[Zig]

...for UK forumites(well, anyone really): a Fuji 6x9cm medium-format rangefinder Fuji GW690 III
I was privileged to write an article on this lovely camera some years ago for the UK magazine Amateur Photographer.
It has a fixed 90mm lens, giving around 40mm field of view in 35mm equivalent terms, takes 120 roll film on which you'll get around 8 exposures on a roll...and both the build and image quality are stunningly superlative. Being a rangefinder it is also refreshingly light and with the clearest of viewfinders.
The lovely used example being sold here is a mere £590 GBP...which I'm guessing is about $900 US..? I have always thought this particular lens excels even the 90mm prime lens on my Pentax 67 Mk2.
I see these come up only rarely nowadays. One nifty little feature is the shutter actuation counter, set during manufacture, so the buyer knows exactly how many times it's been fired. Good for about a quarter of a million exposures without a service.
I promise you I have no vested interest in this camera, apart from the fondest of memories for its impeccable quality.

OmyGawsh...and now I've just spotted that absolute classic, the Plaubel Makina 67, on the same site(Aperture UK) for £990. Phew...!

[matthew]

That is a tempting camera, and I'm increasingly suspecting that my next camera will be a medium-format Fuji rangefinder.* I would love to get my hands on one of their new GF670 folders, which are about the size of a large 35mm SLR when their lens is collapsed. But getting a 6x9 rangefinder for half its price (or less, since I look for cameras in less than perfect condition) is very tempting. I just worry about the size of a fixed-lens camera and how it would fit in my Billingham.


*The other current candidate is a Nikon F5, but I might then feel like I should sell my F100, and I'm pretty convinced that I like medium format more than 135. But it's nothing that's going to happen soon regardless.

[Zig]

Aha! You still have the 68 one too, yes Matthew?
I was so surprised and delighted that Fuji have still believed with expectancy in their MF rangefinders, as I feared the demise of even the wondrous 6x17 panorama camera once digital came along. I'm almost tempted to give you also a double nudge here towards the Plaubel at the same site, given its "iconic" status and having foldy bits...and for some reason I get much pleasure from your purchases, as I love guessing your inner machinations that drive what you end up with! The Zeiss addition was utterly compelling, truly.
And the F5 consideration: by complete(almost) coincidence, at the time the Fuji rep lent me the 69(having pressed 10 rolls of film on me for free, blessim!) I was a total Nikonite: I'd gone from the F601 to the F4, in its "S" incarnation with the vertical grip. I remember being surprised that though the Fuji 6x9 was about the same size as the Nikon F4S, the Fuji was considerably lighter. As I'd never done medium-format before, I was enraptured by the Fuji results with its clarity and precision, the time being before DVDs and hi-res screens....and so uncluttered and ergonomic, with everything falling into place. Just like a point+shoot, I found myself thinking.
I even had a polariser on: rotated the polariser in front of my eye till the maximum point, made an ink mark on it, then mounted it on the lens. I could thus rotate it to 12 o clock for "on", back the other way for "off".
In the field, it was remarkable: it is the only camera I've used whereby you could navigate it completely "blindfolded" within 15 minutes of getting ot out of the box, allowing one's eyes to be totally freed up for following and anticipating the action in its rangefinder window, which itself was blessed with superb brightlines. If I remember, I'm sure its lens cap was fixed to the camera body via a built-in lanyard.
Finally, that "full frame/35mm" aspect ratio: it was mildly derided in some quarters as being unconducive to the "8x10" format of a magazine page..yet of course horizontal shots are wider and more kinetic in feel, with vertical shots also having the additional depth and movement denied the 4:3 or 4:5 ratio. Of course, this could push one's prints to a nutty 18x12...but bang on for gallery prints of 30x20. Almost makes more sense than a 6x7, one could suggest, given its "SLR" ratio...?
I so wanna rangefinder again!

[matthew]

I do still have the GX680, and am just waiting to be inspired enough by something to pull it out again. It's not all that small. I do like my Hasselblad as a good all-purpose machine, but it's still essentially a tripod camera. Having a medium-format rangefinder would be a nice combination of image quality and mobility; one with a retractable lens would add portability as well. Of course that starts stepping on my Ikon's toes, which also has exceptional lenses but just doesn't match the tonality of medium format film.

The matter of aspect ratio is an interesting one. I will compose most product shots to a 4:5 ratio, but typically use squares on my review site, but will change that as needed for the task at hand. I think I do prefer a squarer ratio than 3:2, but will compose to use the entire frame no matter which format I'm using. I've been thinking just a tiny bit about a 645 camera – getting even closer to the Ikon's toes with that – partly because I think it would be refreshing to predominantly take vertically-oriented photos. For the Fuji rangefinders, it's interesting to see such similar cameras in 645, 67, 68, and 69 formats. That makes for a lot of options.

I'm glad that I'm not boring with my incessant camera-ruminating, but this is all idle musing right now. I'm a long way from 'needing' anything, and my spending money all has somewhere else to be for a while. Although an F5 equipped with an AF-S 60mm macro lens would be a fun toy for the summer.

[Zig]

Far from boring, quite the reverse. I wonder about my own Motivation Curve sometimes, as you refer to being inspired: inspiration is getting ever so slightly nudged in the peripheries by perspiration in the Zig camp. I don't reckon I'm ready yet for the polyester slacks and Coolpix combo, though, but I wonder if my idea of "street" is subconscious nomenclature for "can't be arsed to carry something bulkier".
As an aside, I wonder whether the term "medium-format" will continue to be meaningful or wishful: am I right in thinking Leica's S2 and the reported Samsung-to-be have/will have a "mere" 36mm on the long-side?
(No idea why I'm submitting these thoughts, just waffling away..)