Rangefinder Love: Fuji GW690III

featured, Film, Project, The Streets

Today I’d like to tell you about a camera I’m slowly beginning to fall in love with

I think in part due to the fact it reminds me of my time with the Leica M when I first really started to delve deep into film photography but in a much larger format

It’s definitely not a camera that can fit in your pocket, but what you sacrifice you portability, you gain in image quality and resolution

The camera I’m speaking of is the Fuji GW690III, a fixed lens medium format film rangefinder

If you’ve never seen what one looks like, it’s basically a Leica M on steroids with some differences since it was designed by Fuji and not Leica

Here is a bit of a size difference between my Leica M6 and the Fuji GW690II Pro

The best part of this camera for me is that it’s entirely mechanical

No electronics at all, so one never has to worry about it dying on you..unless it’s a hardware issue of course

Medium format photography, especially the number of different formats, has always been so interesting to me and i’ve always wanted to bring that to the streets in a rangefinder style

There are other Medium Format rangefinders by the way, such as the Mamiya 6 or 7 (google them)

Here is a popular vid which explains a bit more on the functions of this gem of a camera

Without further delay I’d like to show some of my results as I took a stroll through Central Park in NYC

You should’ve seen the looks of people when i would bring this camera up to my eye!

It definitely is not as inconspicuous as the tiny (in comparison) Leica M rangefinder

I had heard the lens on this camera was good, but it really is VERY sharp. I cannot wait to see results with Color Films




For anyone wondering about the film details:

Ilford HP5 120 Film

Developed with Kodak D76 Stock

Formulary TF 4 Archival Rapid Fixer

Thanks for coming by and checking out the works

Feel free to drop a line with any questions

Bye!

4 thoughts on “Rangefinder Love: Fuji GW690III”

  1. Hi Miguel,

    Just wondering why you decided to go up to 6×9 instead of one of Fuji’s 6×7 rangefinders? I have a Mamiya 7 that I love (it was my dream camera for a long time), plus there’s something about the aspect ratio of the 6×7 negative (same as a 4×5). I sent you a message on your contact page, I was wondering if you make any zines or photobooks of your street work?

    Thanks,
    Laidric

    1. Honestly, I got a good deal on it on eBay. I was looking at the price comparison between the 6×7 cameras and the Mamiyas and the 6×9 was way cheaper. I like using my RZ67 for that format anyways. Would love one of the Mamiya cams but they’re pretty expensive!

      1. Yeah they are, it took me quite a while to save up for one, and even then I had to get a bargain grade one (don’t care, it wasn’t going to be a shelf queen anyhow). The worst thing about the Mamiya is how expensive the lenses are (due to the leaf shutter)!

      2. Yea I believe the Fuji gw690iii is giving me the results I was looking for at a less expensive price. After seeing these results in definitely happy. Maybe one day I may grab up a Mamiya rangefinder, I have an RZ67 I use a lot. They make great glass

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