Would you buy the new Fuji Range Finder?

[Andrey]

I have a zeiss 6*6 like that, which I got for free.

What will this offer me that the zeiss can't? I don't need the metering, since I spotmeter all of my RF shots. I don't need the speed, since it's off the tripod.

It's pure GAS

 

[Sanjay Sen]

I voted yes, but the decision to buy (or not) would depend on the price...

 

[Jeff Searust]

Wow

I must have it... I must have it NOW....

 

[copake_ham]

I have a zeiss 6*6 like that, which I got for free.

What will this offer me that the zeiss can't? I don't need the metering, since I spotmeter all of my RF shots. I don't need the speed, since it's off the tripod.

It's pure GAS

You have an alternative piece of gear - your Zeiss.

So yes - for you it's "pure GAS".

However, not all of us have what you have....

 

[Nick Zentena]

Is it light and small enough for a coat pocket?

I'd like 6x9 more but I've already got a Fuji 6x9 brick which is way too big for the pocket.

Basically I'm not sure what this provides over my current cameras but maybe-)

 

[Andy K]

Is it light and small enough for a coat pocket?

I'd like 6x9 more but I've already got a Fuji 6x9 brick which is way too big for the pocket.

Basically I'm not sure what this provides over my current cameras but maybe-)

The Fuji looks a similar size to most vintage folders. As a guide for you I sometimes carry my Agfa Isolette 6x6 folder in the inside pocket of a Levi denim jacket.

 

[Ian Grant]

With the proviso that cost has to be reasonable, I'd buy one. A small compact modern rangefinder 6x7 would be an ideal travel camera I could take everywhere. I looked at buying a 67 or 69 camera last October for a trip to South America but didn't find a camera I'd want to buy other than a second hand Mamiya Six (original early model). I don't want a system camera, just something simple to use when I'm not shooting LF, but with good optics, reasonable film size and an accurate range-finder.

So the new prototype Fuji 67 would be ideal, meanwhile I might try an old Mamiya Six.

Ian

 

[removed account4]

With the proviso that cost has to be reasonable, I'd buy one. A small compact modern rangefinder 6x7 would be an ideal travel camera I could take everywhere. I looked at buying a 67 or 69 camera last October for a trip to South America but didn't find a camera I'd want to buy other than a second hand Mamiya Six (original early model). I don't want a system camera, just something simple to use when I'm not shooting LF, but with good optics, reasonable film size and an accurate range-finder.

So the new prototype Fuji 67 would be ideal, meanwhile I might try an old Mamiya Six.

Ian

i would buy it to replace my older mamiya 6 (iv ) as well.
i loved that camera!

john

 

[Russ Young]

I would replace my Mamiya Six folder, too. The Mamiya is head and shoulders sharper than any Tessar I've shot but I suspect that in the fifty years since it was made the glass and coating have come a long way. My expectation is that is would rival the 80mm on my Mamiya 7. The 6x7 format would be a huge advantage over 6x6 for me and yet it probably fits in a pocket which 6x9s do not.

As to price, have you seen what folders are going for on FleaBay? A Bessa II went for $822 on Jan. 26th. It might need a CLA, might need a rangefinder adjustment, might need new bellows, etc, etc. etc. If the Fuiji is say $1,200 it will be similar in cost to a period substitute and be certain to work.

This is the camera I've waited fifty years for... I'm ready to write a check.

Russ

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

My Bessa II, adjusted and in good working order with Color-Heliar, lens hood, filters, and a small Perrin case sold on eBay for about $1025 in 2006.

 

[Andrey]

You have an alternative piece of gear - your Zeiss.

So yes - for you it's "pure GAS".

However, not all of us have what you have....

It's easy to get a vintage zeiss.

But it doesn't have the allure of the fuji of course.

 

[Bob Carnie]

Yes

I have a Fuji 6x9 and it is my favorite camera.

 

[vet173]

Only if I could get a 6x9 mask.

 

[ReallyBigCameras]

I have a zeiss 6*6 like that, which I got for free.

What will this offer me that the zeiss can't?

The ability to make 6x7 negatives. To the best of my knowledge there has never been a 6x7 folder (yes, I know the Baby Speeds and Centuries and the Linhof and Horseman technical cameras could be used with 6x7cm backs, but they aren't pocketable). Edit: Now that I think about it, I seem to recall that Kodak may have made a 6x7 folder at some point, but it took 620 rather than 120 film - or I could be wrong. I any case, I can't think of any6x7cm folder that takes/took 120 film.

I've never liked the square format and 6x9 seems like a 'tweener format to me - too long to be my standard format, but not long enough to be a pano format.

I know it's just personal preference, but I agree with whoever it was that originally referred to 6x7 as the ideal format (I think it might have been Linhof). Until now, the options in 6x7, even classic cameras like the Kodak Medalist, modern cameras like the Pentax 6x7 and even the modern rangefinders like the Fuji and Mamiya 7 series have been too big and bulky to fit in a pocket.

This new camera from Fuji, if it does become available at a reasonable price, will finally give me something I've wanted for years - a compact, lightweight, pocketable camera capable of producing nice, big 6x7cm negatives and transparencies that can be enlarged without cropping to the same paper sizes I use for enlargements from my 4x5 originals. And yes, I know I could shoot with a classic 6x9 folder and crop. I tried that with a Bessa II. I prefer to compose in the same aspect ratio as my final prints and I also like getting two extra frames per roll with 6x7 vs. 6x9.

Kerry

 

[ReallyBigCameras]

P.S. I'm coming at this as someone who's been shooting 4x5 as my main format for almost 20 years. So, I'm accustomed, to and prefer the 4:5 aspect ratio. I can also understand why someone who would be moving up from 35mm would prefer something, like 6x9, that would be closer to the 1:1.5 aspect ratio of 35mm.

All my prints from 4x5 are on standard paper sizes (11x14, 16x20, 20x24, 24x30 and 30x40). So, 6x7cm enlarges to those formats with a lot less cropping than 6x6cm or 6x9cm.

Anybody know what the actual image area will be for this camera? Linhof 6x7 backs give a 56mm x 72mm image, but some 6x7 cameras are in the 56mm x 68.5 - 70mm range. For comparison, most 6x6 cameras produce 56mm x 56mm images and many 6x9cm systems have an actual image area of 56mm x 84mm.

Kerry

Kerry

 

[Steve Smith]

I voted yes but I doubt that I could afford a new one at the moment.


Steve.

 

[Nigel]

As much as I might like a new MF camera, I don't think this is one for me. I have a 35mm rangefinder that sees very little service. I suspect it wold be the same with MF.

 

[mabman]

... To the best of my knowledge there has never been a 6x7 folder (yes, I know the Baby Speeds and Centuries and the Linhof and Horseman technical cameras could be used with 6x7cm backs, but they aren't pocketable). Edit: Now that I think about it, I seem to recall that Kodak may have made a 6x7 folder at some point, but it took 620 rather than 120 film - or I could be wrong. I any case, I can't think of any6x7cm folder that takes/took 120 film.

...

Kerry

Actually, there was a 6x7 folder (or 2, really) for a brief time - the Japenese-made Plaubel Makina 67 and later 670. Supposedly extremely good optics, but some design deficiencies relating to the use of scissor struts with the wiring harness close/on them.

They still go for a premium, working or not - if this new folder is priced reasonably and the optics are good, this might be a viable option as an alternative to the long-out-of-production Plaubel.

 

[Greg_E]

No. If it was a competitor to the Mamiya 6 or Mamiya 7II range finder, then possibly depending on the price and performance.

 

[Frank R]

I like it. I like the focusing method.

I would like a faster lens like the Plaubel Makina 67.

I would like a lever wind. Even without a spring return.

It would be nice if the door opened downward instead of to the side. It is more comfortable to hold that way.

 

[Andrey]

The ability to make 6x7 negatives. To the best of my knowledge there has never been a 6x7 folder (yes, I know the Baby Speeds and Centuries and the Linhof and Horseman technical cameras could be used with 6x7cm backs, but they aren't pocketable). Edit: Now that I think about it, I seem to recall that Kodak may have made a 6x7 folder at some point, but it took 620 rather than 120 film - or I could be wrong. I any case, I can't think of any6x7cm folder that takes/took 120 film.

Oh yes. I didn't have experience with 6*7 negatives. The zeiss is a 6*6 with a much slower novar anastigmat.

I just don't see myself using something like that and buying it new. it does look nice, I like the brighter lens... but I have a TLR which could get more use, the zeiss folder which can get more use and I prefer hand rolled 35mm film because it's cheap. You can't roll 120 film.

What would you shoot with that camera that you can't do with a TLR or Zeiss?

If it's under 400 bucks new, I'd consider it. Just like Bessa introduced their uncoupled RF for 150 or so in 2000. Maybe fuji is doing the same. f/3.5 lenses aren't that hard to make.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

A TLR won't fit into a pocket or a briefcase, the way a folder does, and older folders don't have modern multicoated lenses or modern standards of film flatness, and often don't have coupled rangefinders or auto-stop film counters, though some do. This camera would also have a meter, which is neither here nor there for me, but some people like that feature.

 

[JBrunner]

I voted yes. (If I can afford it).

 

[walter23]

It looks like a nice new version of the super ikonta I've been lusting after, so, yes, if the price was right.

 

[JBrunner]

If the price is right, otherwise why not buy a Mamiya 7. I like the idea of it being simple. I would love to have something with a 6x7 neg in a pocketable size, good rangefinder, aperture priority if possible, and no motor winder (quiet and less to break). Sometimes I think having one lens option is better because it saves me from myself in wanting to bring too much gear.

Why not by a Mamiya 7?... good question, a great camera, a friend of mine has one, and I have played with it some.

I think it is a mistake to equate these two cameras, however, as I don't see one as a ready replacement for the other.