I bought a lot of 3 Fujifilm DS-330 cameras. I had been looking for these rare cameras for a while now. They interest me because of their size and performance. These cameras cost over $2k at the time (1998) [1] and were professional solutions for photographers, interfacing with EVFs, PCs through SCSI, printers and GPS units. The camera was the successor to the DS-300 which shared a CCD sensor with the Fujix DS-505/Nikon E2 DSLR [2].
The cameras came with the EU-D3a extension units which offer faster framerates and a better grip on the camera, but increase the size of the machines (I personally do not mind). Below are images from the eBay listing where I bought the cameras from. [3]
The seller on eBay expressed his concern about the lack of battery or charger for the cameras. I don't find this an issue, a quick cross reference indicates that the Fuji NP-510 battery might actually be a simple, common Sony NP-F550 battery. I have those batteries and the charger for the batteries. However, there is the chance that those batteries DO NOT WORK.
Ultimately, I will need to get the cameras in the mail to see if the battery fits.
I am pleased to announce that the NP-F550 battery works perfectly on the DS-330. I had two batteries and the charger for my Sony Mavica MVC-FD7, so I didn't need to buy any. Although I own three DS-330 cameras, I won't use more than one a time anyways.
The battery grip appears to have RAM inside of it, that allows a larger buffer for taking more images in succession. There are memory chips on both sides of the board and controllers.
I've never been one to trust the integrity of other websites, so I try to verify everything personally, I also have screenshots of websites in case they go down, and copies of documentation.
I have a screenshot of the page from Steves Digicams here, a copy of the DS-300 writeup from Nikonweb here and a camera-wiki.org writeup here. I also have the PDF of the Fujifilm brochure for the DS-330 here.
German writeup on the camera. Writeup from the same German camera reviewer on the DS-515, a DSLR with the same sensor. Writeup on the DS-330ID.I carefully took apart one of my DS-330 (after putting it back together, it worked perfectly) and examined the components inside. There is a CCD board which I may examine at a later time, every board is connected through either ZIF (zero insertion force) flex cables or mezzannine connectors, there are some wires on normal pinned connectors for what looks like power and basic data like hotshoe connections. Internally, the camera looks very well constructed and very old, the chips are large and harken to a different time, they look power hungry and slow, think 486.
Since the cameras did not come with manuals, nor were any manuals available online (!!!), so I had to figure out the controls myself. I also learned that the interal viewfinder projects framelines, but they are broken on 2/3 of my cameras. Turn the TOP dial to SETUP and use the rear control wheel to scroll through settings. Hold the SET button and scroll when you reach a setting you want to change. Move the TOP dial to P/A/S/M to take pictures, or the AUTO setting. There is an internal battery that must be replaced, or upon turning the camera on, it will beep three times. With the memory grip attached, make sure you attach the grip on firmly, or else the camera will return an ERROR. The grip should also be set to OFF rather than SCSI or CONT.
I did find a manual from a photo company, for their internal use, which helped me find out some settings I didn't know about.
DOLPHIN IMAGING MANUAL 1 DOLPHIN IMAGING MANUAL 2[1]"Steves Digicams - Fujix DS-330 User Review", Steves-digicams.com, 2017. [Online]. Available: http://www.steves-digicams.com/ds330.html. [Accessed: 23- Oct- 2017].
[2]"Fujifilm Fujix DS-300", Nikonweb.com, 2017. [Online]. Available: http://www.nikonweb.com/ds300/. [Accessed: 23- Oct- 2017].
[3]C. Photo, D. Cameras and D. 3, "Fujifilm DS-330 1.3MP Digital Camera Plus Bonus EU-D3A Extension unit lot of 3 10050332296166 | eBay", eBay, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fujifilm-DS-330-1-3MP-Digital-Camera-Plus-Bonus-EU-D3A-Extension-unit-lot-of-3/253187867220?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649. [Accessed: 23- Oct- 2017].
