Alright! Now that Zig's back, here's the deal:
I've been playing with my 35mm rangefinder for a little while now, but someone had been whispering about the allure of a medium format rangefinder. Indeed, looking at the Fujifilm GF670 folding rangefinder was mighty addictive - it's just a little bigger than a D700 body when stowed, but it has that jumbo 6x7cm negative. I was seriously considering picking one up in New York this fall, so I kept reading about MF formats and cameras to get my base knowledge up. Ultimately, though, I knew it wasn't a perfect match for me - it's close enough to my Zeiss Ikon that there would be times when choosing between them would be difficult. Put another way, should I really spend more money on a new camera that will leave my more expensive and also brand new camera sitting alone at home? Even without the LINAC factor -
'like I need another camera' - it's a bad idea.
And then I found my dream camera. It was an obscure website reference to a camera I had never heard of, but I had been looking for something that matched its specifications for years. I immediately showed a photo of it to a friend of mine, who recognized it as one that a friend of his had bought but didn't use any more. A few phone calls later, and
voilà :
This is the Fujifilm GX680, a 6x8 format rollfilm (120, medium format) camera with technical movements on the front standard. It's been called the biggest SLR, and I believe it. In this configuration, it weighs over ten pounds. I'm using the extended bellows and focusing rail extensions, which with this 210mm lens (100mm-e) gives me a 1.5:1 magnification.
Here I've switched to the waist-level finder and pulled the lens back to a more standard position. The large knob at the bottom controls focusing, with the others controlling independent swing and shift. Movements can be used in any combination. I've also rotated the back to its vertical position; the backs are removable and can be masked for different aspect ratios. I also have the 6x7 mask, which would let me get 10 exposures on a roll instead of the 6x8's nine.
There are three models of the GX680, I have the final one which was discontinued in 2003. The biggest difference is that this final one uses standard lithium batteries (CR2, CR123) to power the back and the body respectively. The pack on the side of the camera is another option, and replaces all of the expensive lithium batteries with six standard double-A type; but if I had the batteries in the film back, then it would be able to wind on film even when it's not attached to the camera.
The used kit that I bought also has an 80mm lens (roughly 40mm-e) for my perfect two-lens kit. I have some photos from both on the two rolls of film that I've exposed so far; I'm learning how to work with my new flatbed scanner as I type this. Photos to come soonâ¦