From 1959, Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. follow-up to their widely popular Fujipet 120 film camera. The Pet 35 took advantage of the growing popularity of 35mm photography – plus it’s a great way to sell more film!
The Pet 35 was way more sophisticated than the Fujipet – but retained the funky charm and quirkiness of the original. Since the Pet 35 is not a common camera, we’ve presented a visual tour of our almost mint condition Pet 35.
Original set as found. We have the leather case too.
The lens is a Fujinar-K 3 element glass lens – 45mm with a maximum aperture of f/3.5 with closest focussing to 0.5 meters.
The lever to the right of the lens cocks the shutter and the left lever trips the Copal B leaf shutter.
The Copal shutter features speeds of B, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100 and 1/200 of a second.
In keeping with the funky design – two oversized knobs that left no doubt on how to operate them.
The body is dark gray on this Pet 35.
Outer ring is the focus adjustment, next is the shutter speed selector and finally the aperture settings.
The original Pet 35 lens cap.
Nicely detailed and finished.
Early 1960s Fuji Film Neopan SS – ASA 100. How about film for only ¥190!
Original selling price was ¥3,400 – the leather case sold for ¥700 and a soft case was available for ¥350
Original sales brochure specs.
The viewfinder is bright and clear – and big for such a small camera.
ASA reminder scale and film back release.
The Pet 35 is far from being a ‘toy camera’ as its build quality is quite high. No foam or yarn light seals to fail – the metal film door fit tightly into the body to seal out light.
Gotta love the Fuji Film stickers inside!
Thanks so much for your visit – we hope that you enjoyed our tour of this fantastic Fuji!
Studio Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S9900W
Chris & Carol ^.^
Looks lovely! Or lovable… but not beautiful. It just makes me want to try one… Plenty manual settings for a simple camera.
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Thanks Frank. I agree. It actually has a solid (but light) feel to it (290 g). All the levers, dials and what-nots move crisply. I can’t wait to run a roll through it.
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Those stickers crack me up :). Was it standard for Fuji to use the film stickers inside of their cameras? I’ve never seen that before.
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I think the stickers are pretty neat. Kodak did it too and maybe a few others. It always made me think that somehow that camera only used the camera manufacturers film and no others.
It’s a great way to date a camera by which films were on the stickers. I believe the Fuji Color color negative film at this time was only available in ASA 10! Could you imagine how hard it must have been to shoot color film with a f3.5 maximum aperture and ASA 10? Wow.
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ASA 10 only? Man, it must have resulted in many blurry photos for people, or maybe it was more popular for everybody to carry a tripod with them at all times. Thank you for the info! I always enjoy learning about these little quirks about older camera from your posts and comments.
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Thanks Anneli! Glad I can add a little vintage photographic insight. The slowest film that I’ve shot on a regular basis was Kodak Kodachrome 25 – no tripod but I learned how to use trees, cars, rocks, people or anything else to brace your camera. I even shot with my Canon FD 80-200mm f4 zoom with it! Now that’s a trick!
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I just picked up this beautiful camera. However, the back door seems to be a new shiney back or the original piece may have fallen off. Can you give me more information on this camera?
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Hi Carol. Thanks for your question. On the bottom of the camera there is a dial that’s marked “ASA and OPEN”. Rotate that dial to where the “OPEN” lines up with the little silver tab (the silver tab has a small line on it). With your fingernail, gently lift that tab. You’ll hear the back release on the camera’s left side. You may have to help it if it hasn’t been opened in a while. So lift up not push. Good luck.
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