Photo Essays

I Sold Every Film Point and Shoot Camera I Have, But Kept This One

Chris Gampat
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09/28/2020
3 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Fujifilm Natura S review sample images (18 of 67)ISO 1001-30 sec at f - 2.8

If you’re looking for a solid film point and shoot camera, you should look no further than the Fujifilm Natura S.

I don’t think it’s possible for Fujifilm to have created a better camera. The Fujifilm Natura S embodies everything with keeping photography fun. And to keep it extra fun, you should get the pink version. As the perfect party camera, there is a lot to love about it. And even if Fujifilm created a digital version of this camera, I still don’t believe it would be anywhere as fun as the Fujifilm Natura S. But if Fujifilm were to bring back any film camera from the dead, the Fujifilm Natura S would be the best one, even over all their more serious cameras. Why? Well, why the hell not?

Let me tell you why I adore this camera so much. In a nutshell, it’s because you can’t take it seriously. It’s pretty affordable. And the less serious you take it, the better the photos are. You just have to put your trust in it. You’re not going to sit there fiddling with the shutter speeds or apertures, or even choosing a focus point. Instead, you’re just going to point and shoot. The images are going to be sharp thanks to its 24mm f1.9 lens. It’s not going to take up too much room in your bag or jacket, and it’s going to always get the metering right. That will mean that sometimes it will use a flash. And so what? When it uses the flash, it’s illuminating your subject perfectly fine.

I think that was a the cause of lot of my own frustration with film cameras, especially point and shoots. They have such an emphasis on putting the technical parameters in the way of you actually taking a picture. But the Fujifilm Natura S doesn’t do that. It removes the obstacles so you can just capture or create a scene. Will it be the scene you want? Maybe. But either way, it will give you a nice photo that you’ll enjoy later on. I’ve had the most keeper shots from rolls that have gone through the Fujifilm Natura S. And these point and shoots are great overall. Why hate on them? Because they’re not serious? But, aren’t I being the serious one taking the serious photo with this not serious tool?

I’d like to specifically talk about the Fujifilm Natura S over my other favorite film point and shoot: the Hexar AF. That camera is also great, but it got complicated and put things in the way of actually taking a solid picture. You can put it in program mode and then just fire and shoot: that’s for sure. But it needed a flash really badly. I’m not talking about a hot shoe flash, but one on the camera body. If that were a thing, it would be a pretty perfect camera overall, but it’s still big. It’s designed to be stealthy, for a photographer who doesn’t want to be seen. I guess you could say it’s more introverted. But the Fujifilm Natura S is more of the life of the party. It’s a fun camera that wants to interact with you. It takes the complications away. It begs you to go around and start conversations. And when you interact with your subjects and get everyone having fun, you can’t go wrong. It’s about a feeling. And most cameras don’t give you that.

camera color film point and shoot fujifilm Fujifilm Natura S point and shoot
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.