Fujifilm 100 Acros | Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris

Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. – Tokyo

Fujica GW690 Professional – 1978 version. Yes it’s big. Yes it’s a bit heavy too. But who doesn’t love big 6x9cm negatives! We had an Asahi Pentax 6×7 SLR for a while in our active collection and thoroughly enjoyed the images it produced. The 6×7 and 6×9 in our opinion are great formats. We still shoot in squares though – it’s fun to compose a 6×6 frame on a twin-lens reflex. If anything will slow your photography down it’s that.

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This camera arrived yesterday and it’s all cleaned up and ready to go. This is a heavily used (think venerable workhorse) GW690 with all sorts of dings, dents and scrapes to show for it’s almost four decades of use. We imagine it’s seen more than a few tour groups in its time – now it’s time to slow down a bit. We purchased it to be a user camera for some fine art prints we want to create and sell on our online site. We normally print on 8.5 x 11 inch Canon paper with an occasional bump to 13 x 19 inches and the 6×9 format is perfect.

We’re big fans of Fuji cameras and this one will earn its keep in our studio. I’m headed out this afternoon with a roll of Fujifilm Neopan 100 Acros loaded to test it out.

It’s a simple camera – completely analog. No onboard exposure meter, no auto film advance, no auto focus – just what we wanted.

We chose the GW690 vice the “newer” models (II and III) because I’m not a big fan of the built-in lens hood on the later models (gets in the way). The shutter settings (leaf shutter) and aperture settings are right next to one another which makes it super easy to see the relationship each has on the other. Focusing is quick on this model and the rangefinder window is bright and easy to see.

A 35mm box of film gives you a comparison to just how big the Fujica is. By the way, this model was the last to be called a Fujica.

Ready to rock some Neopan!

We thought it would look good with some vintage Fuji Film beside it. The film expired in 1964!

We’ll have the results next week as we send our film out to ‘The Darkroom’ for their professional development and scans. 6×9 on 120 roll film produces only 8 exposures so I should be able to shoot in one afternoon. Let’s see… with the purchase of the film, processing and shipping it’s going to cost about $25 per 8 images. Yikes!

Thanks for your visit. Chris & Carol ^.^

The goal is to take our 1958 medium format camera from Fuji Photo for a little picture taking. We’ve loaded some fresh Fujifilm Neopan 100 Acros (in days past it was Neopan SS) into the Fujipet and see how it does after 58 years of non use. We’re very curious about the “look” of the images. If you don’t know much about the Fujipet, please take a stroll through our archives for a little catch-up.

1958 Fuji Photo Fujipet with its new strap. A simple modification to the Canon strap made it perfect for this lightweight Fuji. We have the original vinyl (leather?) strap for the Fuji but it’s still sealed in its original package. No reason to ruin it by using it LOL.

The Pet as seen on a local legend (Mr. David Yulee).

Hoping the bright Florida sunshine was just right for our first test of the Pet.

And just how did the Pet perform?

The entire roll of 12 exposures came out just great! Here’s a sample of some of them. The Pet gave a special look to the images. We had ‘The Darkroom’ print up these four images in their true square format (here they are 5 x 5 inches).

Well as you can see the pictures came back from the outing with the Fujipet. We couldn’t be more thrilled with how they came out! The lens was actually super sharp (all things considered) and the almost 60 year old plastic lens had some nice contrast to it too. We can’t say enough about Neopan 100 Acros – exceptional film!

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If you can get your hands on a Fujipet then do so. There’s almost always one or two listed on the Japanese online auction sites. Be careful though! Japan (like my Florida) is a very humid climate and that can wreck havoc on old metal cameras and plastic lenses. Ask questions of the sellers and look very closely at the images of it. By the way, in 1958 when the Pet’s were selling wildly in Japan, they went for 1950 yen or about just under $6. You’ll pay a little more than that today but a good one can still be found for under $100 and questionable ones for $10 to $20.

Thanks for your visit! Comments are always welcome.

C&C ^.^

Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris

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