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

Fujica AZ-1

Fuji · Fujica ST mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film, hinged back · 1977

via machine translation — corrections welcome

Also known as: AZ1 · AZ 1 · AZ-1 · Fuji AZ-1 · Fujica AZ1 · フジカ AZ-1 · フジカAZ-1 · FUJICA AZ-1

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
AZ-1 Fujica ST 1977 — No figure published
  1. Dates: Fujifilm's history has the AZ-1 launched for export in June 1977 and in Japan in November 1977; Wikipedia's table lists it under 1978 and camera-wiki says it was sold from 1978 after the June 1977 export launch. The maker's 1977 is adopted. No end date was found; the X-bayonet AX-1 of 1979–80 is its direct descendant.
  2. Body weight is 580g in the Fujica Book and on camera-wiki and 575g in Wikipedia's table; the Book's figure, also the maker's dimensions of 133 × 87.5 × 50.5mm, is adopted.
  3. The AZ-1 takes any M42 lens but meters at full aperture only with Fujinon and EBC Fujinon lenses carrying the aperture tab and the lock-pin recess; with any other lens the automation runs in the stopped-down mode. Bob Janes records that the Fujica lock pin fouls some other M42 bodies and has been filed off Fujinon lenses by previous owners; Stuart Jenkins found five of twelve automatic M42 lenses mount partly stopped down on any Fujica because the body's pusher bar sits 8.0mm from the flange.
  4. The zoom-as-standard claim is Fuji's own: the corporate history calls the 43–75mm the most compact zoom in the world at the time, and camera-wiki records the AZ-1 as the first interchangeable-lens SLR bundled with a zoom as standard. awane-camera gives the lens's weight as 300g.
  5. The Fujica Book says the meter uses a single silicon sensor where every other ST body has two; camera-wiki says two. The contemporary Book is followed and the difference noted.
  6. No launch price in any currency was found in a source that could be read.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Body only 133 × 87.5 × 50.5mm and 580g
  • Meter switched on by first pressure on the release and locked while the pressure is held; the reading does not change until the finger lifts
  • Rectangular eyepiece; fine-ground screen with a split-image spot and microprism collar

AZ-1:

  • Shutter speed dial marked AE, the compensation figures −2, −1, +1, +2, and only B, 1/60, 1/250 and 1/1000 as manual settings
  • Seven LEDs against a shutter-speed scale at the side of the screen
  • Coupling gear and electrical contacts in the base plate for the Fujica Auto Winder
  • Three 1.5V silver-oxide cells (SR44 / MS76) behind a coin-slot cover on the top plate, loaded positive side inward
  • Lens lock release button beside the mount and the follower ring for the Fujinon aperture tab

Specifications

Format
24×36mm on 35mm film, hinged back
Finder
Fixed eye-level pentaprism; split-image spot with microprism collar on a fine-ground screen without fresnel rings; seven LEDs against a shutter-speed scale showing the speed the AE circuit has chosen. Owners call it the ST901's finder. · no rangefinder image
Shutter
horizontal-travel cloth focal plane, electronically timed on AE, mechanical at the three marked manual speeds · AE: 1/2 – 1/1000 in the normal steps; manual: B, 1/60, 1/250, 1/1000, which work without a battery · flash sync X at 1/60 (manual setting, B, or when the readout shows 1/60 or slower); hot shoe and a socket on the front; bulbs when the readout shows 1/2 – 1/15 · self-timer
Film advance
single-stroke lever with a hinged plastic tip, or the Fujica Auto Winder
Back
hinged
Meter
TTL centre-weighted average reading at full aperture with coupled Fujinon lenses, or automatically in the stopped-down mode with any M42 lens; a single silicon photocell; aperture-priority with the reading locked on first pressure of the release; seven-LED shutter-speed scale; compensation of ±2 stops; ASA 25–3200, EV 2–18 at ASA 100 with an f/1.4 lens. Three 1.5V silver-oxide cells (SR44 / MS76) run the meter and the automatic shutter; the three manual speeds are mechanical.
Motor drive
Fujica Auto Winder — Screws into the tripod socket and engages the base-plate gear and contacts; four AA cells, about 385g, 134 × 43 × 36mm, winds on when the release is let go, about two frames a second. Because the AZ-1 locks its reading while the release is held, every frame in a winder burst gets the first frame's exposure (Bob Janes).
Weight
580 g
Dimensions
133 × 87.5 × 50.5 (W × H × D), body only, from the Fujica Book and camera-wiki mm
Country
Japan
Accessories
Fujica Auto Winder · Fujinon-Z 43–75mm f/3.5–4.5 zoom · Dedicated automatic flash unit · EBC Fujinon lenses with the aperture tab and lock-pin recess

Where sources disagree

First
  • June 1977 export, November 1977 Japan — Fujifilm corporate history
  • 1978 — English Wikipedia's Fujica table; camera-wiki ('sold starting in 1978')

Better supported: 1977

Weight (grams)
  • 580g body only — the Fujica Book, camera-wiki
  • 575g — English Wikipedia's Fujica table

Better supported: 580g

What reviewers say

History

The AZ-1 is the ST901’s automation at a lower price, and the last new camera Fuji built in the 42mm thread. It arrived for export in June 1977 and in Japan that November with an electronic shutter that Fuji’s history says was controlled by the largest LSI yet put in a camera. Set the aperture and the circuit chooses a speed from 1/2 to 1/1000 in whole steps, shown by one of seven LEDs against a scale at the side of the screen; first pressure on the release switches the meter on and locks the reading, and it stays locked until the finger lifts. Without a battery, or with the dial turned off AE, the camera has three mechanical speeds — 1/60, 1/250, 1/1000 — and B, and nothing in between. There is no metered manual mode at all. Three SR44 cells behind a coin-slot cover run everything electronic, a single silicon cell reads centre-weighted from EV 2 to 18 at ASA 100, and the film-speed dial runs 25 to 3200 with compensation of two stops either way on the shutter dial. The body is 133 × 87.5 × 50.5mm and 580g, and the finder — a split-image spot in a microprism collar on a fine-ground screen — is the one owners describe as the ST901’s.

What made the AZ-1 news in 1977 was the lens on the front of it. Fuji offered the 50mm f/1.4 and 55mm f/1.8 as before, but the standard lens was a Fujinon-Z 43–75mm f/3.5–4.5 zoom weighing about 300g, which Fuji’s history calls the most compact zoom in the world at the time; camera-wiki records the AZ-1 as the first interchangeable-lens SLR sold with a zoom as its normal lens. Contemporary reviewers, Bob Janes reports, were not impressed by the zoom’s performance. The base plate carries a gear and contacts for the Fujica Auto Winder, a 385g unit on four AA cells that winds on when the release is let go — and, because the AZ-1 locks its reading while the release is held, every frame of a winder burst gets the first frame’s exposure.

The mount is the Fujica M42 of the ST801 and ST901: any 42mm lens screws on, and a lock pin seats a Fujinon on its last turn with a click, released by the button beside the mount. Full-aperture metering and the LED readout work only with Fujinon and EBC Fujinon lenses carrying the aperture tab; with anything else the automation runs in the stopped-down mode. The pin fouls some other makers’ M42 bodies and has been filed off Fujinon lenses by previous owners, and Stuart Jenkins found five of twelve automatic M42 lenses mount partly stopped down on any Fujica because the pusher bar sits 8.0mm from the flange.

The electronics are the risk. Bob Janes’ example overexposes by about three stops and he blames the circuitry that fails on cameras of this age; a Japanese owner’s drains its cells in half a day, which reads like a short. Test the AE at a range of apertures against a known meter before paying for one, and remember that a dead AZ-1 is a three-speed manual camera. The plastic tip on the advance lever blooms white with age, the foam seals will be gone, and the 43–75 is worth having only for the record. No launch price and no production figure were found. The AX-1 of 1979–80 is the same idea behind the X bayonet, and the STX-1 the same body with a mechanical shutter.

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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.

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $50 across 30 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-20 (middle half $35–$64). First day tracked.

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

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

Related: Fujica ST701 · Fujica ST801 · Fujica ST901 · Fujica ST605 / 605N / 605 II · Fujica ST705 / 705W · Fujica AX-1 · Fujica AX-3 · Fujica AX-5

Lenses for this body: EBC Fujinon 24mm f/2.8 · Fujinon 28mm f/3.5 · EBC Fujinon 35mm f/1.9 · EBC Fujinon Macro 55mm f/3.5 · EBC Fujinon 50mm f/1.4 · Fujinon 55mm f/1.8 · EBC Fujinon-T 100mm f/2.8 · EBC Fujinon-T 135mm f/2.5 · EBC Fujinon-T 135mm f/3.5

Sources (10)

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.