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Just a quick photo for now, I'll have a little more in a few days…

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Pavel, no hints, please - the first batch is coming soon.

(Zig's going to have a lot of catching up to do…)
Large format??
Well, certainly large.
Once I saw an old Rolleiflex, we actually had it at home for few days to try it and we never did anything with it as it was looking as a piece of a museum, almost untouchable... your picture made me think of such cameras, Ricohflex, Yashica....
I am quiet - for now. it will cost you big time Big GrinBig Grin
Micro Four Thirds? Tongue
Looks anything but micro, unless that is a washing machine in the background. Big Grin
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:

[Image: 1020613430_ooLac-M.jpg]

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.

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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.

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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 soon…
Whillickers!! That's quite the unit. Amazing product photos of it as well. Can't wait to hear more...
Question: where do you put the ammo? Big Grin

That's awesome Matthew - thanks for sharing. Big Grin
oooooo... fantastic Matthew!

That looks like a really usable alternative to large-format with some really nice features. And those two lenses really do seem like the perfect focal-lengths for a 2-lens setup. I can't wait to see some photos from it.
I see it has 4 built in wallets too. Big Grin

It appears to be a modern version of the old Speedgraphic S4 plate camera, which I used in 1959.
Horses for courses Matthew. I couldn't envisage dragging ten pounds of camera around, plus a few stone of ancilliary gear. Tongue


Something from Fuji's website.


The GX680 camera body has been discontinued. Fujifilm UK only have a limited supply of GX680 lenses and accessories available. (Buy now while stocks last :/)
We have two members of my camera club that still shoot entirely medium format, and process in home darkrooms.... their prints are head and shoulders clear of anything else produced by members in terms of color and quality.

10lbs ain't so bad... my 50D, 50-500 and tripod/head come in at a little over 16 pounds, and I lug that thing everywhere, plus all my other crap... I have a hard time leaving anything at home "in case I need it".
Simply beautiful(I'll have to PM Rob to congratulate him privately on his M9: I awlays think new Leica owners must suffer terribly be a strange combination of mega-thrill and acute sensitivity to criticism..or jealousy rather).
Matthew, am delighted...it also has rubber-stamped my decision to hang onto my MF kit too. I know this Fuji and remember with great fondness indeed meeting the Fuji rep in a camera shop in Nottingham some years ago. I told him that if he lent me the GSW69, I'd write an article for the Amateur Photographer on it; bless him, he lent me it along with 10 free 120 rolls and mercifully AP accepted the article and 6 shots. This wee incident turned me on to both MF and rangefinders in one fell swoop: I found the Fuji MF rangefinders light and optically excellent. At the time or soon after, I felt that the railed GX680 was the perfect studio camera(yet hailed as the perfect modular MF system), with the bizarre medium-format pano camera, the 617(with its 17cm length on the long side and needing precise positioning of circular ND filters) monstrously brilliant in the hands of someone like Colin Prior. I know the GS67 can be had for a song(around £250?) and I can only say that IMO anyone getting MF film kit gets immediate and cheap access to the fulfilment of all their resolution dreams. If there is a downside, it's then having to learn about what cameras actually do...many have foregone this in their digital dealings. That the GX680 not only kept being produced but also bounced along merrily till its lithium-battery incarnation, is testimony to its benchmark quality. No need to look at 100% crops for corner resolution. Really pleased for you mate; right up your alley this.
Rob, I think your M9 and lens would fit inside the mirror box of this camera - whillickers indeed!

Jules, that's one of the funniest comments I've heard so far. Big Grin

Adrian, Large Format is exactly where I've been looking for a camera with the technical movements, but I've been put off by the difficulty of dealing with sheet film. This solves that problem, and while the negative is far smaller than a 4x5 camera, there's also the 'baby' adapters that shoot 2x3" negatives. That's a 6x9cm negative on a rollfilm adapter, so I'm just a touch smaller than that. And I'm quite pleased with the lenses that I lucked into - it's such a good pair that there's nothing to add. For now. Rolleyes

NT, you're absolutely right. I've needed to put this rig in my largest bag to be able to carry it - a Large Timbuk2 messenger bag, because it's too big for my Domke F1X - and carrying it for an hour or two is about all I can handle. I'm tempted to try one of my one-day trips with it, but I'll need a wheeled suitcase to carry it in before I get that foolish. I'm very lucky that there's a pro photo shop near me that bulked up on GX680 supplies once it was discontinued, so I have a reliable source for film backs, and I've already bought the two different bellows that they had for it.

Craig, I'm really looking forward to the time when I have a negative that's worth the expense of a professional scan and large print. I'm working with a flatbed scanner and 13x19" printer right now, which barely counts as a proofing system. But there's a place in town that does c-prints from MF negatives for a reasonable price, so perhaps I won't wait so long. A darkroom is certainly on my wish list for my bigger place, if/when that happens. And the full kit with my tripod probably weighs in around twenty pounds. Not the end of the world, and not that much more than my travelling product setup, but I probably won't take it camping.

Shaun, this hasn't quite quenched my interest in the MF Fuji rangefinders, but it'll do for now. (Plus I'm flat broke until I can sell some redundant lenses.) The 680 has certainly been teaching me a lot about cameras, and it's brought my light meter out of retirement as well. I really do think that this might be my perfect camera - if only digital backs weren't so expensive! - and hopefully I'll get many, many years of use from it. The body has only about 700 exposures on it. It's also quite satisfying knowing that I have a camera than could turn a D3x into a magnesium-alloy pancake in a fight. Big Grin
Four photos, complete with my usual long-winded naval-gazing commentary, can now be found here:
http://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/viewto...503#p75503
And to make a short story long, here are a few camera photos from my outing today.

The 680 set up and ready to go:

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The view through the finder:

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And the rare 'action shot':

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I absolutely love the 4th shot..that's bloody photogrpaphy!
Ah, but he is good looking enough to carry it. Not like some I could mention. Big Grin Big Grin
I don't know about that, NT, but I'm happy with how the photo came out:

http://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/viewto...538#p75538