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FUJI GW690III REVIEW December 26, 2014 / Mark Schlocker The Fuji GW690III is a 90’s-era 6X9 medium format rangefinder with a fixed 90mm f/3.5 lens. The angle of view is slightly wider than ‘normal’. The camera is fully mechanical. It gets 8 exposures from a 120 roll or 16 on 220 if you are lucky enough to have some. This camera also came in 6X7 and 6X8 variants and a wider angle of view variant as well. The Fuji GW690III is simple. Focus, aperture, and shutter are the only controls. There is no built-in light meter, no lens changing, no double-exposure, no auto film advance, and no removable film backs. You only get 8 shots (120) anyway so you don’t have long to wait to change out your film. Another advantage of 8 shots per roll is less time spent scanning. What the Fuji does offer is a very sharp lens, a huge negative, and excellent build quality all in a very portable package. Best of all, it doesn’t look vintage so you will be left alone by hipsters. Home About Articles Blog Photostream Member Index Join Us! Marketplace Support Film × Fuji GW690III Review | Film Shooters Collective | 35mm | Medium ... http://filmshooterscollective.com/analog-film-photography-blog/fuji-... 1 de 8 13/05/2015 1:57

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Fuji GW690III

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  • F U J I G W 6 9 0 I I I R E V I E WD e c e m b e r 2 6 , 2 0 1 4 / M a r k S c h l o c k e r

    The Fuji GW690III is a 90s-era 6X9 medium format rangefinder with a fixed 90mm f/3.5 lens. The angle

    of view is slightly wider than normal. The camera is fully mechanical. It gets 8 exposures from a 120 roll

    or 16 on 220 if you are lucky enough to have some. This camera also came in 6X7 and 6X8 variants and a

    wider angle of view variant as well. The Fuji GW690III is simple. Focus, aperture, and shutter are the

    only controls. There is no built-in light meter, no lens changing, no double-exposure, no auto film

    advance, and no removable film backs. You only get 8 shots (120) anyway so you dont have long to wait

    to change out your film. Another advantage of 8 shots per roll is less time spent scanning. What the Fuji

    does offer is a very sharp lens, a huge negative, and excellent build quality all in a very portable package.

    Best of all, it doesnt look vintage so you will be left alone by hipsters.

    Home About Articles Blog PhotostreamMember Index Join Us! Marketplace Support Film

    Fuji GW690III Review | Film Shooters Collective | 35mm | Medium ... http://filmshooterscollective.com/analog-film-photography-blog/fuji-...

    1 de 8 13/05/2015 1:57

  • Fuji GW690III: How to Shoot Medium Format Without Looking Like a Hipster

    To set the stage for this article, I feel it is important to share what experience I have with other

    photographic formats. My workhorse is a crop-frame DSLR. I shoot film simply because it is fun. My

    film experience has covered Mamiya 645 AF, Hasselblad 503CW, Toyo View 4X5, Nikon F100, Disposable

    35mm, and now the Fuji GW690III. I am a bit obsessed with technical quality so 35mm film rarely cut it

    for me, especially when shooting 400 speed film.

    The Fuji GW690III is appealing for several reasons. It is relatively new so it is easy to find one in good

    condition and the prices are great compared with other more popular medium format cameras. The

    negative is huge. It is almost half of a 4X5 sheet. Imagine a camera with that kind of resolution that will

    easily fit into a shoulder-slung camera bag, give you 8 shots, and doesnt need to be reloaded in a

    bathroom. You also get a 1/500s leaf shutter that syncs with flash at all shutter speeds via a hotshoe or PC

    port. For photographers who love flash, 1/500s sync gives you a lot of flexibility when working outdoors.

    The viewfinder is bright and large although the lens does project into the view, blocking a good portion of

    the bottom-right corner. The viewfinder image is slightly larger than my Nikon F100 35mm and about as

    bright as that mounted with an f/2.8 lens. I find the rangefinder focusing dot itself to be a bit dim and

    hard to use at times. At least the world is not confusingly reversed as in ground-glass cameras. The

    shutter release is quite stiff and the camera lets out quite a clang when it fires. The shutter also has a

    cable release thread and a lock feature so you dont take shots of the inside of your camera bag. Although

    there are many horror stories about people leaving the lens caps on their rangefinders, this one makes

    Fuji GW690III Review | Film Shooters Collective | 35mm | Medium ... http://filmshooterscollective.com/analog-film-photography-blog/fuji-...

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  • removal hard to forget. To access the shutter and aperture rings, which are on the lens, you must pull out

    the built-in lens hood. This process almost forces you to remove the lens cap. Aperture goes from f/3.5 to

    f/32 in half-stop increments and you can also set it between detents. Shutter speed comes in full-stop

    increments from 1 second to 1/500s. There is also a T option for long exposure. In T mode the shutter

    opens the lens and then you then twist the shutter speed selection dial back to 1s to close it. In practice it

    is not a very user-friendly system and it makes exposures in the 2 to 4 second range a bad idea. Film

    advances with a manual thumb lever, 1.25 strokes.

    F22 on Fuji Acros 100

    Coming from a much smaller format what struck me the most about this camera was its need for light. To

    get the same depth of field at the same angle of view as a 35mm camera you will need to stop the Fuji

    down by a couple of stops. The lens is equipped with focus distance indicators for various apertures that

    can be used for zone focusing or setting hyperfocus. The need for smaller apertures calls for either more

    light, longer shutter speeds, and/or higher speed film. To take full advantage of the image quality

    potential I highly recommend having a tripod available when light is not flooding in and you want a large

    depth of field. I have successfully handheld the Fuji down to 1/60 of a second but I can not recommend

    handholding slower. When using wide apertures, shooting in ample light, or equipped with a tripod it is

    hard to beat the Fuji as a landscape camera. Do note that the rangefinder setup does not allow you to

    preview the effects of filters but the lens is threaded to accept them.

    Fuji GW690III Review | Film Shooters Collective | 35mm | Medium ... http://filmshooterscollective.com/analog-film-photography-blog/fuji-...

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  • Wide Open on Portra 400

    The wide f/3.5 aperture of the Fuji GW690III can yield nice soft backgrounds. One limitation though is

    that you dont know exactly how much bokeh you are getting until you build a rapport with the camera

    over time. The closest focusing distance is rather far at 1 meter, so this is not the best camera for tight

    headshots or macro photography. The combination of the f/3.5 lens and the 1 meter minimum focus

    distance is not enough to totally blur out the background; there will always be some hint of detail

    remaining. What did amaze me is that you can focus on something up to 10 meters away and still have

    noticeable bokeh in the background. Its just a different feel overall from a small format. Due to the

    rangefinder setup the shooting order is focus, recompose, shoot which is a bit different from a ground

    glass or advanced autofocus camera where you can compose, then focus and shoot. I find this as a

    limitation of a rangefinder system. Although corrected for parallax error another limitation of a

    rangefinder system shows up when you are trying to precisely align two things like a sunflare to the edge

    of your subject. Because of the slightly wide lens, far minimum focus distance, and centered nature of the

    rangefinder system, using the Fuji GW690III is challenging for serious portrait work. An SLR or TLR is

    the more obvious medium format choice.

    Fuji GW690III Review | Film Shooters Collective | 35mm | Medium ... http://filmshooterscollective.com/analog-film-photography-blog/fuji-...

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  • F/5.6 on Portra 400. As Close as You Can Focus. F/3.5 Provides Only Slightly More Bokeh.

    Fuji GW690III Review | Film Shooters Collective | 35mm | Medium ... http://filmshooterscollective.com/analog-film-photography-blog/fuji-...

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  • Because there is no built-in light meter you must be prepared if you want to be fast and capture a

    moment. Sometimes it is nice to pull an automatic camera quickly out of your pack and just shoot

    something interesting and fleeting before that moment is gone. Conversely, having to slow down and

    actually think, then dial in shutter and aperture makes you distinctly aware of what it is you are doing.

    Sometimes with my DSLR I get home and wonder why I was shooting 1/3000s at ISO 2400. For the Fuji I

    use a combination of incident metering and spot metering depending on what Im shooting and how much

    time I have. I use a Sekonic L-758DR spot/incident meter. If Im in a hurry I guess.

    The Fuji GW690III is a great value for a medium format camera. It shoots a very large negative with

    premium glass and it is built to last. It has some limitations when working very close to your subject but

    at medium and long distances these limitations disappear. In the 6X7 to 6X9 range it is very portable in

    comparison with most options. I highly recommend this camera to those who want extreme detail from

    their negatives but are willing to accept a fixed focal length and to those who do not do a lot of close-up

    work.

    Mark Schlocker is a Yokosuka, Japan based photographer. Follow him on Facebook.

    F/16 on Provia 100F

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  • In Camera Reviews Tags Fuji GW690III, Medium Format, Camera Review

    7 Likes

    Mamiya 6 Rangefinder | Film Camera Review A Practical Guide to Using Film Characteristic Cur

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    First, the photo of the woman looks great. Her skin probably looks better in the photo than it does

    in real life (ha, ha). I'm just getting into medium format film. I use Nikon DSLR and have had a

    4x5 for several years -- but the loading of the film for the 4x5 surprisingly proved to be a fatal

    barrier for me (they stopped making ready-loads). So, I started looking at medium format film. I

    think I really prefer the 6x7 size and I'm thinking about Mamiya 7II, but the larger film and lesser

    price of the Fuji is compelling. As with any camera, you really have to know what you want it for

    and I'm interested in something that can take high-quality images -- don't need a lot of them --

    and don't mind a deliberate pace. I have the same spot meter as do you, but also a Coolpix A which

    might work just as well.

    I'm surprised to hear vignetting at F/22.

    Good photos and nice review.

    Share

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    carl A month ago

    Fuji GW690III Review | Film Shooters Collective | 35mm | Medium ... http://filmshooterscollective.com/analog-film-photography-blog/fuji-...

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  • Even more time spent with this camera. I tend to use it wide open or at F/22. In my landscape

    shots (F/22) I have noticed a fair bit of vignetting. Maybe it is standard for the format, I know

    6X17 cameras have filters to correct for this but I don't have anything like that. Something to be

    aware of.

    Since I wrote this article I have had an image from this camera drum scanned to 54 megapixels

    and printed 600mmX900mm, or about 24x35 inches. All I can say is wow. The lens is sharper

    than anything else I have. The image was shot at F22, I haven't tested wider apertures with the

    same process. It held up to the enlargement no problem. For this size I do not see any reason to

    make the jump to 4X5, the Fuji GW690 is that good.

    I never thought about the hipster angle, but that is a plus. Great review but you missed

    mentioning the second shutter release. I find it pretty useful from time to time. It is the linkage

    between the two that makes most of the noise when the shutter is tripped. No big deal to me but I

    can understand why someone might want to disable the front release because of the sound.

    Mark Schlocker 2 months ago

    Mark Schlocker 2 months ago

    Erik 4 months ago 1 like

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