Talk:Fujica G690

Disagreements and sources

There's quite a lot written about these cameras on the web, including a substantial amount that's conveniently in English or French. A lot of it is excellent, deriving either from careful direct observation or from authoritative sources. Unfortunately, some seems dodgy. I'm therefore using it with care.

Some disagreements so far:

• G690 release date: On the web I've read 1967. Nawa says (p.258) that it was presented to the general public in the March '68 Tokyo Camera Show, but he doesn't mention sales. Koyasu says (p.68) that it went on sale in December '68. There's quite a gap there; I wonder whether there could be a misprint in one date or other.
• G690 finish: I've read on the web of black bodies with black lenses and silver bodies with silver lenses. This is flatly contradicted by what Koyasu and Nawa say about the G690 and G690BL.
• BL: Both Koyasu and Nawa say that this stood for "Black and Lock". Whether "lock" is a noun or a verb, this name is of course absurd in English; but this is not a matter of English but of Japanese quasi-English naming, in which any part of English speech may be coordinated with any other. (Of course, it's imaginable that anglophone distributors were asked what "BL" stood for, couldn't bring themselves to say "Black and Lock", and invented "Breech Lock".)

Hoary 20:17, 2 June 2006 (EDT)

While "Black and Lock" would not make sense, "B for Black and L for Lock" would, in a sort of additive naming. --Rebollo fr 05:35, 3 June 2006 (EDT)