Fuji GSW690II Professional
Fuji Photo Film · Fixed lens · 6×9cm on 120 or 220 roll film; a three-position film selector sets the counter for 4 exposures (half-length 120), 8 (120) or 16 (220). · 1985
Known as “Texas Leica”
Also known as: Fuji GSW690II · Fuji GSW690 II · Fuji GSW690II Professional · Fuji GSW690 II Professional · Fujica GSW690II · GSW690II 6x9 · Fuji GSW690II 65mm F5.6 · Fuji GSW690 Mark II · フジ GSW690II · フジ GSW690 II · フジGSW690IIプロフェッショナル · Texas Leica
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fuji GSW690II Professional | Fuji fixed | 1985–1992 | — | Not published |
- Weight: camera-wiki gives the GSW690II only as 'about 5 g heavier' than the GSW690's 1,475 g; 1,480 g is that sum, not a measured figure. No dimensions are given for the II.
- Shutter speed range (1–1/500) is the III manual's figure for the line; the GSW690II's own manual was not read.
- Camera West's piece gives the production span as 1985–1992 and the 65mm as roughly a 28mm equivalent, which matches the III manual's 76° field.
How to tell them apart
- The II-generation body with the wide lens: 'Fuji' on the front, a hot shoe, a locking release, a chequered grip and a strap lug at each end; EBC Fujinon SW 65mm f/5.6 behind a built-in hood, 67mm filter thread, no meter
- 'Fujica', a cold shoe, ribbed grips and both loops on the left: the 1980 GSW690. Curved rubber-covered body with a spirit level: the 1992 GSW690III
- Two shutter releases, on the top plate and on the front with the lock, the front one giving a better grip (Camera West)
- Odometer-style counter on the base plate reading in tens of exposures
- Listing trap: 'GSW690' alone is written for all three generations; the nameplate and the shoe settle it
Fuji GSW690II Professional:
- 'Fuji' on the front plate in place of 'Fujica', with 'SW' in the lens name, EBC Fujinon SW 65mm f/5.6 (camera-wiki; Japanese Wikipedia)
- Hot shoe with contacts in place of the plain accessory shoe (camera-wiki)
- Lock on the shutter release; chequered grip; one strap lug on each end (camera-wiki, the II-generation changes shared with the GW690II)
- Shutter-actuation odometer on the base plate (camera-wiki)
- Fuji GSW690II Professional: The only form of the camera: the GSW690 with the II-generation changes, which camera-wiki puts about 5 g heavier than the GSW690's 1,475 g. Japanese Wikipedia describes it as the wide-angle version of the GW690II.
Serial-range notes
- No published scheme
- No source records serial blocks or a serial-to-year table for any GW/GSW body. Generation features date a body, not its number.
Specifications
- Format
- 6×9cm on 120 or 220 roll film; a three-position film selector sets the counter for 4 exposures (half-length 120), 8 (120) or 16 (220). · 8 on 120, 16 on 220, 4 on half-length 120 exposures
- Finder
- combined coupled rangefinder/viewfinder with a bright-line frame for the 65mm · 65mm framelines
- Shutter
- #0 leaf shutter in the lens, cocked by the advance lever; double-exposure prevention; release lock · T, 1s–1/500; no B (range from the III manual) · flash sync X, all speeds, hot shoe and sync socket · no self-timer
- Film advance
- Two-stroke lever on the top plate; additive exposure counter
- Back
- Hinged, with a reversible pressure plate for 120 or 220
- Meter
- None
- Motor drive
- Not compatible
- Weight
- 1480 g
- Country
- Japan
- Original price
- ¥178,500 (June 1985; camera-wiki's table), ¥20,000 more than the GW690II of the same month (today ¥231,000)
- Accessories
- Lens cap and soft case; a 67mm filter thread behind the built-in hood · Hot-shoe flash or a flash on the sync socket
No magnification, base length or coverage figure for the second-generation GSW finder was found. The GSW690III manual's 59mm base and 26.6mm effective base describe the 1992 finder.
Figures we worked out rather than found: weight_g (1,480) is camera-wiki's '5 g heavier than the GSW690' added to the GSW690's 1,475 g.
What reviewers say
- Carlo Velasquez, Camera West (Leica Store San Francisco) (blog) — A fun, demanding camera that sharpened his film habits: the 65mm is sharp with vintage character, the leaf shutter steadies slow speeds and the front release gives a better grip, against eight frames a roll, Sunny 16 metering and little shallow depth of field at f/5.6. 'Ultimately I had a great time using this camera.'
History
The Fuji GSW690II Professional of June 1985 is the GSW690 of 1980 carried over to the second-generation body, released in the same month as the GW690II and ¥20,000 dearer at ¥178,500. The changes are the ones camera-wiki and the Japanese product list record for the GW690II: a hot shoe with contacts, a lock on the shutter release, a chequered grip, a strap lug at each end for horizontal carry and ‘Fuji’ in place of ‘Fujica’ on the front plate. The lens is unchanged, the six-element EBC Fujinon SW 65mm f/5.6 behind a built-in retractable hood with a 67mm thread, which the GSW690III manual gives a 76° field, about a 28mm on 35mm film, a 1 m nearest focus and f/32. The #0 leaf shutter runs T and 1 second to 1/500 with no B; film is 120 or 220 on a reversible pressure plate, 8 or 16 frames, with the odometer-style shutter counter on the base.
Carlo Velasquez’s Camera West piece is the review found on this body. Coming from a Leica M, he found the focusing natural and the front release, with its lock, a better grip than the top one, and the leaf shutter a help at slow speeds; the lens he calls sharp with vintage character. The costs are those of the design: eight frames a roll, no meter so Sunny 16 throughout, controls hidden behind the lens shade until it is pulled out, and at f/5.6 little scope for shallow depth of field in environmental portraits. He nonetheless ‘had a great time using this camera’.
Telling the generations apart follows the GW690: ‘Fujica’, a cold shoe, ribbed grips and both loops on the left end mark the 1980 GSW690; this body has the hot shoe, the lock, the chequered grip and a lug per end; the GSW690III of February 1992 is the curved rubber-covered body with a spirit level and a push-button spool release. Camera-wiki puts this body about 5 g heavier than the 1,475 g GSW690.
What remains open: the finder’s magnification and base length for the II; a serial scheme; and a production figure. The 1992 end date is the GSW690III’s release month.
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.
Example photos
Sample photo wanted — shot with a Fuji GSW690II Professional? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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