The fujicas lens has f=50mm on the front which means its a bog standard 50mm lens. Maximum aperture (area to let light into camera) is f/1.9.

On the lens itself you have 2 rings, front one is the nobbly ring and goes from 1 metre to infinity (like an 8 on its side). This controls the focusing. Point the camera at something, look through the viewfinder and turn this until it looks in focus.

The second moveable ring on the lens controls the actual aperature. Turning to increase the number will actually let less light in but give a larger depth of field.

On the top, right side winds the film back once you have taken all the photos on the roll. On the left you have the manual wind on leaver which moves the film to the next frame, the shutter button, which might have a lock around it, and the shutter speed.

In these cameras there is usually a built in light meter which will indicate with a pointer somewhere in the viewer and you adjust the speed and aperature controls till the pointer centres, then focus and take a picture.

Issue is if the battery is flat getting a new one. Full manual isnt necessarily an advantage, mostly you just want to point and shoot, which automatic settings provides.

All i will say is pay attention to the light meter on that dinosaur or your photos will be rubbish, and keep an eye on it, the slightest drop in light will mean you need to change something

at least its through the lens metering unlike the old zenith E i has... the horror.

Personally id pull the poloriser off the canon and use that to begin with, its more automatic so likely to make the whole experiance much more enjoyable. I run a canon eos 3 35mm film slr and although it has no popup flash its an awesome bit of kit.

500mm? must have some serious magnification on it then

If its f/19 500mm then you are almost inevitably going to have issues with light levels.

Actually Ive never seen such a poor f number in any lens

Im going to take a punt that theres a decimal point in the aperture number too, as Serious said Ive never seen an f/19 lens and come to think of it, you wouldnt be able to see through a lens that slow unless it was really really bright. Most lenses of that era have a MINIMUM aperture of f/16 or f/22.

a lot of film SLRs from that era have a focusing aid in the middle of the field of view. This is either a split prism, a microprism array or (if youre lucky) both. These work thusly:

When the image is in focus, the microprism array will appear totally transparent, a really good one should disapear entirely. A 30 year old one which was entry level at the time probably wont, but it will be as close as it gets.

The split prism is easier in good light, it will split the image in two, all you have to do is adjust the focus until the two images line up.

The metering is a match needle system, all you have to do is adjust the aperture and shutter speed until the needle is just above the middle.

full manual is easier than most people think. With the Canon youll fire off a lot of frames without learning much, and frankly for the amount youll spend on film you may as well buy a DSLR. The Fujica has a better lens on it (those cosina short zooms are nasty IIRC) and if you keep track of what youre doing with it youll learn more.

Looks like youve got a standard 50mm prime lens on the fujica - this is basically going to take pictures from a similar perspective as the eye sees them.

On the canon youve got a wide angle zoom - from 17 to 35mm.

Personally Id go around using the 50mm lens to start with - though Im fairly new to photography too. I absolutely love my 50mm on my canon DSLR - tis more like a small telephoto lens on that due to the smaller sensor but tis great for use in low light etc... Also if youre going to practice focusing - try your one at f1.9 - youll have a very shallow depth of field which will pretty much force you to focus properly or else it will be very noticeable.

Quote from: Serious

The fujicas lens has f=50mm on the front which means its a bog standard 50mm lens.

Yup - though Im not sure I like the term bog standard - not familiar with the fujica lens but the canon f1.8 50mm (available for <£100) can be as sharp as some of the expensive L series zoom lenses costing over a grand.

Comparing apples to donuts there tho, prime and zoom lenses are totally different so you cant compare the costs