Fuji GW690III Review

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FUJI GW690III REVIEW

December 26, 2014 / Mark Schlocker
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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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F/5.6 on Portra 400. As Close as You Can Focus. F/3.5 Provides Only Slightly More Bokeh.
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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
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carl
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A month ago
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.
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Mark Schlocker
2 months ago
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.
Mark Schlocker
2 months ago
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.
Erik
4 months ago 1 like
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.
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Fuji GW690III Review - Film Shooters Collective - 35mm - Medium Format - and Large Format Film Photography

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