Sporting a retro look,
the Fujix DS-300 is Fuji Photo Film's entry-level professional
digital camera. Released in June 1997, it was the first digital camera
to offer advanced professional features, at a more affordable price than
other professional digital cameras available at the time. Today, two years
later, the camera still stands as a major development in digital photography.
Designed on a direct
vision camera platform resembling the Fuji line of GA 645
medium format cameras, the DS-300 weighs in at a hefty 620 gr. (21.9
oz) without its lithium ion battery or the PC
memory card, both of which are sold separately.
To be replaced by the DS-330,
which was announced at Photokina, the biennial photo exhibition in Cologne
Germany, the DS-300 will remain on the market for a few more months.
Ergonomically speaking, the DS-300 is a rather bulky camera almost more
at home on a tripod and in a studio than in the hand of the user. A 2-stage
shutter release (autofocus lock and AE at the first press) and two
control dials, one for the camera mode, the other used for selecting various
settings, top the large grip area on the right. Turning the camera on
requires both pressing down a small button and turning the dial, making
accidental activation impossible.
A zoom control switch is located toward the back (below the mode dial),
allowing the lens to move from 35mm to 105mm (35mm
equivalent). When first activated, the camera sets the lens midcourse
of its range, around the 50mm mark.
Three buttons, located
on the left-hand side of the camera's top, control the flash modes, the
erase functions, and the macro
mode. Macro mode automatically cancels the flash to prevent overexposure.
The LCD display serves to make all setup selections and adjustments to the
camera. With the main dial turned to SETUP, the user can cycle through
all the potential settings of the DS-300. Changes to any given setting are
made by pressing the SET button, located next to the viewfinder,
while rotating the secondary dial on top.
As
with all direct vision type cameras, the Fujix DS-300 is equipped with an
optical viewfinder,
this one placed on the left side of the body. The viewfinder covers 80%
of the frame, mostly the upper left-hand side of the image frame. The camera
does not have a built-in LCD
screen to help framing, but allows the attachment of a third party LCD
monitor. With close range photography, the severe parallax
can be surprising at first when the images are displayed on a monitor, revealing
areas to the right of the frame that were not visible in the viewfinder.
The viewfinder's LCD display offers distance information (shown as little
blocks in the lower part of the finder's frame), and the first little block
will flash if the camera is physically too close to the subject. Additionally,
the viewfinder provides warnings for over or under
exposure; camera shake (slow shutter
speed warning), along with a flash charging indicator. Below the viewfinder
are two LEDs: a green one indicating autofocus, and a red one that flashes
when the camera is recording an image.
