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Fuji GSW690III conversion for IQ back?

schuster

Active member
One of my favorite cameras, a Fuji 6x9 with its spectacular 65mm lens, has been sitting unused for years. Seems like there should be a way of modifying it for a digi-back, or at least cannibalizing the lens for a tech camera. Any thoughts on that?
 
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lance_schad

Workshop Member
One of my favorite cameras, a Fuji 6x9 with its spectacular 65mm lens, has been sitting unused for years. Seems like there should be a way of modifying it for a digi-back, or at least cannibalizing the lens for a tech camera. Any thoughts on that?
KaptureGroup has a few adapters available:





We also have one of these adapters that we could provide for rental if you would like to try it out.

Lance
 

Oren Grad

Active member
Lance, the GSW is a fixed-lens rangefinder camera, not a studio SLR like the GX680.

Anyway, I doubt it's worth the hassle. For a skilled machinist to cobble together some way of mounting the back to the camera, assuming it's feasible at all to get the sensor where the film plane used to be, will probably cost $$$$. OTOH, cannibalizing the lens + helicoid to mount on a technical camera will still require some clever fabrication not just for the mount, but also for an internal linkage to trigger the shutter, which doesn't have an external cable release socket on the barrel. That's also likely to be pricey.

And after all that, you still won't know until you try it whether the lens or, if you go that route, the rangefinder will be up to snuff for the IQ backs, which will be mercilessly revealing of so-so glass or inaccurate focus.

Don't forget the wonky T-setting of the shutter in that lens.

Also don't forget that 65 on 36x48mm will give you a much narrower field of view than the 65 on 56x84mm that you're used to.

EDIT: Just to clarify my point about "so-so" glass, I know that the 65 on the GSW has a fine reputation. But it's sometimes hard to predict which lenses from the film era will hold up well in digital capture, where the optical requirements are somewhat different.
 
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Jan Brittenson

Senior Subscriber Member
I had a GSW690III in the 90s and to be frank I don't think the Fujinon 65 is going to do anything special with an IQ back. It never took 100 speed film to the limit, which means you'd get fairly soft images from a 22MP ZD back even. It's a fine camera though, and I traveled all over central america with mine, through dirt and mud (oh dear God, the mud) on horseback and in the back of a pickup truck, or by local bus, and it never skipped a beat. Load it up with TXP320 and enjoy it for what it is...
 
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