Fuji GL690 Professional
Fuji Photo Film · Fuji G690 mount · 56×82.6mm on 120 or 220 film (Lallement's table, who measures 56×85mm on the film). Sheet film is no longer accepted; a four-exposure short roll of 120 is. · 1973
Known as “Texas Leica”
Also known as: Fujica GL690 Professional · Fujica GL690 · Fuji GL690 Professional · Fuji GL690 · Fujica GL 690 · Fujica GL-690 · GL690 Pro · フジカ GL690 プロフェッショナル · フジカ GL690 · フジカGL690 · フジ GL690
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fujica GL690 Professional (1973–78) | Fuji G690 | 1973–1978 | — | — |
- Weight: Lallement's table gives the GL690 body as 1,148 g; Mike Eckman weighed his at 1172 g body only and 1894 g with the 50mm lens and its finder; camera-wiki gives only 1745 g with the 100mm f/3.5. The lightest published body figure is carried.
- Release: Japanese Wikipedia and Lallement say November 1973; camera-wiki and Eckman January 1974. Lallement has the GM670 following in January 1974 and the whole series ending in November 1978.
- Prices: camera-wiki's ¥140,400 for the body with the 100mm f/3.5 is ¥87,000 above its ¥53,400 body price, more than the ¥83,000 it quotes for the AE lens alone; the figures are reported as found and do not reconcile.
- Mike Eckman's specification box gives the finder as 0.75× and his text as 0.92×; the second figure is the field coverage at infinity (Lallement), not a magnification.
How to tell them apart
- Two shutter releases: the usual one on the top plate inside the advance lever and a second on the front plate for vertical framing
- Large white 'G' on the lens mount and 'Professional' in the top-plate engraving; the 'P' mark that camera-wiki saw on the G690 is gone
- Round threaded eyepiece and mushroom strap lugs
- Lens-release tab interlocked with the dark curtain; red dot on the breech-lock collar aligns for removal (Eckman)
- Black finish throughout and rubber-gripped 1974-generation lenses on the cameras sold as sets; the earlier ribbed-ring lenses fit and were sold alongside
- A GM670 is externally the same camera with 6×7 frames in the finder and 10 on the counter
Fujica GL690 Professional (1973–78):
- 'Fujica GL690 Professional' engraved on the top plate and a large white stylised 'G' above the lens mount (Eckman; camera-wiki)
- Second shutter release on the front plate, for vertical pictures (camera-wiki; Japanese Wikipedia: 縦位置用シャッターボタンを装備した)
- Round eyepiece threaded for dioptre lenses, eyecups and a right-angle finder, in place of the G690's square one (camera-wiki; Eckman)
- Mushroom-shaped strap lugs, which need Fuji's own strap or an adapter (camera-wiki; Eckman)
- Exposure-count dial reading 16 (220), 8 (120) and 4 (short-roll 120); the R/S switch remains beside the advance lever (Eckman)
- No sheet-film capability; the curtain warning dot in the finder was dropped (Lallement)
- Fujica GL690 Professional (1973–78): The only model. Yamamoto Katsuhiko toured Japan collecting professionals' complaints about the G690BL before designing it (camera-wiki; Eckman). Body ¥53,400, ¥140,400 with the 100mm f/3.5 (camera-wiki). Prototypes of this generation with a CdS meter in the body and with date recording were dropped to keep the camera simple once the AE lens could carry the metering (camera-wiki).
Serial-range notes
- No published scheme
- No source consulted ties serial numbers to years or gives a production total. The number is on a small black plate at the lower left of the back (Eckman).
Specifications
- Format
- 56×82.6mm on 120 or 220 film (Lallement's table, who measures 56×85mm on the film). Sheet film is no longer accepted; a four-exposure short roll of 120 is. · 8 on 120, 16 on 220, 4 on a short roll of 120 exposures
- Finder
- combined coupled rangefinder/viewfinder with projected brightlines that move for parallax and shrink for field of view as the lens is focused; brighter frames than the G690's (Lallement) · 0.75× magnification · 100mm, 150mm framelines · both frames projected, always visible · automatic — field-corrected brightlines parallax correction · 92% coverage
- Base length
- 67 mm
- Effective baselength
- 50.3 mm
- Shutter
- none in the body; Seiko No. 0 leaf shutter in each lens (electronically timed in the EBC Fujinon AE 100mm f/3.5); a spring-loaded cloth dark curtain covers the film gate for mid-roll lens changes, with a lock that holds the lens on until it is closed · B, 1–1/500 s on the mechanical lenses; the AE 100mm adds aperture-priority automatic timing · flash sync M and X at all speeds, PC terminal with X/M switch, cold shoe; X only with the AE 100mm (Lallement)
- Film advance
- Lever, coaxial with the top shutter release; two strokes per frame; automatic spacing, additive auto-reset counter; dial for 16, 8 or 4 exposures (camera-wiki; Eckman)
- Back
- Hinged; pressure plate engraved 120 and 220 and flipped to change; R/S switch kept although sheet film is no longer accepted (Eckman); red dot in the gate marks the film start
- Meter
- None in the body; the EBC Fujinon AE 100mm f/3.5 carries a CdS cell behind its filter for aperture-priority automatic exposure, ISO 25–800 (camera-wiki)
- Motor drive
- Not compatible
- Weight
- 1148 g
- Dimensions
- 183 wide, 166 high, 145 deep with the normal lens, body 38 thick — Lallement's single table for the G690 line mm
- Country
- Japan
- Original price
- ¥53,400 body; ¥140,400 with the Fujinon S 100mm f/3.5 (1974, camera-wiki); strap ¥1,400, eyecup ¥200 (today ¥122,000)
- Accessories
- Accessory finders for the 50mm (reflected frameline, 0.39×), 65mm f/5.6 (reflected frameline, 0.39×), 65mm f/8 (projected brightline, 0.56×) and 180mm (reflected frameline, 1.0×) lenses (camera-wiki) · Dioptre lenses +2, +0.5, −2.5 and −4, eyecup, right-angle finder and an additional accessory shoe on the eyepiece (camera-wiki) · Sports finder for 65, 100 and 180mm, ¥5,500; close-up attachment for the 100mm; GN32 flashgun and 'strobo bracket G'; 'Q Setter' quick-release tripod mount; Fujica Carrying Bag II; neckstrap ¥1,400 for the mushroom lugs (camera-wiki)
Lallement's table gives 67mm base, 0.75× and 50.3mm effective base for the whole G690 line, and the GL690's frames as showing 95% of the picture at 1m and 92% at infinity, against 96% and 84% on the G690; camera-wiki describes the same change as 'from 84% to 92%'. Round eyepiece accepting +2, +0.5, −2.5 and −4 dioptre lenses, an eyecup (¥200) and a right-angle finder (camera-wiki). The 50mm, 65mm and 180mm lenses are composed through accessory finders in the shoe; the rangefinder focuses all of them. Eckman found the finder large and bright and usable with glasses.
Figures we worked out rather than found: The finder base, magnification and effective base are Lallement's figures for the G690 line as a whole, stated once for the G690, G690BL and GL690; no source gives them for the GL690 alone.
Where sources disagree
- First
- November 1973 — Japanese Wikipedia's Fujifilm product list (1973年11月発売); Lallement
- January 1974 — camera-wiki.org; Mike Eckman
Two sources on each side; the camera is called a 1974 model in most English writing.
- Weight (grams)
- 1,148 g body — Lallement's specification table
- 1172 g body only, 1894 g with the 50mm and its finder — Mike Eckman's own weighing
- 1745 g with the 100mm f/3.5 — camera-wiki.org
Better supported: 1148 g
What reviewers say
- Mike Eckman, mikeeckman.com (blog) — "Highly recommended!" — a camera that backs up its reputation rather than a hype camera: very heavy, but easier to handle than an RB67, well built, with a large bright finder that works with glasses and a front release he preferred; the 50mm gave results he compared to modern digital, the AE 100mm was slightly softer with an accurate meter indoors.
- Simon Foale, 35mmc (blog) — Two GL690 bodies with the 100mm f/3.5 and 65mm f/5.6: "very impressive, even a half a century after they first hit the market" — fully mechanical, smaller and lighter than a pro digital body with an f/2.8 zoom, with accurate rangefinders, and preferred to the fixed-lens GW/GSW690 for interchangeable lenses and a true B setting.
- Sébastien Lallement, lallement.com (blog) — "The first and only 6×9 camera offering auto-exposure and auto fill-in flash", via the AE 100mm; Fuji claimed better reliability than the G690 but he thinks disappointing lens sales the likelier reason production ended in 1978; check the dark-curtain spring, and treat a damaged film advance as terminal.
History
The GL690 Professional is the G690BL rebuilt around what professional photographers had asked for. Yamamoto Katsuhiko, who had led the original design, toured Japan collecting their complaints (camera-wiki; Eckman), and the camera that resulted in November 1973 (Japanese Wikipedia; Lallement) or January 1974 (camera-wiki) added a second shutter release on the front plate for vertical pictures, a brighter finder whose frames show 92% of the picture at infinity instead of 84%, a round eyepiece threaded for dioptre lenses and a right-angle finder, mushroom-shaped strap lugs, and a four-exposure short-roll setting on the counter dial. Sheet film, which the G690 had accepted through its R/S switch, was dropped, though the switch itself remained. The same body with a 6×7 gate was sold as the GM670. The body cost ¥53,400, or ¥140,400 with the Fujinon S 100mm f/3.5.
The lens line was renewed at the same time: a 50mm f/5.6 ultra-wide, a 65mm f/5.6 replacing the 65mm f/8, rubber-gripped versions of the 100mm, 150mm and 180mm, and the EBC Fujinon AE 100mm f/3.5, whose electronic Seiko shutter and CdS cell gave aperture-priority automatic exposure to a camera that has no meter of its own. That lens is why Lallement calls the GL690 “the first and only 6×9 camera offering auto-exposure and auto fill-in flash”. Prototypes with a CdS meter in the body and with date recording were built in this period and abandoned, camera-wiki says, to keep the body simple once the lens could carry the electronics.
In use the GL690 is a very heavy camera, as Mike Eckman says, but one that handles more easily than a medium-format SLR of the same negative size, with a finder that works with glasses and a front release he came to prefer; his 50mm gave results he set beside modern digital, the AE 100mm slightly softer but metering accurately indoors, and he ends “Highly recommended!”. Simon Foale, running two bodies with the 100mm and 65mm f/5.6, found them “very impressive, even a half a century after they first hit the market”, fully mechanical, with accurate rangefinders, and preferred them to the fixed-lens GW/GSW690 for the interchangeable lenses and a true B setting. The things to check are the ones Lallement lists: a dark-curtain spring that weakens with heavy use so the curtain no longer opens fully, and the film advance, which cannot be repaired because Fuji has no parts.
Production ended in November 1978 when the fixed-lens GW690 Professional took over. Fuji had found that only the 65mm and 100mm lenses sold in any number, and a fixed lens cut parts and cost (Eckman, from the history; Lallement suspects the same reason behind the official talk of reliability). The GL690 and GM670 are therefore the last Fuji rangefinders that take lenses off, and the AE 100mm and 50mm, which Lallement calls the most desirable of the lenses, are now the hard ones to find.
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.
Live listings
- Pre-Owned Fujica GL690 w/ 100mm f3.5 & 65mm f5.6 Lenses #3040159
- 富士フイルム FUJIFILM FUJICA GL690 Professional 100mm F3.5 #Y-23AU59-2015
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