Fuji 6x9 Rangefinder

A street portrait

A
A street portrait

  • 0
  • 0
  • 37
A street portrait

A
A street portrait

  • 0
  • 0
  • 40
img746.jpg

img746.jpg

  • 3
  • 0
  • 43
No Hall

No Hall

  • 1
  • 2
  • 49
Brentwood Kebab!

A
Brentwood Kebab!

  • 1
  • 1
  • 112

Recent Classifieds

Forum statistics

Threads
198,788
Messages
2,780,845
Members
99,704
Latest member
Harry f3
Recent bookmarks
0
Joined
Jan 16, 2010
Messages
1,685
Location
Atlanta, GA
Format
Medium Format
How is the reliability and functionality of the Fuji 6x9 Rangefinder? Does anyone still work on these cameras, or does Fuji still support them? Also, what is the 35mm equivalent for the 90mm and 65mm standard lenses?

KEH has them around $500 in BGN condition and I'm thinking of grabbing one.
 
Joined
Mar 18, 2005
Messages
4,942
Location
Monroe, WA, USA
Format
Multi Format
...what is the 35mm equivalent for the 90mm and 65mm standard lenses?


For a 90mm lens on a 6x9 format camera the equivalent 135 format focal length lens is 38.6mm:

upload_2016-3-13_13-24-18.png



And for a 65mm lens on a 6x9 format camera the equivalent 135 format focal length lens is 27.9mm:

upload_2016-3-13_13-27-15.png


Ken
 
Last edited:

papagene

Membership Council
Council
Joined
Jun 11, 2004
Messages
5,436
Location
Tucson, AZ
Format
Multi Format
I have the GSW690 III (along with the GW670 II) and the reliability is quite good. These are fairly rugged cameras with excellent lenses and are fun to use. I would heartily recommend one of these Fujis.
 

mgb74

Subscriber
Joined
Jan 24, 2005
Messages
4,774
Location
MN and MA US
Format
Multi Format
I was just looking at a friends yesterday. As the term "Texas Leica" implies, it's a lot bigger in person. I've been reading a lot of negative comments about the more recent Fuji MF rangefinders with electronics, but not these all mechanical beasts. They seem to sell a lot cheaper on ebay, even from respected sellers, but of course no warranty. There's a counter on the bottom that counts number of rolls. But I've read it a) rolls back to 0 when it reaches 1,000 and b) it can be altered. So not sure that really helps in terms of measuring wear.
 

CropDusterMan

Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2014
Messages
711
Location
Southern Cal
Format
35mm RF
I have had several and am now down to one...mine has the 90mm. They are incredible cameras, and produce absolutely
incredible color, contrast and sharpness. They are solid and very well built. If you are interested, Jeff at Fotocare in New York has
3 for sale used, one of them is converted to a polaroid back...they belonged to Martin Schoeller and he swore by them...
we used them for double page spreads and for shooting 665.
 

Roger Cole

Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2011
Messages
6,069
Location
Atlanta GA
Format
Multi Format
From everything I've heard about their reliability, they're quite good cameras. Don't have a specific recommendation for repair people. The 90mm would be the equivalent of a 45-50mm on 35mm film. The 65 would be then more like a 28-30mm.

IOW they have a choice of slightly too wide and slightly too long. :wink:

I'd want something equivalent to about a 35mm if I could only have one.

EDIT: Should have kept reading for Ken's comment. The 90 would be close enough I think.

But I'm still more interested in going to either RB67 or RZ for my next camera.
 
Joined
Mar 18, 2005
Messages
4,942
Location
Monroe, WA, USA
Format
Multi Format
I'd want something equivalent to about a 35mm if I could only have one.

So then, working in the other direction, a 35mm lens in 135 format would scale up to an 81.7mm lens in 6x9 format:

upload_2016-3-13_22-45-6.png


Ken
 
Last edited:

CropDusterMan

Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2014
Messages
711
Location
Southern Cal
Format
35mm RF
I carry my 6x9 Fuji regularly (has 90mm) and then usually have my Leica and a 40mm around my
neck, and they are VERY close in their field of view...I shoot a lot of street work with the Leica, and
when something exceptional presents itself, I hit it with the 6x9...it's a great combo. It's when you
get into the darkroom and start printing that you realize the benefit of the Fuji. It's basically as fas to
focus and operate as the Leica, just limited to 8 shots, and the aperture is a little slower.
 
Last edited:

jeffreythree

Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2015
Messages
309
Location
DFW, Texas
Format
Multi Format
They made them for a long time, and there is not much that can go wrong in them. I have an old, ugly GL690 that just keeps plugging along giving me great results after its long hard life somewhere in Japan. I looked at several versions before deciding on a GL from Japan because it was cheap and came with the metered 100mm AE lens.
 

Chrismat

Subscriber
Joined
May 28, 2011
Messages
1,284
Location
Brewer, Maine
Format
Multi Format
I think Fuji USA does service them:
http://www.fujifilmusa.com/support/ServiceSupportRepairContent.do?dbid=674543

I bought my Fuji GW690 recently from an Ebay seller in Japan, so far so good. I have a roll of 220 C41 (going to miss 220) in it at the moment, but I have a shot a roll of black and white and a roll of color though it and so far I'm very satisfied. I did a comparison between the Fuji and my Kodak Medalist I, and the sharpness of the Fuji is impressive, but the Medalist held its own. The Fuji adds a little more contrast, but I'm going to have to a more precise comparison between the two. In terms of ease of operation, the Fuji wins hands down. The Medalist is more persnickety, but I still like using it.
 
Last edited:

Prest_400

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
1,434
Location
Sweden
Format
Med. Format RF
There's a counter on the bottom that counts number of rolls. But I've read it a) rolls back to 0 when it reaches 1,000 and b) it can be altered. So not sure that really helps in terms of measuring wear.
The counter is quite funny. On most other cameras no one talks about wearing or such in similar terms, and this thing just makes it aware for the model. It's quite simple mechanically and being 6x9 I doubt that many cameras have been battered as much as some 35mm's.

I got a GW690III from Japan and the thing is great. Older models are just about the same and can be found quite cheaply, incredible bang for the buck and quite a good camera.
 

narsuitus

Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2004
Messages
1,813
Location
USA
Format
Multi Format
How is the reliability and functionality of the Fuji 6x9 Rangefinder? Does anyone still work on these cameras, or does Fuji still support them?

When Fuji announced they were going to stop making and supporting the 6x9 and 6x7 medium format rangefinders I owned, I put the following two repair sites in my files. These two sites were known to do a good job repairing Fuji rangefinders.

Frank Marshman
Camera Wiz Camera Repair
169 Pleasant Hill Road
Harrisonburg, VA 22801-5775
(540) 434-8133

Precision Camera Works
(847) 470-3350
Dead Link Removed

Thank goodness, I have never needed to use their services because my "Texas Leicas" have been very reliable. Therefore, I do not know if these two repair sites are still in operation.


Fuji Medium Format Rangefinders
by Narsuitus, on Flickr
 
OP
OP
ParkerSmithPhoto
Joined
Jan 16, 2010
Messages
1,685
Location
Atlanta, GA
Format
Medium Format
When Fuji announced they were going to stop making and supporting the 6x9 and 6x7 medium format rangefinders I owned, I put the following two repair sites in my files. These two sites were known to do a good job repairing Fuji rangefinders.

Trying to decide between 6x7 and 6x9, now that I see them next to each other I can understand why you HAVE TO HAVE BOTH.

Dang, those are some sexy cameras.
 

amellice

Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2012
Messages
424
Location
Snohomish, WA
Format
Medium Format

tim elder

Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2005
Messages
147
Location
New York, NY
Format
Multi Format
Nippon Photo Clinic in New York will service this camera. They took a look at mine when I had a problem with the film not winding tight enough around the takeup spool, causing light leaks on the edge of the film. This only happened once and seems to have been an one time occurrence.

Tim
 

RalphLambrecht

Subscriber
Joined
Sep 19, 2003
Messages
14,649
Location
K,Germany
Format
Medium Format
How is the reliability and functionality of the Fuji 6x9 Rangefinder? Does anyone still work on these cameras, or does Fuji still support them? Also, what is the 35mm equivalent for the 90mm and 65mm standard lenses?

KEH has them around $500 in BGN condition and I'm thinking of grabbing one.
I WOULD GUESS THAT THE 35-MM EQUIVILENT FOCAL LENGTHS ARE 55 AND 35 mm but I can't recommend these cameras.I had one and really wanted it to work out because of having a portable MF camera;the built qualoty is letting them down;too much squeeky plastic and I had light leaks in the back.I ended up with a MAMIYA6 and am a lot happier with that.
 
Joined
Mar 18, 2005
Messages
4,942
Location
Monroe, WA, USA
Format
Multi Format
Ken that's cool tool you got there, what's that? and what's the GATE?

The GATE column indicates whether the film gate dimension used in the calculation for that line is a Nominal value (60x60mm for a 6x6 format), or the true Actual value (56x56mm for 6x6). That tiny difference can make a substantial difference in the results.

Another example might be 4x5 sheet film, which is not actually 4-inches by 5-inches in size to begin with, and is even less once the actual image area is masked off by the film holder.

The tool itself is a personal creation by and for myself. It's been around since 2009 and was originally designed to create flash-to-subject distance tables that could be printed and stuck on my various cameras. Back then I had an old no-name electronic flash that had lost its calculator dial and I needed a replacement table. Later when I began using flashbulbs on a Graflex, it was perfect for those as well.

Since that time the tool has turned into sort of a Swiss Army knife of strange features, each of which I needed at some point in time and could not find another source for answers, and so got tossed into the eclectic mix.

Here's the main help screen for a better idea of what it (currently) does. It's an old-school Windows command line utility because it was originally intended just for me to get quick answers to my own questions. Although as such it does seem like a philosophically complementary fit for old-school analog photography in general...


upload_2016-3-17_10-58-49.png


The earlier use in this thread for converting 6x9 focal lengths to equivalent 135 focal lengths was achieved by invoking the /efl option shown above, together with the /h option for data highlighting.

I had an earlier downloadable version of this utility in the Articles section of the old APUG, just for anyone who might like to play around with it. I think a small handful of members here might have looked at it. But there was quite a bit more interest from outside of APUG, since the articles themselves showed up in Google searches.

The above screen shows a much newer version than that older one. I was going to wait for Sean to get around to reworking the new Resources section (the Articles replacement forum), then upload this newer version there.

Ken
 
Joined
Jul 13, 2006
Messages
266
Location
Europe
Format
Multi Format
I have the GW 690 III and the GSW 690 III for a long time now. No, they are not made of plastic, the soft plastic is just the cover of the metal body. Fuji never changed the material of the body.

Pros: No batteries, huge real estate, working at -40° C as well as at +50° C and high humidity. Extremely sharp lenses, perfect color rendition, high resolution, stable, reliable, splash proof, rugged, can be use with gloves, great on a tripod, etc.
Cons: None

Even compared to a full frame DSLR they are not too big for this format.

DSCN1308_blog.jpg
 

Roger Cole

Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2011
Messages
6,069
Location
Atlanta GA
Format
Multi Format
The GATE column indicates whether the film gate dimension used in the calculation for that line is a Nominal value (60x60mm for a 6x6 format), or the true Actual value (56x56mm for 6x6). That tiny difference can make a substantial difference in the results.

Another example might be 4x5 sheet film, which is not actually 4-inches by 5-inches in size to begin with, and is even less once the actual image area is masked off by the film holder.

The tool itself is a personal creation by and for myself. It's been around since 2009 and was originally designed to create flash-to-subject distance tables that could be printed and stuck on my various cameras. Back then I had an old no-name electronic flash that had lost its calculator dial and I needed a replacement table. Later when I began using flashbulbs on a Graflex, it was perfect for those as well.

Since that time the tool has turned into sort of a Swiss Army knife of strange features, each of which I needed at some point in time and could not find another source for answers, and so got tossed into the eclectic mix.

Here's the main help screen for a better idea of what it (currently) does. It's an old-school Windows command line utility because it was originally intended just for me to get quick answers to my own questions. Although as such it does seem like a philosophically complementary fit for old-school analog photography in general...

[large image snipped]

The earlier use in this thread for converting 6x9 focal lengths to equivalent 135 focal lengths was achieved by invoking the /efl option shown above, together with the /h option for data highlighting.

I had an earlier downloadable version of this utility in the Articles section of the old APUG, just for anyone who might like to play around with it. I think a small handful of members here might have looked at it. But there was quite a bit more interest from outside of APUG, since the articles themselves showed up in Google searches.

The above screen shows a much newer version than that older one. I was going to wait for Sean to get around to reworking the new Resources section (the Articles replacement forum), then upload this newer version there.

Ken

That's a really cool tool Ken. I probably would have downloaded the old one had I known about it. I guess I need to explore the rest of APUG other than just the forums some! Can you let us know when you have the new one has been uploaded and is available?
 
Photrio.com contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.
To read our full affiliate disclosure statement please click Here.

PHOTRIO PARTNERS EQUALLY FUNDING OUR COMMUNITY:



Ilford ADOX Freestyle Photographic Stearman Press Weldon Color Lab Blue Moon Camera & Machine
Top Bottom