Fujica GW690

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The Fujica GW690 Professional and the nine similar models that followed it is a leaf-shutter fixed-lens rangefinder camera for 120 film that Fuji brought out after its interchangeable-lens Fujica GL690 and GM670 Professional models.

In addition to the Fujica GW690 Professional and Fujica GSW690 Professional (the last to be called "Fujica"), the series includes the Fuji GW690II, GW670II, GSW690II, GW690III, GW680III, GW670III, GSW690III and GSW680III (all of them "Professional"); the entire series is treated within this article.

GW690

The Fujica GW690 Professional was the first to be released, in November 1978. It is based on the GL690, and differs most importantly in having a fixed lens.

The lens is an EBC Fujinon, 90mm f/3.5, with five elements in five groups (72mm filter thread). Reputedly it is sharper at large apertures than the 100mm lenses of the earlier cameras, but out-of-focus areas are not so pleasant.

The GW690 was priced at ¥143,500.

The right-hand side of the front of the camera is convex, forming the kind of grip that has become very common on other cameras since 1978 (often containing batteries) but was unusual at the time. A switch on the top and next to the accessory shoe selects among short-roll 120 (four exposures) and regular 120 (eight) and 220 (sixteen); there is no longer provision for sheet film. The dimensions are 189(W)×119(H)×123(D)mm; it weighs 1430g, a saving of 300g from the GL690, mostly attributable to the lack of lens breech lock, curtain, and associated switchgear.

The Seiko #0 shutter lacks a B setting and instead only has T. It seems curiously noisy for a leaf shutter, but in fact the noise is produced not by the shutter but instead by an "odometer" (device counting multiples of ten frames) at the bottom of the camera.

The rangefinder spot is round rather than rectangular. Instead of "mushroom" strap lugs, there are two loops for a strap on the left side of the camera (the side under the photographer's left hand).

GSW690

The Fujica GSW690 Professional is a wider version of the GW690. The lens is an EBC Fujinon SW 65mm f/5.6, with six elements in four groups (67mm filter thread). It weighs 1475g. It was released in March 1980, for ¥163,500.

Further reading / references

In Japanese

• Koyasu Yoshinobu (子安栄信). "Fuji Shashin Firumu no kamera no subete" (富士写真フィルムのカメラのすべて All the cameras of Fuji Photo Film). In "Fuji Shashin Firumu no kamera" (富士写真フィルムのカメラ The cameras of Fuji Photo Film), no. 44 of Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera no Senka. Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1997. ISBN 4-257-13013-X (In Japanese only.) Koyasu deals with these cameras on pp. 69–72.
• Nawa Hidetaka (那和秀峻). Meiki o tazunete: Sengo kokusan-kamera hiwa (名機を訪ねて：戦後国産カメラ秘話) / Revisiting renowned cameras. Tokyo: Nippon-kamera-sha, 2003. ISBN 4-8179-0011-3 Nawa devotes pp. 255–71 to the G690 and its successors.

External links

In English:

• Evolutionary History of Fuji 6x7, 6x8 and 6x9 Rangefinders, by Dante Stella
• Fujica G690 and its successors at Robert Monaghan's Medium Format Photography Megasite, with much discussion. (The page at first appears to be about the G690 and its immediate successors, but in fact much of it is about the later, fixed-lens cameras.)
• The Fuji Rangefinder Pages (for these and other medium-format Fuji cameras)
• GW690III and GSW690III and GW670III by Michael Coates

In French:

• Illustrated history of the G690 and successors, by Babar de St Cyr

In Japanese:

• Fujica G690BL and GM670 at Minokan Film Camera Research Room
• GW690 and GSW690III at M Nishikawa's site
• GW690 at Beyoontavox
• GW690 at Field Cameraman Note

Much factual information within this article derives from Koyasu, "Fuji Shashin Firumu no kamera no subete."