it. By the way, this Fuji was $10 on Etsy and only $3 to mail it!
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Reblogged this on Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic and commented:
This wonderful Fuji deserves another look
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I remember seeing A LOT of these Fuji Discovery cameras when I was Electronics/Cameras Manager at a Kmart circa 1997. They sold OK, but since Fuji didn’t have the prestige of Canon or Nikon, not as much as the marquee brands. Yet, we still seemed to have a lot of the Fujis. And now I know why: Fuji had a deal with Kmart back then. Sort of how Minolta and Ricoh made special cameras for Kmart and Sears in the 1970s.
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Thanks for your comment. Yep, Fuji had all sorts of arrangements with places like you’ve mentioned and others like Ritz Camera. For a time I had quite a few Fujifilm camera sets in my collection and I’ve enjoyed using them too.
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It makes sense–Fuji wasn’t known in The West for cameras, and wanted to get a foothold. You’d think the “drop in loading” would win the general public over. But name recognition is a big thing.
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