I recently picked up 3 point and shoots through an online Goodwill listing. While only two were in working order, it still ended up being a good deal. The first I tried out is the Fujifilm Discovery 290 (Zoom (Date)). No stranger to creative naming, the 290 indicates its the second successor to the Discovery 90 Zoom, a camera capable of zooming to 90mm.

There's a lot to like about the Disco 290: film pre-winding, a decent zoom range (38 - 90mm), a close focusing distance, and best of all, its incredibly low price. Tested models are on ebay for around $20-30, so you're not out a lot of money if it decides to shit out after a couple of rolls.

Mine came with the rubber grip next to the DISCOVERY logo in an incredibly disgusting, sticky state, as is to be expected of 30 year old low-quality rubber. Fortunately, the rubber completely dissolved and wiped off with a small amount of alcohol, leaving a black plastic sheen in its place. Being a budget model, its body is all plastic, with a squishy rubber shutter button and zoom buttons. The point and shoot is turned on by a switch next to the lens, which will also automatically uncover and extend the lens to its 38mm position. I much prefer this design to the higher end models of the 90s that use the incredibly fallible sliding lens cover to power on, such as the Olympus Mju series.

Loading film is easy enough, using the Drop-in Loading system Fuji was obsessed with around this era. Just extend the film and slide it in from the bottom, and the motor will then pre-wind the roll and give you a countdown of remaining shots. Operation isn't exactly quiet, but apart from a noisier lens motor, it's about equivalent to my Mju-II 170 Zoom.

The real surprise with this camera is how well it holds up against my Mju. I fully expected to never use the Disco after a few rolls, but I've found its autofocus, viewfinder, and lens quality to slightly exceed the Mju. Of course, lower lens quality is to be expected on a 170mm point and shoot zoom, but the nice 90mm mid-range on the Disco provides a good balance of quality and versatility. They're about the same size as well, and a 120mm model (Discovery 312) is available for those who want a larger zoom range.

Before a pros and cons list, I'll shut up and show some sample pictures. These were shot on Lomo 800, which is absolutely not the film stock you should be judging a camera's quality with. I'm going to.

Trees and bridge
Daisies in light and shadow
Thistle

The Discovery 290 has a small trick up its sleeves that I find pretty useful: at maximum zoom, the minimum focusing distance is only .65m, as opposed to the .9m at the rest of the zoom range. 90mm at .65m isn't exactly macro, but it's pretty competent at up-close shots. You'll certainly start to notice healthy amounts of chromatic aberration at the edges zoomed all the way in, but the quality still isn't bad per se. The first of these examples is uncropped, and the second is cropped to about 1/4 of the frame:
Fuzzy friend
Ants

So, what do I like and hate about this camera? It's list time! Yippee!

Pros

  • Good zoom range (38-90mm)
  • Lightweight
  • Cheap
  • Close focusing distance
  • Good lens quality for price
  • Good autofocus and rangefinder
  • Off/on switch seems less prone to wear and tear over the Mju-type sliding cover
  • Standard CR123A battery
  • Film stock visible through cover
  • Hideous

Cons

  • Auto flash defaults to on every time you turn the camera on
  • Short auto-off period (see above point for why this sucks)
  • Just about useless in low light without flash (f/5 at minimum zoom, f/10.5(!!!) at max)
  • No manual ISO override
  • Reads up to 1600 ISO DX codes (I know this is a decent range, but I love my 3200 B&W stocks)
  • Date display doesn't go past 2020
  • Hideous

If you're looking for a cheap point and shoot to try out film with, the Disco is a pretty solid choice!

Specs were retrieved from the manual: https://www.cameramanuals.org/fuji_pdf/fujifilm_dl-290.pdf


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