Fujica ST605 / 605N / 605 II

Variants & identification

1. Dates: Fujifilm's history has the ST605 developed in March 1976, sold abroad first and in Japan from July 1976; Digital Camera World writes March 1976; camera-wiki writes about 1976. The ST605N is 1978 in camera-wiki, Alex Luyckx and Wikipedia's table (as an export model). The ST605 II is June 1978 in Fujifilm's history and Wikipedia and July 1978 on camera-wiki. No end dates were found; the STX-1 of 1979 is described by Wikipedia's table as the 605N with the X bayonet.
2. Body weight: about 565g in the contemporary Fujica Book (730g with the 55mm f/2.2); 570g in Digital Camera World and, for the 605 II, on camera-wiki; 575g on bkspicture.com for a 605N; 560g in Wikipedia's table. The Book's figure is adopted for the family and the spread recorded.
3. The ST605 and 605N have no coupling ring and no lens lock: they meter stopped down with any M42 lens, Fujinon or not. Only the ST605 II carries the ST705W's follower ring and lock pin, and only it meters at full aperture, and only with Fujinon and EBC Fujinon lenses that have the aperture tab; any other M42 lens meters stopped down on it as on the others. Bob Janes records that the Fujica lock pin fouls some other M42 bodies and has been filed off Fujinon lenses; the Fujinon tab likewise stops those lenses screwing fully home on some other makers' bodies and on plain adapters.
4. Stuart Jenkins measured the stop-down pusher bar on the Fujicas at 8.0mm from the flange and found that five of twelve automatic M42 lenses begin to close their aperture beyond that, so they mount partly stopped down on any Fujica body including these.
5. The 1/700 top speed appears on no other maker's camera. Richard Barron calls it a cost-reduction measure and John Margetts finds no explanation for it; Fuji published none.
6. No launch price in any currency was found in a source that could be read.

• ST605: Stop-down metering through two silicon cells on two 1.5V silver-oxide cells, which is the whole reason the ST605 replaced the ST601: Digital Camera World records that the change was to the metering circuit so it could use 1.5V cells rather than the mercury cells about to be banned.
• ST605N: camera-wiki and Alex Luyckx describe the shutter-speed indicator in the finder as the only apparent change. Wikipedia lists it as an export model of 1978.
• ST605 II: Fujifilm's history dates it to June 1978 and camera-wiki to July 1978. camera-wiki describes it as the 605N's 1/700 shutter with the open-aperture metering, lens lock and release lock of the ST705W, minus the winder coupling, and says it appears to have been sold only in the home and Asian markets. camera-wiki gives 133 × 86 × 50mm and 570g body only.

Specifications

Format

24×36mm on 35mm film, hinged back

Finder

Fixed eye-level pentaprism, almost life-size with the 55mm lens, about 92% coverage; split-image spot with microprism collar on a fine-ground screen without fresnel rings; meter needle at the right, joined by a shutter-speed pointer on the 605N and 605 II. · 92% coverage · no rangefinder image

Shutter

horizontal-travel rubberised cloth focal plane, mechanical · B, 1/2 – 1/700 · flash sync X at 1/60 and slower; hot shoe and a socket on the front; M bulbs at 1/15 and slower · self-timer

Film advance

single-stroke lever with a hinged plastic tip

Back

hinged

Meter

TTL average reading, two silicon photocells beside the eyepiece; stopped down through the front button on the 605 and 605N, at full aperture with tabbed Fujinon lenses on the 605 II; match needle; ASA 25–3200, EV 2–17 at ASA 100 with an f/1.4 lens. Two 1.5V silver-oxide cells (SR44 / LR44) power the meter only; the shutter is mechanical.

Weight

565 g

Dimensions

133 × 86 × 88 (W × H × D) with the 55mm f/2.2, from the Fujica Book; 133 × 86 × 50 body only for the 605 II (camera-wiki) mm

Country

Japan

Accessories

Fujinon 55mm f/2.2 standard lens, made for the 605 series · Right-angle finder, eye cup and eyesight-correction lenses · Extension tubes, bellows, reverse adapter

What reviewers say

• Paul Burrows (Digital Camera World) (blog) — Simplicity is its strong point and it rewards an engaged user with results, as an affordable alternative to the Pentax K1000 without the collector premium. He dates it to March 1976 as the replacement for the 1975 ST601, the change being a meter circuit that runs on 1.5V cells instead of mercury, gives 570g body only and 705g with the 55mm f/2.2, notes the 605N's shutter-speed readout, and says stop-down metering was what the screw mount dictated. Look for the EBC Fujinons.
• Peggy Marsh (Camera Go Camera) (blog) — A sleeper she prefers to the Spotmatic she went looking for: solid and heavy, works with or without its two LR44 cells, an accurate meter, and the whole M42 catalogue to choose from. The finder is small, the needle can be hard to see, and the screen darkens when the meter button stops the lens down.
• John Margetts (John's Cameras) (blog) — An all-metal camera that resembles an Asahi Pentax, with a stop-down meter on two LR44 cells, ASA 25–3200, 1/60 sync and a four-element Fujinon 55mm f/2.2 focusing to 0.6m. He measures 132 × 87 × 50mm, likes that it works without batteries, and dislikes the darkened finder at small apertures and the unexplained 1/700 top speed.
• Peter Roberts (35mmc) (blog) — Expected to be underwhelmed by a 605N and was not: pleasant to use and robust enough to trust, if not built like a Pentax. The side needle showing the set shutter speed is what marks the N from the plain 605, he preferred its stop-down button to the Pentax slider, the meter had been fed reversed cells by a previous owner and ran a little under once corrected, and the 55mm f/2.2 had sticky blades and a cracked ring.
• Bengt Köhler Sandberg (bkspicture.com) (blog) — One of the best meters he has found on a 1970s camera, fast and accurate in low light, on an all-mechanical body of 575g with a good finder that shows the shutter speed selected; against it, mirror vibration with no lock-up, noise, and a cheap plastic tip on the advance lever.

History

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

Live listings

• Fujica ST605N 35mm film SLR camera body only Read — $14.99 · eBay · likely ST605N
• FUJIFILM FUJICA ST605N 35mm SLR Film Camera w/ Vivitar Auto Flash UNTESTED GUC! — $24.71 · eBay · likely ST605N
• Fujica ST 605 SLR Film Camera No. 3011963 / Corrosion / Issues — $32.00 · eBay
• FUJICA ST605N 35MM SLR FILM CAMERA W/ FUJINON 55MM LENS ! R367 V — $33.56 · eBay · likely ST605N
• FUJIFILM FUJICA ST605N 35mm SLR Film Camera With 80-200 Lens Untested !! — $35.00 · eBay · likely ST605N
• [PARTIALLY WORKING - READ] Fujica ST605 II 35mm Film SLR Camera Body - M42 mount — $37.99 · eBay
• FUJICA ST605 II SLR Fim Camera Body. READ — $45.00 · eBay
• Fujica ST-605 35mm SLR Film Camera with Fujinon f2.2 55mm lens — $50.00 · eBay
• Fujica ST605N 35mm SLR Film Camera W/ Fujinon 55mm f2.2 Lens READ — $55.99 · eBay · likely ST605N
• Fujica ST605N Fujinon 1:1.2 f: 55mm Camera With 9 more lens. — $59.99 · eBay · likely ST605N
• Fujica ST605N 35mm SLR Film Camera + Hoya HMC Tele-Auto Lens — $65.00 · eBay · likely ST605N
• FUJIFILM FUJICA ST605N 35mm Film Camera With A Zoom Lens In A Case — $69.99 · eBay · likely ST605N
• Fujica ST605n Camera body (AA10) — $80.00 · eBay · likely ST605N
• [N Mint-] Fujifilm Fujica ST605 II M42 Manual Focus 35mm Film SLR Camera Body G — $99.00 · eBay
• Fujifilm Fujica ST605 II M42 Manual Focus 35mm Film SLR Camera Body N Mint- — $99.00 · eBay
• [N Mint-] Fujifilm Fujica ST605 II M42 Manual Focus 35mm Film SLR Camera Body G — $99.00 · eBay
• Fujica ST605N 35mm SLR Film Camera 55mm f/2.2 Lens and more - please read — $99.00 · eBay · likely ST605N
• [Near MINT] Fujica ST605 II SLR Film Camera w/ EBC Fujinon 55mm f/1.8 From Japan — $159.99 · eBay
• Fujifilm Fujica ST 605 35mm SLR Film Camera with 55mm Lens — $165.00 · eBay
• Fujifilm Fuji Film Fujica ST605N Lenses, Accessories, Bag, Manuals, Flash Japan — $199.00 · eBay · likely ST605N

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