Fujifilm Endeavour 3500ix Zoom MRC Compact Camera

Flushed with the success of my non-technical opinion about our new digital camera, I thought that I would update this old one about my own Fuji APS camera. Trust me the original 92-word opinion was dire!

I bought the camera in September 1999 for £129 from my local branch of Dixons. I was persuaded to also have four years extra warranty for a further £65 – yes, I know – how gullible can you get? Part of the reason for buying, apart from the fact that it was recommended to me, was that Dixon’s were giving away a year’s worth of free films with their cameras at the time.

Anyway let me tell a bit about the camera. As with my recent opinion about our new digital camera I don’t intend to get too technical as it would just mean me copying the specifications form the users manual anyway. I’ll tell you how I get on with using the camera and how I feel about it.

The camera itself is quite small being about 4 inches wide by 2 inches high by 1 inch deep, so it is easy to carry about with me. I can even put it in my handbag at a push.

It is an APS camera, which means that it takes three different sizes of prints, the standard 6 inches by 4 inches, a larger 7 inches by 4 inches and a panoramic 10 inches by 4 inches. This gives you the choice of size of print according to the subject of the photograph. I have taken some lovely panoramic views in Cornwall and Scotland for example.

Being an APS (Advanced Photo System) camera loading and removing the film is simplicity itself. You just flick a switch on the camera to open the film housing and drop in the film. The rest is automatic so you can’t go wrong, which is the way I like it! You can even remove the film mid way through the roll and reload it again when you’re ready to continue using it.

The camera has a built in flash with red eye reduction. This means that there is a flash of light to get the subjects eyes used to the light just before the flash itself actually activates as the photograph is taken.

There is also a zoom lens, which is operated by a slide switch on the back of the camera giving an infinite variation on the amount of zoom used – if you see what I mean. I did warn you this wasn’t going to be technical didn’t I?

The camera has a multi function card which protects the lens when it is not in use, but to use the camera you must first slide this card off the front and onto the back, which can be quite fiddly.

You can then use the multi function card to set the date to be printed on the back of your photographs, set titles, set the print timer and numerous other technical things which I have never even tried!

To be honest whilst the photographs taken with this camera have always been of the highest quality I find the fiddling about with the multi purpose card irritating and I have gone back to using my Minolta Vectis 30 as I find it easier to use. Come to think of it I must write an opinion about it!

All in all I am disappointed with the camera as it is not as easy to use as I first thought that it would be, but I am sure that it would be fine for all you gadget buffs out there. In fact I’m thinking of selling it if anyone’s interested…..