Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Fuji cameras are the most popular and famous with 120 side axes, of which the 6X9 690 series cameras are the most famous, which is also a popular equipment for many professional photographers.

Because of the sharp edges and angles of the early 690 series cameras, it is also known as "Big Leica".

In addition to the high popularity of Fuji 690 series cameras, its unique positioning is also an important reason for its enduring decades. It can even be said that the emergence of Fuji 690 series has brought 6X9 frames from the field of technical cameras into the field of 120 cameras.

The design frame of the film is 6X6. In the past, 6X9 was a very large frame. Its aspect ratio was the same as that of 135. it reached 2:3, but its photosensitive area was 50% more than 6X6, double that of 645.

Before the war, 6X9 belongs to the pictures of technical cameras, which is commonly known as the smallest frame in large-frame cameras. It has a special form of one piece after another. In large frames, it is called 2X3. Many large-frame manufacturers have 23 cameras, but later they no longer use 23 pages, but directly install the back of 6X9.

Until the 1990s, 6X9 was a lens specification in Schneider's large-frame catalogue, such as the famous SUPER-ANGULON 47max 5.6, which was the most angled pre-digital large-frame civilian lens, but the version without XL could only cover 6X9.

(Japanese EBONY 23 camera) in the 1950s and 1960s, there were three options for making 6X9 negatives: an old-fashioned pre-war skin machine, a large-frame technical camera like the above, and a snap camera that could change the back, similar to the Mamia one.

No matter which kind of operation, it is not convenient to use, and this also makes the positioning of 6X9 frame awkward, all the technical operation, the operation cost is the same as 4X5, and if it is 120 operation, then the task that 6X9 can accomplish can generally be accomplished by 6X6.

However, in 1968, Fuji suddenly launched a side-axis camera that looked like Leica's 6X9 frame on the PHOTOKINA of that year, which caused a sensation and controversy. The machine was called the "Big Leica" as soon as it came out because of its similar appearance. In fact, the trend of imitating the appearance of Leica cameras has gradually faded.

The G690 can change the lens, it was originally a system.

With the launch of the fuselage, there are four lenses of 65Compact 8100Universe 3.5150Compact 5.6180AGR 5.6. The camera is not only shaped like Leica, but also operates close to the side axis of 135. it uses an inter-mirror shutter and operates on the lens, which is the operation of the side axis of the old-fashioned inter-mirror shutter, so it is much more convenient than the 6X9 camera in the past.

The magnification of the viewfinder is 0.75, taking into account the function of wide-angle viewfinder. Although it is a large-frame side-axis camera, Fuji has carefully made a bright wireframe viewfinder with 100 and 150 frames and 65 lenses requiring an external viewfinder.

The head of the camera is 100amp 3.5. it weighs 2300 grams when all installed. It is very stocky.

Just after the launch of the G690 in 1968, an improved version of G690BL was introduced the following year, where B means a black lens and L has a new lens lock that improves the back lock to prevent misoperation.

As soon as the G690 was launched, public opinion questioned that the camera was a money-cheating machine (in those days, most people could not afford a camera, so they liked spraying machines more than they do now). The price of the G690 is not cheap, it costs 78000 yen (86000 yen for BL), which is much cheaper than Hasu's 500C / M set (more than 200,000 yen at that time), but it is much more expensive than the average 120 camera. The 6X9 consumes a lot of 120 films, and the ease of operation makes Fuji 690 a real money-burning troll. Not to mention at that time, even now, I think this machine is too expensive to use the third generation.

The biggest doubt still comes from the lens. In the past, the 6X9 was a technical camera and a technical camera lens design, but it didn't improve much in the 1960s, when the larger frame lens was almost completely monopolized by Germany.

The quality of Japanese lenses has aroused suspicion, but in less than 20 years, Japan's Fuji and Nikon have become famous manufacturers of large-frame lenses, while in the past, the famous Flenda and Zeiss withdrew from the market for large-frame lenses.

In 1974, they launched the GL690, on which Fuji specifically marked Professional, which seemed to fit the vain loser mentality of the Cold War era. GL690 added a shutter button on the front of the fuselage to solve the problem of inconvenient vertical shooting, and the machine was optimized. Look at the picture above is a GL690, the fuselage can be exposed copper.

In order to match the GL690, Fuji updated the lens system, 100150180 basically unchanged, 100 header has an AE version, try to automate. 65 introduced a 5.6-aperture version, replacing the previous 8.0 version, and added a 50max 5.6 lens, which is a very large angle lens in the 6X9 frame, with an angle of 90 °, which is equivalent to the angle of the 21mm lens on the 135s.

All the shots in the Fuji series use the SEIKO 0 shutter, and each lens is very heavy.

Fuji G series lenses basically meet the two main shooting purposes of landscape and portrait, and its lens design is really aimed at commercial photography at that time.

On the other hand, 6X9 consumes too much film. Just when Pentax 67 launched in 1969, Japanese cameras with 6X7 frames became popular. Fuji also followed the trend and launched the GM670 camera on the basis of GL690, which is the GL690, but changed the film passing system and used occlusion to turn it into a 6X7 camera. This change is used for Fuji's 690 series to implement different frame cameras.

This is the origin of the big Leica, relying on the huge frame of 6X9, Fuji camera can create a good picture effect. However, because the system is expensive, the film cost is high, the performance-to-price ratio as a professional system is not high, and there is no advantage in the competition with Pentax 67 and MAMIYA 67, so the overall sales volume is small and the output is not large.

By 1978, in view of the fact that there were too many fronts and the main front was shifting from cameras to film, Fuji changed the way of making 690 cameras to use 135 fixed lens axes to make new 690 cameras, in other words, Fuji wants to change the 690 camera from mainframe to auxiliary.

So the previous series basically belongs to the first generation of 690 series cameras, and then enters the second generation. The first generation 690 was the only 120 camera system that could change lenses in Fuji's early days. In the first generation of 690s, GL690 has the highest degree of completion, which basically lays the foundation for the operation of the future 690s.

To change the machine from a mainframe to an auxiliary machine, the most direct way is to eliminate the system, fix the lens, and change the 690 from a side-axis system to a side-axis camera.

This is the later famous GW690 camera.

This camera uses a 90 hand 3.5 lens, 5 sets of 5, EBC coating, and later 20 years of GW series cameras have used this lens, which has lasted for a long time.

Camera operation still continues the GL690, there are two shutter buttons, shutter disk and aperture disk are on the lens, still using the SEIKO 0 mirror shutter.

Because of the relatively small angle, Fuji introduced the GSW690 camera in 1980, the function is exactly the same, only the lens is different. It uses 6 pieces of 6 pieces of 4 sets of symmetrical structure lenses with EBC coating, which uses a design similar to Zeiss BIOGON structure. Generally, the BIOGON structure requires about 8 lenses, but Fuji uses a new material and only 6 lenses are used to achieve the standard effect. This kind of lens design is generally the idea of large frame.

This sets the tone for the later GW and GSW series, and then all cameras use 90max 3.5 and 65max 5.6 lenses. Below is the depth of field table of the two lenses.

There is a lens structure on the propaganda under the nose of the 90Robot 3.5, and the structure is still very simple. In those days, the lens structure with a large field was generally not too complicated. Because people think that the area of the film, a very small aperture can solve a lot of problems. (the aperture of this kind of large lens can be made very small)

In 1985, Fuji updated the GW camera, launched the GW690II and GSW690II, the lens remains the same, the basic performance remains the same, there is no electronic, just a slight change. The most prominent change is the addition of hot boots and then the addition of shutter locks.

The two GW690II machines were sold in mid-1985, and at the end of the year, Fuji launched a GW670II camera, just like the GM670, which changed the film and occluded the body of the GW690II into a 6X7 frame. Fuji has only 670II, not the first generation of 670s. The lens of the GW670II is also 90 stroke 3.5, of course, the angle has changed because the picture is smaller.

The reason why Fuji made this machine has something to do with the popularity of MAKINA 67 at that time, but MAKINA 67 lacks stamina. Now when talking about the side axis of 67 pictures, the MAKINA 67 and Fuji's later GF670 are often mentioned, but this series of 67 cameras are rarely used.

The shape of this generation of fuselage is still very strong, with the feeling of Leica, but what you see more about the Fuji 690 series is the third generation, that is, the plastic shell, which is very modern.

This generation of machine was released in 1992, using an engineering plastic fuselage, and the shape of the mirror has changed a lot, but the overall operation continues the habit of G690.

Although it is a plastic fuselage, the camera does not feel cheap, and the shape and design are more modern.

There are many types of machines in this generation. In addition to the basic GW690III and GSW690III, pictures of 6X8 and 6X7 have been added to the two bodies and lenses (still 90max 3.5 and 65max 5.6).

6X8 is a complete continuation of the 690s. GW680III and GSW680III,6X8 are new to this generation, but not before.

The 6X7 only has a GW670III with 90max 3.5, not a 65-lens version.

There are five machines in this generation, and the performance of the fuselage is similar. The lenses are those two. The price of the machine is 180,000 yen and 200,000 yen (GW and GSW). In fact, the price of the 690s is declining, because the value of the Japanese yen in the 1990s has depreciated a lot compared with the 1960s, but the machine price is still more than one hundred thousand yen.

Because of the 6X9 frame and the good performance of the lens, Fuji's later GW690 system has become a favorite backup for many photographers and photography enthusiasts, because 6X9 frames are rarely used for 120 users. In other words, Fuji's strategy of positioning the GW690 as a backup, secondary, rather than a host competing with the 120s is successful, and it is also because this idea has led to this popular system.

Of course, the big Leica is not a false name, this series of cameras are really very large.

The fuselage of the 690 system has never been electronic, and when the Fuji side shaft 645 has been fully automatic, the third-generation avant-garde design of the 690 is still without any electronic and automation.

In the late 1990s, with the rise of digital, Fuji gradually stopped producing the 690 series, and in the new century, the 690 series finally withdrew from the stage of history.

Now all generations of 690 cameras can be found in the second-hand market, the more popular is the last generation, and the old ones will be cheaper.

Although this series of film consumes a lot of film, if it is shot mainly in black and white, the cost may not be too high.

This article is from the official Wechat account: film fan club (ID:jiaojuanmi), author: Shanghai Old dirty Turtle

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