The Fujica ST801 with a Pentacon auto 50mm f/1.8 is a 35mm film SLR on the M42 screw mount, tested in use rather than on a shelf. I shot a roll with this kit and developed it myself, so «everything works» here rests on a result, not on a shutter click in an empty camera.
What makes the ST801 stand out
It arrived in the early 1970s as one of the boldest cameras in the M42 system. Instead of a meter needle it has a row of seven LEDs: equally readable in bright sun and at dusk, with the centre LED marking correct exposure. A needle is simply invisible in the dark — that is the whole difference.
The second point is a top shutter speed of 1/2000s. Classic M42 bodies usually stopped at 1/1000. That extra stop buys two things: motion frozen where 1/1000 no longer holds it, and a wide-open aperture in bright daylight when you want the background gone.
The finder is large and bright at 0.96× magnification, with a split-image wedge and a microprism collar in the middle, so manual focusing comes easily even without practice. The selected speed is visible inside the frame — no need to look away.
Specifications
- 35mm film SLR, fully manual;
- shutter speeds 1s to 1/2000s plus B;
- TTL meter with seven LEDs in the finder;
- film speed ISO 25–3200;
- 0.96× finder, split-image wedge and microprism;
- mechanical self-timer and a hot shoe;
- M42 screw mount;
- meter runs on two LR44 cells.
The Pentacon auto 50mm f/1.8
The kit includes the standard Pentacon 50mm f/1.8 made in the GDR. Fifty millimetres is the most versatile focal length there is: a walk, a portrait, a trip, evening light. The f/1.8 aperture carries you when light runs short and separates the subject with a shallow zone of focus, and the glass draws with the recognisable character of classic optics.
Metering with this lens
With the Pentacon you meter stopped down: close the aperture with the preview button and bring the LED reading to the centre mark. The ST801 meters wide open only with its own Fujinon lenses carrying the aperture pin — that is how the system is built, not a fault.
Power
The meter runs on two LR44 cells — ordinary ones, sold anywhere. The mercury batteries these cameras were designed around are long gone from the shelves; this body does not need them, and the meter reads correctly on LR44. Verified.
Where you can go from here
M42 is a screw thread, not a bayonet, and that is its strength: more lenses and adapters were made for it than for any other mount of the era. Fujinon, Carl Zeiss Jena, Helios, Takumar, Pentacon itself — the camera works as the base of a system you extend one lens at a time.
Condition
- shutter fires at all speeds;
- meter works;
- film advance and rewind work;
- frame counter works;
- lens focusing is smooth;
- aperture operates normally;
- all controls are in order.
Cosmetically it is in good shape for its age: ordinary marks of careful use, all shown in the photographs without flattery.
What is in the box
- Fujica ST801 body;
- Pentacon auto 50mm f/1.8 lens.
Who it suits
Someone stepping into manual film photography who wants a camera that decides nothing for them. Someone who loves M42 glass and is building a set. And someone after a working tool already proven with film, not an object for a shelf.
Film for it is in the catalogue, and the exposed rolls can come to me for development and scanning.
