After 5 rolls through the Fujifilm Tiara II, I've gone from wanting to sell it to carrying it almost every day. Let’s talk about it.

TL;DR: The Fujifilm Tiara II - My easiest to recommend every day carry camera. If you embrace its 28mm lens and occasional quirks, it delivers consistently sharp, well-exposed photos even with budget film stocks like Ultramax, ProImage, and Kentmere.

Nikon F3, Harman Phoenix II, Brooktree Film Lab

For context, I mainly used BUDGET rolls, meaning Kentmere, Ultramax, ProImage, etc. This camera shines when you’re less precious and just shoot… budget film lends itself to that, IMO.

Recently, I’ve moved to South Korea and life has gotten busy but in that chaos I’ve found myself leaning towards the Fujifilm Tiara II as a pocket companion.

Let’s do a quick rundown after 5+ rolls with this potentially hidden gem and discuss is the Fujifilm Tiara II worth buying and is it for you?

With that intro out of the way, here are some basic specs of this camera.

Quick Specs

Name: FujiFilm Tiara II / DL Super Mini
Type: Point And Shoot 35mm Fixed Lens Camera
Lens: 28mm f3.5 with 0.35m - infinity focus range
Autofocus: Yes (Landscape mode, Snap 1-3m Mode, manual)
Flash: Yes, always on by default. NO MEMORY TO STORE SETTINGS.
Year Released: 1994 (Based on sources online…)
Typical Used Price: ~$300 in mid-2026
Misc: The original Tiara is the same camera except the strap is attached via the tripod point rather than to the side.

Initial Impressions:

When I first got this camera it was when I was trying to get better about carrying a camera on me. I wanted something compact with sharp optics and ideally auto-focus.

I, and I’m guessing you, want something pocket-able, that can be quickly pulled out when something compelling appears and that can be put away just as quickly.

Of course, I had seen the Ricoh GR Line, the Contax T2, and Nikon 35Ti but those cameras were, quite frankly, too expensive. It’s not that they’re not worth it but when you consider that these cameras all have auto-focus and thus have electronics that can fail at any point… well, I wasn’t willing to take that risk with something so expensive.

Through recommendation from a local film lab, I settled on the Tiara II after catching it at a decent price.

The first thing I ran into is that loading this camera wasn’t… easy? It’s supposed to have an “easy load system” but if you don’t have exactly the right amount of the film lead unwound, it wouldn’t pick up.

IF YOUR FUJIFILM TIARA II IS NOT LOADING FILM TRY THIS: For my copy, I need to have 5-5.5 sprocket holes visible on the top half of the film lead. Sometimes it takes 2-3 or three attempts but eventually the camera picks it up. I don’t know how common this is and I haven’t seen others talk about it but the vendor of my copy helped walk me through it. Embarrassing but eventually we got the show on the road.

Sharpness Example

Sharpness Ex. Zoomed In

When I first started shooting with this camera I actually… hated it. I don’t like wide-angle lenses. They feel too much like phone pictures, they capture too much clutter and I don’t like getting up in people’s business to photograph a scene or moment. I was really struggling as I was trying to use this camera more like my traditional interchangeable lens cameras with 45-50mm lenses. I wanted to do detail shots. I wanted to take portraits with my usual style. When I got my first roll back, I immediately put the camera on the shelf. I thought, “This camera isn’t for me. I should have bought a Contax T2 or Nikon.”

Impressions After 5 Rolls:

As life has carried on here in Seoul, things have gotten busier, the weather has gotten hotter and my honeymoon phase of living here has ended. I no longer wish to pack my bag full of gear and make every day a “photo day.” I stopped wanting to carry around SLR’s or rangefinders. I just wanted to get through my day and relax after work and the camera that ended up lending itself best to that was my Tiara II. Being so small it could slip in the pockets of my pants, jacket, any of my bags, it replaced my bulkier cameras. Looking so amateur that people didn’t care when they see it, I was taking photos I never would have taken before.

The Tiara II became something that allowed me to take shots I wouldn’t have been able to take before. Either because of its size, the impression it would give others or the auto-focus allowing me to capture moments before they’d be over, I was snapping shots that only the Tiara could have taken.

More than that, as I carried it with me, I started snapping more context-rich scenes. I started to just “take the shot” rather than “composing the shot” and I was less precious with each shot. By just treating it as the point and shoot it is and less of a replacement for my more involved gear, I was leaning into the Tiara’s strengths and being rewarded for it.

FujiFilm Color 200, Yeonnam Film Lab | This roll and the next both ended up having a scratch that went through the whole roll… Cleaning the interior seemed to solve that issue. First time seeing this though. :-/

Did I grow to love the 28mm field of view? No. Lol. But by working with it, using it how it was intended to be used and not dismissing it, I was getting photos I’m now proud of. This camera doesn’t need to replace my other cameras. This camera just needs to be there for me when my other cameras aren’t and I need to appreciate it for what it is. A tool to capture and romanticize the every day. Not every photo needs to be approached as a work of art and that’s okay.

Kodak Ultramax 400, Yeonnam Film | I left the verticals as-is because I like the feeling of the world tilting over. :-) What do you think?

With this changed mindset, I’ve loved bringing this camera with me more. It’s inspired me more. I’m looking for shots only this camera can do. Sure, sometimes I’m annoyed with the time it takes to turn on because I’ll miss a shot. Sure, I don’t really get the frame lines in the viewfinder. And sure, sometimes I forget to turn off the flash and embarrass myself or end up with a shot that isn’t what I intended. But that’s okay. These were just small moments I wanted to capture and these moments that didn’t result in a photo are also moments in themselves.

What I Love

Size - Probably the smallest Point And Shoot 35mm Film Camera you can buy
Autofocus - When you work with how 90’s auto-focus behaves, the hit rate on this camera is high and also very fast. Although, the way 28mm f3.5 lenses focus helps as well. The depth of field is deeper so it’s harder to miss focus.
Metering - While the camera loves to shoot the flash for some reason, metering is consistent and I don’t think the exposure has been off in the 150+ photos I’ve taken
Price - As the price of film cameras continues to surge (point and shoots increasing the most), this camera maintains a great value proposition where you don’t need to be afraid of using it since it didn’t cost anywhere near as much as its rivals.
Battery Life - In almost a year of owning the camera, I have yet to replace the battery. Lately, I’ve been leaving the camera on so that I don’t need to deal with the delay of turning it on. I think that’s starting to drain the battery a bit more but that’s a price I’m willing to pay to get more shots I would have otherwise missed.

What I Don't Love

The Lens - Don’t get me wrong. It’s sharp. It delivers great photos. It taught me to accept wider lenses. I just wish it was brighter or slightly tighter. At 28mm f3.5, background separation is limited.
No Exposure Comp - When shooting Black and W or more complex scenes, I often want to over or underexpose. You just can’t do that mid-roll. Either you modify your film cartridge in advance or shoot at box speed.
The Flash - The flash itself is fine. What’s not fine is that the flash ALWAYS is on when you activate the camera. If there has to be a default due to no memory, I would have preferred off. That slight delay of having to turn off the flash can cause you to miss more shots than you’d like.
Start Up Time - It just… takes a while. Long enough that you’ll miss shots because of it and be frustrated you didn’t just leave the camera on, even if it means draining the battery.
The Date Time Stamp - Now that 2025 has come and gone, you can no longer use this feature. The camera does not support beyond 2025, all you can do now is pretend you live sometime in the good old days of between 1994 - 2025.
The Mode… Mode - Using the Tiara’s mode buttons sets specific focus distances and toggles flash on or off. Handy for quick shots where you know the focus distance. But after each shot the camera resets to regular mode, which is frustrating as it keeps reverting between shots.

Sample Gallery:

Minimal Edits. Range from: crops and fixing verticals minor black level adjustments

Cinestill 800T was expired, Light Leak is user error. I tried to include a range of different lighting scenarios.

Final Thoughts:

The Tiara II isn't a replacement for my serious cameras. It's the camera that gets carried when serious cameras stay home. Sure, the lens is sharp. The auto-focus has been great. The size is everything I could ask for.

But what matters most to me has been that this camera accomplished what it needs to: It’s there for me. When I want to snap a moment, it does it with no fuss.

How can I not have a great impression of a camera like that?

For anyone who needs or wants a small affordable film point and shoot camera that can always be there for you, this camera could be the one.

If you're chasing bokeh, manual controls, or a camera that doubles as a clout club status symbol, this probably isn't the one. Maybe one day the Tiara II will join the same collector circles as the Contax T2 or the Ricoh GR series. Who knows?

But if your goal is simply to have a camera that's always there when life happens, I think the Tiara II succeeds remarkably well. While five rolls wasn't enough to make me love the Tiara II,itt was enough to make me keep carrying it.

One last note that I think is my fault but I’m not sure: Two of my rolls developed a scratch that go through the majority of the rolls and then after wiping down the inside of the camera, it went away. Never had this before and it’s been okay since I cleaned the camera… just an odd thing to have out of no where.