Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Fuji GW690II 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 GW690II · Fuji GW690 II · Fuji GW690II Professional · Fuji GW690 II Professional · Fujica GW690II · GW690II 6x9 · Fuji GW690II 90mm F3.5 · Fuji GW690 Mark II · フジ GW690II · フジ GW690 II · フジGW690IIプロフェッショナル · Texas Leica

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Fuji GW690II Professional Fuji fixed 1985–1992 — Not published
  1. Weight: camera-wiki gives the GW690II only as 'about 10 g heavier' than the GW690's 1,430 g; 1,440 g is that sum, not a measured figure. No dimensions are given for the II separately from the GW690's 189 × 119 × 123mm.
  2. Shutter speed range (1–1/500) is the III manual's figure for the line; the GW690II's own manual was not read. The Radavist review confirms the top speed of 1/500 and the absence of B.
  3. Japanese Wikipedia lists the II's changes as a shutter lock, a horizontal strap hook and the hot shoe, with the Fujica name dropped; camera-wiki adds the chequered grip and the one-lug-per-side arrangement.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • The first-generation body with 'Fuji' on the front, a hot shoe, a locking release, a chequered grip and a strap lug at each end; EBC Fujinon 90mm f/3.5 behind a built-in hood, 67mm filter thread, no meter
  • 'Fujica', a cold shoe, ribbed grips and both loops on the left: the 1978 GW690. Curved rubber-covered body with a spirit level and a push-button spool release: the 1992 GW690III
  • Odometer-style counter on the base plate reading in tens of exposures
  • Listing trap: 'GW690' alone is written for all three generations, and 'II' is easily lost in a title; the nameplate and the shoe settle it

Fuji GW690II Professional:

  • 'Fuji' on the front plate in place of 'Fujica' (camera-wiki; Japanese Wikipedia)
  • Hot shoe with contacts in place of the plain accessory shoe (camera-wiki; Japanese Wikipedia)
  • Lock on the shutter release (Japanese Wikipedia; camera-wiki)
  • Chequered grip in place of the ribbed one (camera-wiki)
  • One strap lug on each end so the camera hangs horizontally (Japanese Wikipedia's 'horizontal strap hook'; camera-wiki)
  • Shutter-actuation odometer on the base plate, as on all generations (camera-wiki)

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 90mm · 90mm framelines
Shutter
#0 leaf shutter in the lens, cocked by the advance lever; double-exposure prevention; release lock · T, 1s–1/500; no B (Radavist; 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
1440 g
Country
Japan
Original price
¥158,500 (June 1985; camera-wiki's table), ¥15,000 more than the GW690 of 1978 (today ¥205,000)
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 finder was found. The GW690III manual's 0.75×, 59mm base and 44.3mm effective base describe the 1992 finder, which camera-wiki and a camera-history site both list as new on the III.

Figures we worked out rather than found: weight_g (1,440) is camera-wiki's '10 g heavier than the GW690' added to the GW690's 1,430 g.

What reviewers say

History

The Fuji GW690II Professional of June 1985 is the GW690 of 1978 with five changes and a new name on the front plate. Camera-wiki and the Japanese product list between them list them all: a hot shoe with contacts in place of the plain accessory shoe, a lock on the shutter release, a chequered grip in place of the ribbed one, a strap lug at each end so the camera hangs horizontally instead of both loops on the left, and ‘Fuji’ engraved where ‘Fujica’ had been. The lens, shutter and film path are unchanged: the five-element EBC Fujinon 90mm f/3.5 behind a built-in hood with a 67mm thread, a #0 leaf shutter with T and 1 second to 1/500 and no B, 120 or 220 on a reversible pressure plate with a 4/8/16 selector, and the odometer-style shutter counter on the base. Camera-wiki puts it about 10 g heavier than the 1,430 g GW690 and ¥15,000 dearer at ¥158,500.

The II is the generation that spawned the 6×7 version: the GW670II of December 1985 is this body with a smaller gate and different advance gearing and numbering, which camera-wiki gives as the only differences. The wide-angle GSW690II arrived in the same month as this camera. All three were replaced in 1992 by the curved, rubber-covered III bodies, which also brought the spirit level, the push-button spool release and a finder that camera-wiki and a camera-history site both describe as new.

Kyle Klain’s Radavist review is the one found that is written around this body. He calls it ‘a hammer of a camera’, mechanical and tough enough to survive a fall into a canyon, with a sharp 90mm that separates subjects pleasingly wide open; the complaints are the line’s usual ones, the aperture and speed rings that sit close enough to move together and the missing bulb setting, which he works around by covering the lens and winding on. Camera-wiki’s account of the first-generation shutter counter applies here too: it reads in tens, rolls over at 999, makes the release loud and can be disconnected.

What remains open: the finder’s magnification and base length, which no source gives for the II; a serial scheme; and a production figure. The 1992 end date is the GW690III’s release month.

Expand Collapse

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 GW690II Professional? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $25 across 3 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-02 (middle half $25–$25). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Fujica GW690 Professional · Fujica GSW690 Professional · Fuji GSW690II Professional · Fuji GW670II Professional · Fuji GW690III Professional · Fuji GSW690III Professional · Fuji GW670III Professional · Fuji GW680III Professional · Fuji GSW680III Professional

Lenses for this body: EBC Fujinon 90mm f/3.5 (GW690)

Sources (4)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.