Having used the non-panoramic version of the Work Record, and being really impressed, why not get the one with the pano switch too! When I shot the other one it was in the city with black & white film, so to mix it up I went for Fujicolor C200 in the countryside this time.

It features a Fujinon 28mm f3.5 lens which is pretty good, nice rugged bumper bars to protect the lens, and is weather proof. The electronic shutter is really nice and quiet, and covers speeds of 1/5”-1/250th. Not ideal for low light shooting, but great for the everyday. The motor winding is also quiet making it an good option for street photography, and with the 28mm lens it covers a landscape too.

The blue button’s trump card over the basic orange button version is it’s panoramic mode - selectable by the switch on the top of the camera.

28mm is not my usual focal length to work with, but I found it to be really useful in getting a good chunk of the landscape in the frame without any wide angle distortion.

It has rendered the colours really nicely, which is very evident as I swapped the film mid roll into my Edixa Prismat who’s lens produced much more muted colour even though they were both shot at the same time of year on the same morning walks as the Fuji.

The weather sealing was certainly not needed for this roll, but there are only a handful of options when you do need it - my other option is the Olympus mju II which is a fantastic camera, but the Fuji is so much more sturdy. The mju does feel quite plasticky and you know it will break if you drop it! Also at some point the light seals will fail on the mju, whereas the Fuji uses the cool looking bumper bars to protect the lens rather than moving parts with light sealing.

The images are not the highest definition, but this is more than likely down to the C200 film, after all it is a consumer film rather than a pin sharp fine grain professional one, and I am sure even the expensive high end point & shoots would give the same results.

It is by no stretch of the imagination a beautiful camera, but it’s almost industrial look has an appeal (for me at least!), and it certainly is not your average boring compact.

As the title suggests, the Fuji Work Record is not perfect, although I am being a bit picky! If the camera was a bit smaller, and the flash off button was easier to reach I think it would be the perfect point & shoot. Some would argue that you need an f2.8 lens, and a slower bottom end shutter speed, but do you really? Surely if you are going to shoot in low light you would use an appropriate film rated at 800-3200 ISO.

On top of it’s great lens, toughness, weather sealing, quiet operation and looks - it is a mere tenth of the price of a premium compact that the influenced people lust after! There is no shortage of these cameras on the Japanese used market, although they are uncommon here in the UK.

I have shot with both versions of the Work Record, and both times it has left me very impressed. Maybe the next thing to do is shoot some high quality film and see how good it can be…

Almost perfect P&S…

828 film expired in 1963!