Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Fujica AX-3

Fuji · Fujica X mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film, hinged back, interchangeable with the Fujica Photo Recorder data back · 1979

single source, unconfirmed via machine translation — corrections welcome

Also known as: AX3 · AX 3 · Fujica AX3 · FUJICA AX-3 · フジカ AX-3 · フジカAX-3 · Porst CR-5

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
AX-3 Fujica X 1979 — No figure published
  1. Fujifilm's corporate history dates the AX-3's export release to December 1979 and says domestic sales of the AX bodies began in March 1980; the Japanese Wikipedia product list gives the AX-3 a domestic date of May 1980, two months after the AX-1 and AX-5; ob-scura writes March 1980. Recorded as disputed, with the maker's account as the stronger.
  2. The manual's metering range is EV 0–19 at ISO 100, the same text as the AX-1 and AX-5 manuals; Wikipedia's model table gives EV 0–18. Camera-wiki gives no range. The two agree on the low end, which is what a 2-second shutter needs, so only the top figure is in doubt and the manual is adopted.
  3. The PC sync terminal appears in the AX-3 manual's specification ("provided with sync terminal") and not in the AX-1 or AX-5 specifications. That fits the medical MAX35X derivative but has not been confirmed on a body by a second source.
  4. No list price was found in any readable source, in yen or dollars. The Japanese review leaves its price field blank.
  5. The capacitor fault — an electrolytic under the base plate that dries out, after which the release does nothing or the shutter fires by itself when the camera is switched on — is reported in forum threads for the AX-1 and AX-3 rather than in published reviews. The component value and the note that later AX-3 bodies used a tantalum part come from a search excerpt of a Classic Camera Repair Forum thread that could not be fetched directly, and are single-source.
  6. The Fujinon MAX35X medical version and the Porst CR-5 name rest on camera-wiki (the CR-5 is also named on the butkus.org manual page).
  7. One review is in Japanese and was read through machine translation.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Fujica X bayonet: 65° turn, 43.5mm flange back; M42 Fujinons need the Mount Adapter X-S
  • No shutter without a 6V battery: electromagnetic release, every speed electronically timed
  • Body 135 × 86 × 54mm and 520g — 20g heavier than the AX-1 and AX-5 by the manuals
  • An eyepiece shutter lever beside the finder, for unattended automatic exposures

AX-3:

  • Shutter speed selector runs B, AEL, AE, 2S, 1, 1/2 … 1/1000: a full manual scale, which the AX-1 lacks, and no P or S positions, which the AX-5 has
  • AX-3 on the front of the prism housing; separate on/off lever on the top plate that also arms the self-timer
  • Aperture shown in a window at the top of the finder through a mechanical linkage, with the LED shutter-speed scale down the left side
  • A PC sync terminal on the body, listed in the manual for this model and not for the AX-1 or AX-5

Specifications

Format
24×36mm on 35mm film, hinged back, interchangeable with the Fujica Photo Recorder data back
Finder
Fixed silvered pentaprism, −1 dioptre, three-way screen (split image, microprism, ground glass); LED shutter-speed scale, aperture readout window, over/under warning and battery check; built-in eyepiece shutter. · 0.86× magnification · 92% coverage · no rangefinder image
Shutter
horizontal cloth focal plane, electronically controlled throughout, electromagnetic two-step release · 2s – 1/1000 stepless in automatic (1/4-step digital control) and in fifteen manual settings; B; AEL · flash sync 1/60 at the hot shoe and a PC terminal; automatic shutter-speed setting with the dedicated Auto Strobe AZ and 300X · self-timer
Film advance
single-stroke lever, 144° throw, 25° stand-off; several short strokes allowed
Back
hinged, opens with the rewind crank; removable for the Fujica Photo Recorder data back
Meter
TTL centre-weighted averaging, silicon photocells, aperture-priority automatic through a three-magnet electronic control, or manual by matching the set speed against the metered speed on the same LED scale; EV 0–19 at ISO 100 by the manual (EV 0–18 in Wikipedia's table), ISO 12–3200 in 1/3 steps, AE lock at the AEL position, one stop of compensation. One 6V silver-oxide (4SR44), alkaline (4LR44) or lithium cell, which also fires the shutter.
Motor drive
Fujica Auto Winder X — 2 frames a second, four AA cells, single or continuous; shared with the AX-1 and AX-5.
Weight
520 g
Dimensions
135 × 86 × 54 (W × H × D), body only, from the instruction manual mm
Country
Japan
Accessories
Fujica Auto Winder X · Fujica Auto Strobe AZ and Auto Strobe 300X · Fujica Photo Recorder data back · Fujica Mount Adapter X-S (M42 Fujinon lenses, with automatic exposure) · Fujica Auto Extension Tubes X25 and X50, Auto Bellows X, Slide Copier X

Where sources disagree

Announced
  • domestic sales from March 1980 — Fujifilm's corporate history (for the AX series as a whole), ob-scura
  • May 1980 — Japanese Wikipedia product list

Better supported: March 1980

Fujifilm's sentence names the AX-1 and says "and others"; the May date may be the AX-3's own, later, domestic arrival. Left as recorded.

What reviewers say

History

The AX-3 is the Fujica X body most people mean when they say Fujica X. Fujifilm’s history places it last of the three AX cameras to reach the export market, in December 1979, three months behind the AX-1 and AX-5, and describes it as the standard aperture-priority camera with the manual metering the SLR market of the day expected — which is exactly the gap between its siblings. It has the AX-1’s aperture-priority automation and adds a full manual scale from 2 seconds to 1/1000; it lacks the AX-5’s program and shutter-priority modes and therefore does not care whether the lens is a DM type. Japanese sales followed in March 1980 by Fujifilm’s account and May by the Japanese Wikipedia product list.

The specification from the manual: a horizontally travelling cloth shutter timed electronically from 2 seconds to 1/1000, stepless in automatic and in fifteen click stops manually, with B and an AEL position on the same dial; centre-weighted silicon metering, ISO 12 to 3200, one stop of compensation; a 0.86× pentaprism showing 92 per cent of the frame, with the shutter speed on an LED column at the left and the aperture in a window at the top, fed by a mechanical linkage from the lens. The finder has a built-in eyepiece shutter for unattended automatic exposures. The body measures 135 × 86 × 54mm and weighs 520g, twenty grams more than either sibling, and the AX-3 is the one of the three whose manual lists a PC sync terminal alongside the 1/60 hot shoe. The Auto Winder X gives two frames a second on four AA cells; the Photo Recorder data back replaces the door.

Everything depends on one 6V cell — a 4SR44 silver-oxide, a 4LR44 alkaline or a lithium equivalent — because the release is electromagnetic and every speed is electronically timed. That is the first check when buying, and the second is the fault the AX bodies are known for: an electrolytic capacitor under the base plate that dries out, leaving a camera that will not release, or one that fires by itself the moment it is switched on. Repair forums describe the part and the fix, and the two published reviewers who like the camera best both say to buy only a body the seller has tested with a fresh battery. The rest is what any 1980 body needs: foam, seals, a power switch so well hidden in the moulding that one reviewer needed the manual to find it.

Identifying an AX-3 takes a glance at the shutter dial — a full manual scale but no P or S positions — and the badge on the prism. Porst sold it in Germany as the CR-5, and a medical version went out as the Fujinon MAX35X. No production figure and no list price were found. The reviewers’ verdict is consistent: a well-made, well-laid-out camera that is no worse than the aperture-priority bodies of its rivals, wasted on a mount that offers almost nothing to put on it, and gone with the rest of the Fujica SLRs by the mid-1980s.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Photographs

Fujica AX-3
Fujica AX-3 with standard lens — Joe Haupt (France1978 on Flickr), via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Fujica AX-3
Fujica AX-3 with a Sigma 28mm f/2.8 in X mount — Hartacnut (Flickr), uploaded by Jacopo Werther, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $65 across 36 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-20 (middle half $44–$140). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 46 more listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-09-20. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Fujica AX-1 · Fujica AX-5 · Fujica STX-1 / STX-1N · Fuji STX-2 · Fujica AZ-1

Lenses for this body: EBC Fujinon 24mm f/2.8 · Fujinon 35mm f/2.8 · EBC Fujinon Macro 55mm f/3.5 · X-Fujinon 50mm f/1.2 DM · X-Fujinon 50mm f/1.6 · X-Fujinon 50mm f/1.9 · EBC Fujinon-T 100mm f/2.8 · EBC Fujinon-T 135mm f/2.5

Sources (13)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.