Fujifilm GX680IIIs As A System

I still have a Fujifilm GX680IIIs with one lens. One back but I also have a 220 insert. And the rare split image focusing screen. I've considered selling but might invest more in it as a system and shoot city and land scapes. I've shot it a few times love the images ( 125mm f/5.6 lens ). Size isn't why I was thinking of selling. I'm downsizing and it's one of my least used cameras.

Anyone else use their GX680 often and if so, what are some of your lenses you like to use?

The F3.2 triad is what I have adapted to my focal plane Plaubel Makiflexes. All the GX680 lenses are cutting edge 90s glass. I like and have them all except for the 50, the softie one, and the 500mm. The triad F3.2 is the really hot glass.

Shanghai 220 I am finding is perfectly good film in D23

I have the III with several f/5.6 lenses between 65mm ~ 180mm, and the 100mm f/4. On and off, I've looked at upgrading to the f/3.2, but...
- like you, I don't use the system that often
- I tend to use it when I need tilt/shift, so I'm usually stopped down
- the f/5.6 lenses are also really good

wjlapier said:

Anyone else use their GX680 often and if so, what are some of your lenses you like to use?

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I LOVE my 680iii and have used the crap out of it in the past.

My favorite lens is the 50mm for landscape. It is just... lush I think is the word from the guy I got it from.


And, literally, the first pic I took with it:


It's great up close, with lovely bokeh when wide open. Big, though. The lens cap is that giant ash tray you see the Z6 sitting in in the picture above.

The 100mm is good and a standard. It is also f/4 where my others are f/5.6, so it's the cheapest way to buy a stop.

I tend to use the 80mm more than the 100, or longer lenses. Mostly, my favorite long lens is the 180, which makes a great portrait lens for head shots. But liteally NONE of the lenses I have tried aren't winners, and I bought a full system with a 50, 80, 100, 180, 210. I also later got a 135, which is no different than your 125.

The only reason I'm not using it so much now is that I'm doing more street and walkin' around photography than landscape, but for landscape that doesn't take a hike, that 50mm is nearly unbeatable. Same for still lifes, except I use the 80 for those in normal poses or the 135 when I'm trying to get near-macro and have lights.

I'd never have this many lenses, but the guy I bought my first GX680 from had them all and gave me an impossibly good deal.

I like super wides and I think I would like the 50mm lens but it's pretty expensive now. I was thinking about the 80mm and 180mm to start--haha... I'm supposed to be downsizing and getting rid of cameras I don't use that much.

Both the 80 and 180 have served me well. They're not special like that 50 is, but they are my main workhorses.

Like I said, the 100 is f/4. But I never really use f/4 and the 80 compliments the 50 well. It's slightly wider than a standard 50mm lens on my 35mm SLRs but still very much a normal lens, which works perfectly since the frame is slightly less wide than 35mm cameras.

Just for reference, my walkin' around lenses when I'm carrying a Nikon are 50mm for normal and either an 85mm or a 105mm for portraits. The 180 feels like that 105 to me, so I guess I'm just most comfortable with those fields of view. But regardless, the 180 really is a bitchen portrait lens.

I like to do studio work with mine. The 125/3.2 and 180/3.2 are the lenses I use the most. The sharpness I get at F/4 is really something special. Every once in a while I contemplate to get the 65mm but I never go after it. For some reason or the other the 65mm still fetches a premium price.

The sharpest photos I have ever seen using 120 film were shot with a GX680 and a 100mm f/4 lens. Sometimes I regret I didn't buy one when they were cheap...

I never had a chance to use one but I’d think it would be great for landscape. I shoot both 6x6 and 6x9 landscape and, depending upon how one prints, the 6x9 is in another class. I suspect the film gate in my Horseman 6x9 in similar to the Fuji 6x8, in actual size.

It's heavy, but my GX680 II takes some very nice pictures. For lenses, I've got the 80, the 135 and the 210-- all f/5.6, all breathtakingly sharp, and since I always use a tripod (it's not really a handheld camera), I don't miss the extra stops that much.

Just noticed you have the "s" model. I admit, if mine didn't have movements, I'd strongly consider other cameras. The Bronica GS-1 or an RB67 would be strong contenders.

I had the RB67 and the GX680IIIs at the same time. The RB67 was tiny compared to the Fuji. I think I'll probably sell. Someone should use it. Too nice to be sitting on a shelf.

Thanks for the comments.