-
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-...
2 de 8 13/05/2015 1:57
-
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-...
3 de 8 13/05/2015 1:57
-
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-...
4 de 8 13/05/2015 1:57
-
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-...
5 de 8 13/05/2015 1:57
-
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
Fuji GW690III Review | Film Shooters Collective | 35mm | Medium
...
http://filmshooterscollective.com/analog-film-photography-blog/fuji-...
6 de 8 13/05/2015 1:57
-
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
Subscribe via e-mail
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
Newest First
carl A month ago
Fuji GW690III Review | Film Shooters Collective | 35mm | Medium
...
http://filmshooterscollective.com/analog-film-photography-blog/fuji-...
7 de 8 13/05/2015 1:57
-
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
Fuji GW690III Review | Film Shooters Collective | 35mm | Medium
...
http://filmshooterscollective.com/analog-film-photography-blog/fuji-...
8 de 8 13/05/2015 1:57