Fujica G690
Fuji Photo Film · Fuji G690 mount · 56×82.6mm on 120 or 220 film (Lallement's table; he measures 56×85mm on the film); 6.5×9cm sheet film in a holder, 62×88mm image. · 1968
Known as “Texas Leica”
Also known as: Fujica G690 · Fuji G690 · Fujica G 690 · Fujica G-690 · Fujica G690BL · Fujica G690 BL · Fuji G690BL · Fujica 690 · フジカ G690 · フジカG690 · フジカ G690BL · フジカ 6×9
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fujica G690 (1968–69) | Fuji G690 | 1968–1969 | — | — |
| Fujica G690BL (1969–73) | Fuji G690 | 1969–1973 | — | — |
- Weight: camera-wiki gives the body as 1258 g and 2015 g with the 100mm f/3.5; Lallement rounds the G690 and G690BL to 1,260 g. The BL is said to weigh the same as the GL690 by camera-wiki, which Lallement's 1,148 g for the GL690 contradicts.
- Dates: Japanese Wikipedia's product list has the G690 on sale in September 1968, camera-wiki and Lallement in December 1968, after the Photokina showing of September. The end of the family is the arrival of the GL690, November 1973 (Japanese Wikipedia; Lallement) or January 1974 (camera-wiki).
- Frame coverage: the 84% figure is Lallement's for infinity; camera-wiki describes the GL690's finder as going 'from 84% to 92%' and calls it magnification, but 0.75× is the magnification every source gives, so the percentages are field coverage.
- The design team was led by Yamamoto Katsuhiko, who modelled the project on the 70mm Combat Graphic after talking with commercial photographers who shot tour-group pictures in colour (camera-wiki). Only camera-wiki names him and he is not recorded as the optical designer, so no designers field is filled.
How to tell them apart
- A rangefinder the size of a large 35mm camera scaled up: 187mm wide with the standard lens, no mirror, no focal-plane shutter and no meter
- Breech-lock bayonet with a red dot on the locking collar; a cloth dark curtain behind the mount, worked from the base, that must be closed before a lens comes off (and on the BL cannot be bypassed)
- R/S roll/sheet switch on the back and a sheet-film capability the GL690 dropped: a G690 or G690BL body takes 6.5×9cm sheet holders
- Square finder eyepiece; the GL690 and GM670 have a round one threaded for dioptre lenses
- Silver trim around the finder windows and silver lenses: G690 of 1968. All black with 'BL' on the front: G690BL of 1969 onward
- One shutter release, on the top plate; a second release on the front plate means a GL690 or GM670
Fujica G690 (1968–69):
- Black body with silver trim around the finder windows; the lenses sold with it have a silver finish (camera-wiki; Lallement: 'chrome finish only' for the first lenses)
- Possibly a stylised 'P' mark on the front, which camera-wiki records without being sure of it; no 'BL' lettering
- No interlock between the dark curtain and the lens release: the lens comes off whether or not the curtain is closed
Fujica G690BL (1969–73):
- 'BL' marked on the front; the silver trim of the G690 is gone and the body is all black (camera-wiki)
- A lock on the lens release tied to the dark curtain: the lens cannot be removed unless the curtain is closed (camera-wiki; Japanese Wikipedia: 遮光幕が閉まっていない状態ではレンズが外れないように改良された)
- Black-finished lenses rather than the silver ones of 1968 (camera-wiki)
- Fujica G690 (1968–69): The launch camera: ¥78,200 with the Fujinon S 100mm f/3.5 (camera-wiki). The prototype of March 1968 had a front dial switching between 6×9 and 4.5×6, dropped before production, and the finder brightlines were cut back to 100mm and 150mm.
- Fujica G690BL (1969–73): Released October 1969 (camera-wiki; Japanese Wikipedia). Besides the lens-removal lock, camera-wiki lists a redesigned curtain control and an improved back lock. Set price with the 100mm lens ¥86,600. It stayed in the catalogue until the GL690 Professional replaced it in November 1973 or January 1974, depending on the source.
Serial-range notes
- No published scheme
- Nothing consulted ties serial numbers to years or counts production. The body number sits on a small black plate at the lower left of the back (Mike Eckman, on a GL690). A G690 is told from a G690BL by the lettering and trim, not by number.
Specifications
- Format
- 56×82.6mm on 120 or 220 film (Lallement's table; he measures 56×85mm on the film); 6.5×9cm sheet film in a holder, 62×88mm image. · 8 on 120, 16 on 220; one sheet of 6.5×9cm exposures
- Finder
- combined coupled rangefinder/viewfinder with projected brightlines that move for parallax and shrink for field of view as the lens is focused · 0.75× magnification · 100mm, 150mm framelines · both frames projected, always visible · automatic — field-corrected brightlines (camera-wiki; Lallement) parallax correction · 84% coverage
- Base length
- 67 mm
- Effective baselength
- 50.3 mm
- Shutter
- none in the body; Seiko No. 0 leaf shutter in each lens; a spring-loaded cloth dark curtain covers the film gate for mid-roll lens changes · B, 1–1/500 s, set on the lens · flash sync M and X at all speeds; PC terminal with an X/M switch, cold shoe (camera-wiki)
- Film advance
- Lever, coaxial with the shutter release and its cable-release thread; two strokes per frame, about 180° then about 160° depending on the take-up spool diameter; automatic frame spacing, additive auto-reset counter (camera-wiki)
- Back
- Hinged; roll/sheet (R/S) switch on the back, and the camera will not fire without film unless the switch is at S; 120 or 220 by a top dial and by flipping the pressure plate (camera-wiki)
- Meter
- None
- Motor drive
- Not compatible
- Weight
- 1258 g
- Dimensions
- 187 × 119.5 × 147 with the 100mm lens (camera-wiki); Lallement's table gives 183 wide, 166 high and 145 deep with the normal lens, body 38 thick mm
- Country
- Japan
- Original price
- ¥78,200 with the Fujinon S 100mm f/3.5 (1968, camera-wiki); G690BL set with the 100mm ¥86,600 (1969) (today ¥304,000)
- Accessories
- Accessory finders for the 65mm (projected brightline, 0.56×) and 180mm (reflected frameline, 1.0×) lenses, in the cold shoe (camera-wiki) · Sheet-film holders for 6.5×9cm film, used with the R/S switch at S · Sports finder for 65, 100 and 180mm, ¥5,500 (camera-wiki) · Close-up attachment for the 100mm lens; Fujicolor Strobo Professional GN32 flashgun made by Kako, ¥31,000 with bracket and cables; 'strobo bracket G'; quick-release tripod mount 'Q Setter'; Fujica Carrying Bag II (camera-wiki)
Base length 67mm, magnification 0.75× and effective base 50.3mm are camera-wiki's and Lallement's figures; Lallement gives the frames as showing 96% of the picture at 1m and 84% at infinity. Square eyepiece. A red warning dot appears in the finder when the dark curtain is closed (camera-wiki). camera-wiki observes that the viewfinder, rangefinder patch and brightlines appear to focus at about 1.25m, 1m and 1.4m respectively. The 65mm and 180mm lenses are composed through accessory shoe finders; the rangefinder still focuses them.
Figures we worked out rather than found: The 50.3mm effective base length is published by camera-wiki and Lallement, not computed here; it is 67mm × 0.75.
Where sources disagree
- First
- September 1968 — Japanese Wikipedia's Fujifilm product list (1968年9月発売)
- December 1968 — camera-wiki.org; Lallement
Both agree on the Photokina showing in September 1968; the disagreement is whether the camera was on sale that month or three months later.
- Weight (grams)
- 1258 g body, 2015 g with the 100mm f/3.5 — camera-wiki.org
- 1,260 g body — Lallement's specification table
Better supported: 1258 g
The two are the same figure rounded; camera-wiki's is carried as the more precise.
- Dimensions (mm)
- 187 × 119.5 × 147mm with the 100mm lens — camera-wiki.org
- 183mm wide, 166mm high, 145mm deep with the normal lens, body 38mm thick — Lallement
Width and depth agree within a few millimetres; the heights do not, and neither source says whether the lever or the shoe is included.
What reviewers say
- Sébastien Lallement, lallement.com (blog) — A long owner's history of the whole series: the G690 "looked like an ordinary 35mm rangefinder camera, only much bigger", built rugged with few moving parts and no mirror, focal-plane shutter or meter; he rates the lenses for superb resolution, warns that the dark-curtain spring loosens with heavy use and that a damaged film advance is the fault that cannot be mended, and prefers the 6×9 bodies over the GM670.
History
The Fujica G690 was Fuji Photo Film’s answer to a request from Japanese commercial photographers: the people who photographed tour groups in colour wanted a negative the size of a medium- or large-format camera’s with the handling of a 35mm rangefinder. The team under Yamamoto Katsuhiko took the 70mm Combat Graphic as its model (camera-wiki) and produced a coupled rangefinder scaled up to 6×9, with no mirror, no focal-plane shutter and no meter; each lens carries its own Seiko No. 0 leaf shutter, and a spring-loaded cloth curtain behind the breech-lock mount covers the film so lenses can be changed mid-roll. A prototype shown at the Tokyo Camera Show in March 1968 still had a front dial for switching between 6×9 and 4.5×6; by Photokina that September it was gone, and the finder’s brightlines had been reduced to the 100mm and 150mm pairs. The camera went on sale in Japan in September 1968 by Japanese Wikipedia’s list, December by camera-wiki’s, at ¥78,200 with the Fujinon S 100mm f/3.5.
The finder has a 67mm base and 0.75× magnification, for an effective base of 50.3mm, and its brightlines move for parallax and shrink for field of view as the lens is focused; Lallement’s table has them showing 96% of the picture at 1m and 84% at infinity. Film is 120 or 220, chosen by a top dial and by flipping the pressure plate, with 8 or 16 exposures; the back also carries an R/S switch, because the G690 and G690BL take 6.5×9cm sheet film in holders, a capability the GL690 dropped. The advance lever, coaxial with the release, takes two strokes per frame. The body alone weighs 1258 g and 2015 g with the standard lens, and the whole package is 187mm wide.
The G690BL of October 1969 is the same camera with its silver finder trim removed, ‘BL’ on the front, black lenses, and a lock that stops the lens coming off until the dark curtain is closed, which camera-wiki pairs with a redesigned curtain control and a better back lock; the set with the 100mm cost ¥86,600. It stayed in production until the GL690 Professional replaced it at the end of 1973 or the start of 1974. Lallement, who has owned the line for years, calls the series rugged and simple, but warns that the curtain spring loosens with heavy use and that a damaged film advance is the fault no one can now repair, since Fuji has no spare parts. The lenses that sold were the 65mm and the 100mm; the others sold so poorly, Mike Eckman reports from the history, that Fuji replaced the system in November 1978 with the fixed-lens GW690.
This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.
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