The Fujica DL-100 is a compact autofocus camera introduced in 1983 and along its brother, the DL-20, was the first camera to introduce Fujica's drop-in loading system. This method is an easy way to load the camera, the back opens just enough to let you "drop" the film roll, which is wound on automatically.
In addition to this function, the Fujica Dl-100 packs other interesting features, for example, a switch positioned behind the shutter button locks the shutter from accidental snaps.
On the top of the camera there's also the rewind button, if you want to wind the film before you finished the roll (otherwise the camera will automatically do it at the end of the roll). In order to activate it you just have to slide the arrow to the left and press the R button.
The manually activated pop up flash is also located on the top and for this reason I have to give credit to Fujica because I really appreciate when manufacturers give flash control to the user.
On the back of the camera 3 indicators will help you through the shooting experience.
The film run indicator will lights up when the film is loaded properly and every time you're shooting and the film is actually moving to the next frame. So, if you don't see the green light, you know something's wrong with the film loading.
If the camera's exposure meter will detect that not enough light is hitting the sensor and therefore you'll probably end up with an underexposed image, the red indicator next to the FILM RUN, will light up to warn you. If you want you can ignore this sign as the camera won't actually stop shooting as it happens in other cameras.
The last indicator, the READY indicator, refers to the flash and will will glow orange when the flash is fully charged and ready to use. When you pop up the flash you can actually here it charging. Unfortunately the camera I was using had a faulty indicator so I would have had to rely just on the hearing if I wanted to use the flash. Since the camera charges the flash pretty quickly with fresh batteries, I didn't have problem with the flash.
Another featuer of this camera that is not obvious in point and shoot cameras is the fact that you can manually set the ISO with a simple lever under the lens. This feature gives you the possibilty of overexposing or underexposing your shots very easily. The downside is that you have to remember that the ISO you set is the same as the one you have in the roll you're shooting.
According to the camera manual, if you're using Fuji film (100/400 ISO), you can just move the lever so that a red mark appear in the film speed window. Otherwise use the table below, from the original manual, to know which film speed to set based on the roll you want to use.
Last but not least the camera has a 38mm f2.8 lens and that's another nice feature since it will help you a lot in darker situations where you don't want to use the flash. 38mm is als a great overall focal lenght for taking landscape and environmental portraits.
| Shutter speed | Film speeds | Dimensions | Power supply | Min. focus distance | Weight |
| 1/8 - 1/500 | 50 - 400 | 129,5x79,5x58mm | 2 x AA | 0,9m | 445g |
Thank you for reading this far, if you want to buy this or any other camera from my shop use the code FUJICA-15 at checkout to get 15% off your purchase.
Have fun and keep shooting.