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

Fujica ST901

Fuji · Fujica ST mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film, hinged back · 1974

Also known as: ST-901 · ST 901 · ST901 · Fuji ST901 · Auto Electro ST901 · フジカ ST901 · フジカST901 · FUJICA ST-901

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
ST901 Fujica ST 1974 — No figure published
  1. Fujifilm's history dates the ST901 to April 1974 and camera-wiki, Wikipedia and the reviewers agree on 1974. No end date was found; the AZ-1 of 1977–78 is described as its cheaper replacement and the X bayonet followed in 1979.
  2. Three body weights: about 630g in the contemporary Fujica Book, 641g weighed by Mike Eckman, 620g in the Wikipedia table. The Book's figure is adopted and the dispute recorded.
  3. The film-speed range is 25–3200 in the Fujica Book and 32–3200 on camera-wiki. The Book is the contemporary source and is adopted; the difference is one-third of a stop at the bottom of the dial.
  4. The LED readout shows shutter speeds in a 50-100-200 series because the automatic shutter is stepless and the display carries only one significant digit; every reviewer notes that 1/125 appears as 100 and that intermediate speeds round.
  5. The ST901 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; camera-wiki says plainly that it will not open-aperture meter with non-Fujinon lenses, and the automatic exposure then works 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 stop down partway on any Fujica because the body's pusher bar sits 8.0mm from the flange.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Fujica's largest ST body: 133 × 92 × 91mm with the 55mm f/1.8, about 630g body only
  • Meter switched on by first pressure on the release, which can be locked; exposure compensation on the film-speed dial
  • One 6V cell (PX28 / 4SR44) behind a coin-slot cover on the top plate, loaded positive end up — the ST801 loads its cell the other way

ST901:

  • AUTO ELECTRO on the front of the top plate; AUTO on the shutter speed dial beside the manual speeds 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000 and B
  • Red LED digits above the screen showing the automatically chosen shutter speed, in a 50-100-200 series rather than 60-125-250
  • An eyepiece blind lever behind the prism for unattended long exposures
  • A rectangular window in the back showing the film cassette — camera-wiki and Mike Eckman call it the first camera with one
  • Lens lock release button beside the mount and the coupling ring for the Fujinon aperture tab

Specifications

Format
24×36mm on 35mm film, hinged back
Finder
Fixed eye-level pentaprism, 0.96× with 92% coverage; split-image spot with microprism collar on a fine-ground screen without fresnel rings; red LED digits above the screen showing the shutter speed on AUTO; eyepiece blind. · 0.96× magnification · 92% coverage · no rangefinder image
Shutter
horizontal-travel cloth focal plane, electronically timed on AUTO, mechanical at the marked manual speeds · AUTO: stepless 20s – 1/1000; manual: B, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, which work without a battery · flash sync X at 1/60 (manual setting or when the readout shows 1/60 or slower), hot shoe and X socket; FP socket for focal-plane bulbs at the manual speeds · self-timer
Film advance
single-stroke lever with a hinged plastic tip
Back
hinged, with a cassette window
Meter
TTL average reading at full aperture with coupled Fujinon lenses, or automatically in the stopped-down mode with any M42 lens; two silicon photocells beside the eyepiece; aperture- priority with exposure compensation of ±2 stops; ASA 25–3200 (32–3200 in camera-wiki), EV −3 to 18 at ASA 100 with an f/1.4 lens. One 6V silver-oxide or alkaline cell (PX28, 4SR44 / 4LR44) runs the meter and the automatic shutter; the marked manual speeds are mechanical.
Weight
630 g
Dimensions
133 × 92 × 91 (W × H × D) with the 55mm f/1.8, from the Fujica Book mm
Country
Japan
Original price
$605 with the EBC Fujinon 55mm f/1.4 or $545 with the 55mm f/1.8 in 1974 (Mike Eckman); £276.50 recommended with the f/1.8 in a 1974 Amateur Photographer advertisement, commonly sold at £182.20 (Shutterlogue) (today $3,850)
Accessories
EBC Fujinon lenses with the aperture tab and lock-pin recess · Right-angle finder, eye cup and eyesight-correction lenses · Extension tubes, bellows, reverse adapter, microscope adapter

Where sources disagree

Weight (grams)
  • about 630g body only — the Fujica Book; 830g with the f/1.8 lens
  • 641g — Mike Eckman, weighing a body
  • 620g — English Wikipedia's Fujica table

Better supported: 630g

What reviewers say

History

The ST901 of April 1974 was the top of Fuji’s M42 line and the most ambitious camera in the mount. Set the aperture and the electronic shutter picks any speed between 20 seconds and 1/1000 without steps; the speed it has picked appears above the screen as red LED digits, the first time any SLR had shown a number in its finder rather than a needle or a row of lamps. Fuji’s history calls it digital AE. The digits carry one significant figure, so the display counts 50, 100, 200 rather than 60, 125, 250, and every reviewer since has remarked that a 1/125 reads as 100 and a 1/375 as 400. Take the battery out and the ST901 is a five-speed manual camera — 1/60 to 1/1000 and B, all mechanical.

It shares the ST801’s coupling. Any 42mm lens screws on, but full-aperture metering needs a Fujinon or EBC Fujinon with the tab on its aperture ring and the recess for the lock pin that clicks home on the last turn and is released by the button beside the mount; camera-wiki says plainly that it will not open-aperture meter with anything else, and with other lenses the automation runs in the stopped-down mode. Two silicon cells beside the eyepiece read from EV −3 to 18 at ASA 100, film speeds run 25 to 3200, and exposure compensation of two stops either way sits on the film-speed dial. A 6V cell, PX28 or 4SR44, runs everything electronic; it loads positive end up, where the ST801’s identical cell loads the other way round. The finder is 0.96× with 92% coverage, a split-image spot in a microprism collar, and an eyepiece blind for long exposures with nobody at the camera. A rectangular window in the back shows the cassette, which both camera-wiki and Mike Eckman record as the first on any camera. With the 55mm f/1.8 it measures 133 × 92 × 91mm; the body alone is about 630g in the contemporary Fujica Book and 641g on Eckman’s scale.

It was expensive: $605 with the 55mm f/1.4 EBC or $545 with the f/1.8 in the United States, £276.50 recommended in Britain and commonly sold there for £182.20. Fuji sold it in chrome and black, did not revise it, and never published how many it made; Eckman’s judgement is that the number was small and a working example is now hard to find. The AZ-1 of 1977–78 took the same aperture-priority idea, cut the manual speeds to three and the readout to a row of LEDs, and cost less.

The things to check are the ones an electronic camera of 1974 invites. The automatic shutter and the readout depend on the cell and the circuitry behind it; Christopher Osborne’s example runs only on the manual speeds, and Modern Photography noted at the time that the meter takes a second to settle in very low light. Confirm that AUTO fires at a plausible range of speeds and that the digits light. Foam seals will need replacing, including the strip round the cassette window. On the lens side, the same warnings as for the ST801 apply: the Fujica lock 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 body’s pusher bar sits 8.0mm from the flange.

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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 $80 across 17 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-20 (middle half $22–$150). 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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Related: Fujica ST701 · Fujica ST801 · Fujica ST605 / 605N / 605 II · Fujica ST705 / 705W · Fujica AZ-1

Lenses for this body: EBC Fujinon 24mm f/2.8 · Fujinon 28mm f/3.5 · Fujinon 35mm f/2.8 · EBC Fujinon 35mm f/1.9 · EBC Fujinon Macro 55mm f/3.5 · EBC Fujinon 50mm f/1.4 · EBC Fujinon-T 135mm f/2.5 · EBC Fujinon-T 200mm f/4.5

Sources (11)

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.