Your experience with Fujica G/GL690 with 100mm Auto Exposure lens

I've got a Fujica GL690 with the "normal" 100mm f/3.5 Fujinon-S lens, and have just come across a relatively-rare Fujinon Auto Exposure 100mm lens f/3.5 -- the one that has a meter built into the lens that will automatically set the "correct" shutter speed according to the meter reading. I can pick it up for around $350, which strikes me as a reasonable price, but the question I have is whether the results from having this auto-exposure lens are any good, i.e., as good as I can presently get by metering with an external meter and using my normal manual 100mm lens. I don't want to lay out $350 for the lens if the results aren't likely to be at least as good as results I presently get. Obviously the AE lens is a more "spontaneous" lens in that it's auto-exposure, but if the AE results are worse it might not be worth it -- this IS 1974 technology we're talking about here, after all. So....anyone with hands-on experience who can share their assessments and, hopefully, some examples of your results? Thanks!

Are those really rare? When I bought my GL690 half of the ones on eBay had that lens. I intentionally avoided it and got the normal 100 since I didn't want the AE, so I cant help you on the function of the lens itself.

Trask said:

as I can presently get by metering with an external meter and using my normal manual 100mm lens

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Compared to an incident meter definitely not going to be as good, even if it's working perfectly. Tricked by dark or light colored subjects, backlighting, etc.

Guessing because it's old it won't have a very impressive EV range, and typical 6x9 usage (slow photography) may make it a bit pointless for most users.

I have one of these lenses. The light meter is at the front of the lens, just like those old 35mm point and shoot cameras from the 60's and 70's. It's old, and I've had to have it repaired, and it's still not that reliable.

It's fun as a novelty item, but isn't a good choice when film and processing is so expensive. You can use it in manual mode if the meter isn't working properly, so it's still a useful lens.

I wouldn't pay more for it than just the standard lens. You'll want to have a good handheld meter anyway, so just get good at using that quickly and efficiently.

One other thing to be aware of is that the shutter is electronically timed. It needs to have a battery to function. It's one of those cylindrical batteries. I think it's the same as used in the Pentax 6x7, but I'm not sure. Look it up.

The advantage of the electrical timing is that the speeds seem to be quite accurate, and you can set it for quite long exposure times (up to 8 seconds).

My very first GL690 comes with the 100/3.5 AE lens. It's an excellent performer, just like the one without meter. I was using manual exposure so did not really use AE function that much.

If you already have the normal 100/3.5, I wouldn't bother getting the AE version.