A series of
Fuji Medium Format Rangefinders that initially showed promise, but lost the way.
All Fuji rangefinders have one main problem in my book - the focusing system is crap. The image inside the rangefinder is so dim and the contrasting lines that allow you to focus are so equally dim it is very difficult to tell when a given object is in focus until you have alot of experience with the camera.
The modern series begins with the Fujica G690 (now out of production) a 6cm x 9cm format camera with good lenses (nothing to rival the Mamiya 7, but good... The camera includes a leaf shutter that allows flash synch up to 1/500th of a second and several bells and whistles such as auto winding...
Available lenses:
- 65 f8.0
- 100 f3.5
- 150 f5.6
- 180 f5.6
But, it went downhill from there with the idea that photographers would rather not have interchangeable lenses... they'd just rather buy a whole new camera for all applications...?
Further in the series:
- GA645Wi - 6x4.5cm - 45mm f4.0, autofocus
- GA645i - 6x4.5cm - 60mm f4.0, autofocus
- GA645Zi - 6x4.5cm - F4.5/55mm ~ F6.9/90mm zoom w/ autofocus
None of the 6x4.5cm camera are all that evil - they're primarially designed for 35mm users who want larger negatives... I never
found 6x4.5 quite
big enough to really make me
happy... but if you're looking for a
relatively easy to use
MF camera that will remind you directly of a
35mm this might work for you.
- GW670III - 6x7cm - 90mm f3.5
- GW690III - 6x9cm - 90mm f3.5
These last two cameras
confuse me. They both share the exact same
body and the exact same lens - which means the lens and body of the 6x7 have ample compensation for the additional
coverage needed for 6x9 - the camera is just cropping the
image inside? Why would Fuji build this? Why not just have a single camera that could
switch back and forth between formats?!? The Fuji website
hides this fact... it doesn't list the
weight or
size of either camera... this is just plain
foolishness?