First Pics! Fujica GW690

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We just got our first roll of film from our new Fujica processed with ‘The Darkroom’. They scanned the 6×9 negatives and zipped them to us. We couldn’t be any more pleased with the results.

As a refresher – this is the 1978 version of Fuji Photo Film’s GW690 medium format film camera. It is the last model to to be called ‘Fujica’. It looks great in this image and it is in very nice condition, but well worn from the thousands of rolls and exposures taken. It will settle in to a more quiet life with us as we can’t afford to buy and have processed 120 film and only get 8 exposures per roll. But we are super happy with it. Super sharp Fujinon 90mm lens transfers the image nicely to the 6×9 negative.

By the way… all of the images presented are direct scans from the negatives. No post production on our part – no crops or other messing with the images. Some I missed the correct exposure by a stop or two with my guesses. I was mostly shooting at 1/250 with 100 film at around f8 to f11. Neopan Acros is very forgiving.

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As you can see, we’ve presented 6 exposures vice 8… 1 other was a duplicate and exposure 8 wasn’t on the roll! I think I may have wound past the first frame. We believe the level of detail and contrast of the Fujinon lens is superb. Did we mention that we’re big fans of Fuji’s Acros? We also love the 6×9 format too. I would say that I was surprised at the shallow depth-of-field in the truck image – I focused on the ‘GMC’ logo and as you may be able to see, I missed spot on focus.

All of the images were taken along Centre Street, downtown historic district, Fernandina Beach – Amelia Island, Florida. The post office building is ca. 1911. The clock tower is ca. 1891. The ‘Pineapple Patch’ building is ca. 1880s. You get the point – for the U.S. it’s kinda old – for most of the rest of the world they’re kinda new. It’s all relative. ^.^

Thanks for your visit!

Chris and Carol

Fujica GW690 part 2

Just back from the Fujica’s first photo assignment in the US. What a simple and fun camera to use! The viewfinder (rangefinder) is super bright and big! It made it easy to compose my images and focus.

Yeah the leaf shutter going off isn’t going to get a bunch of oohs and ahhs from the crowd – it works and that’s what matters. The shutter sounds just like our Fujipet from 1958. Stay with what you know Fuji Photo!

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It took up the entire camera bag! I only had room for some lens wipes and the lens cap. Just back from its test shots.

The camera did draw some attention from the tourists that were downtown. It’s fun to answer their questions about film vs. digital (we love both) and the most common question – why would you take pictures with such an old camera? The weather was gorgeous too today – bright blue sky and and plenty of strong Florida sunshine. It took no time for me to burn through the 8 exposures!

When I advanced the film after exposure number 8, it took only 5 strokes (maybe only 4) of the film advance lever to free the film fully from the supply roll. Thinking that I’d better be cautious, I decided to remove the film in my dark bag at home.

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All went well in the dark bag. The roll had properly wound itself.

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We wish Fujifilm still made Neopan 400.

Now that the first part of the test is done, time to send off the roll to ‘The Darkroom’ for processing and digital scans. We should see something online from them by late Friday afternoon (it’s Tuesday now). Time to head to the post office!

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Check back soon to see the finished results. Thanks for your visit!

C&C ^.^