The monster Fuji GW690ii (AKA the Texas Leica) is a fixed lens, rangefinder medium format camera. It’s nickname as the ‘Texas Leica’ comes from it’s rangefinder format and at how sharp the results are and it’s larger than life appearance.
I purchased this camera after succumbing to a severe case of G.A.S (gear acquisition syndrome), the curiosity type, rather than just wanting new gear. I prefer using rangefinders as a tool after falling in love with the process through my M-mount Bessa R2m, and I wanted to experiment more with medium format cameras, after my experience with the RB67. The Fuji offered more portability and in the body of a rangefinder, and after reading numerous reviews around the quality of the lens/camera, as soon as one came up from a respectable seller in the UK, I had to try it out.
First impressions were that the build quality was solid, but by no means luxurious, with plastic grip where a leatherette and plastic finishing across the body. You can tell this was a designed as a simple workhorse of a camera, with maybe the more artisan materials being left off to keep the weight down and portability up. Every button is pronounced and easy to use, with the camera taking the shape of a cartoonish toy camera silhouette and this did make me feel a bit self conscious using it. Some other issues I had with it, was I wasn’t a fan of moving the lens hood to change the aperture and because if this constant moving the lens hood is prone to becoming misshaped. Although, the viewfinder is optically beautiful, large and light, the rangefinder patch was very faint and made it difficult to focus on 1/3 shots. This may have just been this particular camera, though.
Despite those first impression issues, the plus points of this camera do override them. The first and main one is the powerhouse of the lens. It is incredibly crisp and it is clear how the camera earned it’s nickname. It’s portability and simplicity is also a massive plus. Unlike touring with the RB67 which was holstered in my rucksack, I could keep the fuji around my neck with a secondary 35mm camera round my neck too. It made medium format photography much more accessible for this reason. The simplicity of the camera meant I could spend more time thinking about photos I wanted to take, rather than preparing the camera to take the photo. Whilst using the camera I also really appreciated how it felt to use it. When you wound the film, you felt the gears turning. It felt mechanical, it felt like it was working for you and these feelings added to the photo taking process.
I did however, end up selling the Fuji, partly for the reasons I mentioned, but also I preferred using the RB67. The act of taking a photograph with the RB67 made it like an event, which with the expense of medium format photography was important. Also I was also much more convinced about the quality and feeling of the photos the RB67 created. Also (which is not the Fuji’s fault), is after repairing the RB67 myself and carrying it all over the place, I deffo have developed an attachment to it, which the Fuji just couldn’t touch. Lastly, it is such a brilliant camera, it needed to be used and deserved more than to sit on my shelf for a once a month trip.
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