Fuji Pet 35

The Fujipet was a bit of a sensation back in the day, when it was introduced in the late 50s. Maybe not the 135 version which I have, because it's significantly less cool without the cyclops of a viewfinder above the lens that the original 6x6 version had. It wasn't a sensation with me, however, even though it's weird enough for my usual tastes. I only put one roll of film through it and was not itching to repeat this.

Sometimes it's not about the camera, tho (yes, really).

I was browsing my old scanning folder and came upon this particular roll with not exactly stellar results of rather blurry and very grainy photos, and among them, a picture of my dearly missed Granny, sitting there since 2014, untouched because I must have deemed the photos too poor to give attention to. 

I swear I didn't cry a single tear as I edited the photos, not even one, I swear it.

It's hard to tell if the performance was bad on the part of the camera or the operator. Regardless, I'm glad I bought the Pet 35 and that I took it with me on one of our last longer outings together with Granny, on a pretty spring day, in the most beautiful park in Warsaw which she liked so much. Thanks to all of this, I have this photo, one of the last ones I took of her, smiling at me the way only she could, on film. I may be cliche but it hit me, while writing this, that I do regret not spending more time with her.

A couple of other pictures from our walk in the park followed (together with an interesting accidental double exposure), and then a couple of street-like snapshots from a food market that are clearly not in line with this camera's purpose. I think the Pet 35 delivers what it's supposed to deliver: extremly easy control over very casual photo taking which results in a family-time kind of vibe thanks to the rather soft lens. Fun, nostalgic and emotional. Mind you, no top quality camera can produce images like these --this is the territory of toy cameras, box cameras, very simple amateur cameras that are quite imperfect but also perfectly fine for making memories. So, in fact, the Fuji Pet 35 has its own niche and it's an important one. I might actually use it again some day.

Fujipet range on camera wiki