Fujica 690

[Jarvman]

How do Fujica G90BL's compare to the GSW690III'S? I've given up on the idea of a 4x5. For what I enjoy shooting I'm going to stick with meduim format rangefinders. I've just bought a mamiya 7ii with 80mm lens that gives me the option of cropping back to 6x6 but I really want to shoot 6x9 too. It'd be better to have an interchangeable lens compact 6x9 rangefinder to keep the bulk down. Are they any good though?I might just buy the 65mm and leave it at that.

 

[karl]

Well, start by checking out:

www.dantestella.com/technical.html#mf
www.lallement.com/pictures/
www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Fujica_G690

The later cameras are essentially the same, without the interchangeable lenses.

I have a bunch of G690s. They can be a bit cranky sometimes. They're getting on to 35 years old at this point. Most likely new light seals will be in order and servicing the dark curtain. Still, they are great camers. Sometimes the lenses can be chore to find. I'm on the lookout for a 50mm myself and a clean GL690 body.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Karl

 

[Nick Zentena]

I made the same choice last spring. The BL would have been about the same price that I paid for a II. Considering the difference in age it was a hard choice. Then I started looking for lenses and figured out they aren't exactly the easiest to find. That turns the camera into a fixed lens so I went with the II. I know at some point I'll regret not having the wide lens but I've got enough other cameras to ignore the regret.

 

[ChuckP]

I like the idea of the old Fuji Rangefinders. But then I saw the prices on Ebay. Very costly for lenses. May as well pay Mamiya 7 prices. I doubt the old Fuji would noticeably perform better than a cropped Mamiya 7.

 

[papagene]

I have the GSW690 III and like using it very much. The lens is very sharp and the camera is very hand-holdable.
I like using the 6x9 format with a wide-angle lens as it fits how I envision things in a wider format. This camera compliments my GW670 II very nicely.

gene

 

[Bandicoot]

How do Fujica G90BL's compare to the GSW690III'S?

I can't comment on the comparison because I've never used one of the later Fujica fixed lens 6x9s. However, I have three 6x9 and one 6x7 of the old type, and they really are great cameras. I have the 65mm f8, 100mm, 100mmAE, and 180mm lenses (my 50mm was stolen ) and all are incredibly sharp and nicely contrasty. Only the 100AE is multi-coated, and it is a little more contrasty than the others, but with the lens hoods used the single coated lenses are more than sufficient in that department.

I've just bought a mamiya 7ii with 80mm lens that gives me the option of cropping back to 6x6 but I really want to shoot 6x9 too. It'd be better to have an interchangeable lens compact 6x9 rangefinder to keep the bulk down.

I wouldn't call these cameras compact in any sense of the word, though it is true that one body and two lenses is more compact than two fixed lens cameras - probably...

Do you know the original Billingham Photo Hadley bag? I put a body with the 100AE attached, and the 65 and 180 lenses with their hoods and viewfinders into the main compartment of one, with film and a meter going in the outer pockets. If I want to I can just about squeeze a second body into one of the outer pockets too. That makes a very nice location bag and it is heavy but certainly not unmanageable - less weight than I often carry with a bag of 35mm and fast glass, for example.

Slides from these, and from the Fujica 645 RFs as well, are some of those most likely draw comment on how razor sharp they are when I take them to my drum scanning guy and he peers at them though his microscope. (Don't know why he looks at them through a microscope, but he often does )


Peter

 

[Abbazz]

Slides from these, and from the Fujica 645 RFs as well, are some of those most likely draw comment on how razor sharp they are when I take them to my drum scanning guy and he peers at them though his microscope.

I second this. Fuji lenses have very good resolution paired with great microcontrast and they deliver an incredible impression of sharpness on slides. These slides have to be seen to be believed. Too bad 6x9 projectors are as rare as hen's teeth

Cheers,

Abbazz