2026-08-27 Fujica ST701 Camera

    The Fujica ST701 was released in July of 1970.

    This universal screw mount camera has several distinctions.

1. It was the first camera to use silicon light meter cells. 
2. It used two cells for averaging stop-down metering.

    It used a mercury button cell—the E400N—that has not been available for many, many years.  It had a voltage of 1.35 VDC. Modern power sources can be used (air cells—the hearing aid MBX400— for example), while other power cells require under the hood (in this case under the top deck) modifications. Normally you wouldn’t fret this, as the through-the-lens metering has nothing to do with the camera’s operation. You can use an external meter to determine exposure.
    Although the lens mount appears to be a simple thread mount, there is an additional tab on the mount used by the St801*, a wide open metering big cousin to the ST701. This extra tab can limit the Fujica’s lenses being used on other manufacturers thread mounts. Some people have modified the lenses by filing off the tab—but then they can’t be used for wide open metering with the ST801.
    

    The top shutter speed you can use with electronic flash is 60 sec. The top shutter speed is 1000 sec. 
    The lens is a little longer in focal length at 55 mm than the usual 50 mm lens. It has six elements in four groups. Fuji lenses used multi-coating (as many as 11 coatings on a single lens surface) that was pretty well state-of-the-art.
    

    There were three versions of the ST701. The one shown is the third and last. Fujica stopped using the universal thread mount in 1979, changing to their own bayonet mount. In 1987 Fujica left the film camera market.

The camera weighed 780 g (1.7 lb.) with lens and battery. The body alone weighed 585 g (1.3 lb.)

*    The ST801 was the first camera to use five LED’s instead of a meter needle.