135compact.com       35mm ultra compact cameras       Fujifilm DL Wide Date Mini

The Fujifilm DL 500 Wide Date Mini is said to be the predecessor to the DL Super Mini aka Cardia Mini Tiara. It is a wide angle (28mm) camera for 35mm film that can switch to 45mm focal length. It has been released in 1990 in Europe under this name. There are lots of names for the same body with slight technical variants, some including Panorama function. In Japan it was called Cardia Travel Mini Dual-P and in America Discovery mini dual.
Its main features are:

28mm F3.5 Fuji lens, 3 elements in 3 groups, and 45mm F 5.5, 5 elements in 5 groups, autofocus with focus lock, min. focus 0,45m
Electronic shutter, 1/2-1/250
Size 121x65x41,  Weight 210 gr. without battery
50-1600 ISO, automatic DX coding, self-timer, automatic film advance and prespooling, time/date stamp possibility, manual infinity focus


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Camera front. There are no blades, but there is an UV filter instead to protect the lens.

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Bottom. Tripod socket.


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Camera back. Next to the viewer green focus o.k. LED, LCD screen (date stamp off), date setting and date mode selector, film mid roll rewind, flash/backlight/self-timer setting and manual infinity setting. Camera sets auto flash as default. Flash guide number ~14 (m/ISO 100). On the right edge: battery cover. Takes a CR123 battery, but needs a second one (see below)

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Top: Power on/off, focal lenght switch and shutter release.

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Camera on. 
The lens only moves out a little to 28mm.

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Lens in 45mm position. The viewer switches as well.

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Back open. It only opens a little bit, just enough to drop in a film from the bottom. The film leader is safely engaged when you close the back.

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Back wide open. You have to unhinge a latch to do so. You should not do it very often. The flat cable that connects the back panel to the camera could break with age and wear and make the camera useless. This is a problem of all cameras with back panel or buttons from those days. The Fujis are not especially prone to this whereas the Leica mini(lux) series and some others seem to be more vulnerable.

Next to the hinge is the battery cover for the second battery, a CR 1025 cell. There is one screw to undo under the metal film leader. The camera does NOT work without this battery. If the second battery is low (dim screen or empty screen), the camera respools the film without warning. It even does so, when you put a new film into the film compartment. If you close the back in this case, the camera respools for 5 seconds and your film leader is missing. So be sure that the battery is fine. Quite some of theses cameras are sold for next to nothing as not working correctly, but it's only the battery that is empty.


This camera is easy to use. Autofocus is responsive and works well. Putting a film is easy as well, the back opens only a little bit, tear the film leader a bit further, drop the film and that's it. The camera prespools the whole film and then winds it back into the cartridge step by step. As with most point and shoot ultra compacts, auto flash is set at start.

It's a good point and shoot camera with a wide angle lens that can be switched to 45mm, good picture quality and a small pocketable body. I cannot confirm that the 45mm position (with 2 extra elements) is as bad, as other websites say. It is just what you would expect if you lose 2 stops. I would not say that pictures are unsharp at 45mm. There is a bit more grain in the scans, that's all. The camera used with 28mm setting is absolutely fine seen its price and you have the possibility to switch to 45mm if necessary.

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