Anyone using Fuji GX680 Outdoors?

[gx680lugger]

Is anyone out there besides John Haley using a Fuji GX680 for outdoor

photography? I have played with one and I am thinking about getting a used package for landscapes and such in the red rock country of Northern AZ and Southern UT where I live. Any hints or advice would be appreciated.

[paul_wilson2]

Is John Haley a very large man or raise Llamas on the side? Because otherwise, I can't see how he could carry one of those things very far.

 

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Seriously, for the cost and weight of the Fuji, I think you'd be much better off with either an MF field camera like a Horseman. A Mamiya 7 or a Pentax 67 could also be alternatives but they lack movements. In favor of the Fuji, their optics are supposed to be very good.

[gx680lugger]

In response to Paul Wilson's post.... <BR><BR>

 

Paul got me thinking on the weight factor...... so I looked up the

specs.<BR><BR>

Mamiya RB Pro SD with a 127mm lens, back, 50mm, 210mm = 9.87 lbs<BR>

Fuji GX680 with 135mm lens, back, battery, 50mm, 210mm = 12.02 lbs.<BR>

This computes to a difference of only 2.15 lbs. Not much when you consider the capabilities of the Fuji. Granted, some would not consider the RB Pro as an outdoor system, but I have been hauling an RB ProS or a Bronica GS1 for the last 4 years. I tried the M7 and was not happy with a range finder. I also tried a few view cameras, and quite frankly, found them cumbersome, slow to set up and way to costly to shoot. ($7 - $12 per shot!). <BR><BR>

I have seen 32x40 enlargements from Velvia taken by Mr. Haley with the GX680 that looked superb........I guess I will just have to grin and bear it......literally. :o)>

[clay_fraser1]

I believe that the old Darkroom Techniques once referred to the GX680 as Brobdingnagian, a word taken from Oliver Swift's Gulliver's Travels that means a place where everything is huge. It is the best term I've seen to describe this remarkable camera. Despite its ponderous size, I use one extensively outdoors for architecture and landscape photography, having traded in my Mamiya RB a few years back. The GX680 is large and expensive (the shoulder strap costs around $300!), but the optics are superior, the 6x8 aspect ratio is more flexible than 6x7, the camera aesthics and operations are a joy to behold, and it is one of the few medium format cameras with fairly unfettered lens movements.

 

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I'm using a GX680 on a shoot this week at some prehistoric ruins in Montana. The cross-country hike in is about two miles, with an altitude gain of 1200 feet. In situations like this, I typically walk with a GX680 mounted on the tripod (I'm still saving up for the shoulder strap) and a Fuji G617 over my shoulder, with a couple of extra GX lenses and a handful of 120 film in my vest pockets. It's about as heavy as a view camera (actually a bit heavier, but by the time you've gotten to this point, who's counting ounces). Like a view camera, it is large enough to create a center of gravity of its own in the field, but it is much more accommodating to use than large format.

 

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One shortcoming of the GX680 system used to be the lack of a wide-angle lens. Fuji has relatively recently corrected this by introducing a 50mm to the line, although you have to watch the shifts a little more carefully with this lens, and it and its appurtenant filters are, well, huge. The system still doesn't have a very long focal length available, but large-format lenses can be mounted onto the camera using Linhoff lensboards.

 

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If you can get your hands on a good used GX680 system, and especially if you need lens shifts in a medium format (such as for architectural work), I would recommend it highly. Next to the G617, it is my favorite field camera.

[don_carter1]

Thanks for the info Clay. I am anxious for my M7 to sell so that I can chase after a used GX680!

[steve_bingham]

I would never argue with a man that has the names Clay and Frazer and is able to haul a GX680 plus OTHER equipment up 1200 feet in two miles!!!!!!!!!! Even in my younger days when 60 pound back packs were considered fun!

 

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All I can say it it is a perfect match!

 

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Steve

[clay_fraser1]

Hey man, photography isn't for wimps!

 

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Actually, I did have to stop a few times on the way up the mountain to suck air. We were doing some GPS mapping on the way down, so that turned into a bit of a forced march, but all downhill fortunately. Lugging a GX680 around in the field can be a chore at times, but the images are worth the effort, and, as you can see by my Internet provider below, I'm a glutton for punishment.

[m._kary]

I tried a Fuji GX680 last weekend for outdoor shots. The camera itself with 150mm lens, 3 battery packs, remote release, Sekonic meter, about 10 rolls of film, and a jumbo blower brush just barely fit into a Lowepro "compact 35mm" camera bag. Actually there was a little more room, but I mean the main compartment just barely closed around the 680.

The weight of the camera was tolerable; it was the weight of the tipod, a heavy Manfrotto, that nearly killed me. I should have used something lighter, However, a good tripod is a must, unlike with say the Mamiya 7: it's virtually impossible to use handheld. And the mirror swing is, while feeling better damped than an old Hasselblad 500 CM, an awesome movement. I could swear that even with the obvious dampening, and the heavy tripod, it still shook the camera. So mirror lock up is a must. I haven't got the proofs back yet, but I'm sure the quality will be no better than say a Mamiya 7 or Pentax 6x7.

 

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My general comments on the camera's operation:

1. I found it somewhat hard to focus- even with the magnifier up, and using the microprism, nothing seemed to snap into focus clearly. So, I really regretted the lack of a distance scale and depth of field markings on the lens- it made exiting light photography of anything not at infinity virtually impossible.

2. It seems impossible to take consecutive pictures with the mirror locked up, at least in single frame mode, making bracketing more inconvenient- you have to reset the mirror up each time.

3. The construction is virtually all plastic, like e.g. a Mamiya 645, not a Hasselblad. Lens too.

4. Pretty good close focus capability; virtually no tilt or shift possible when focused at infinity. Not tilt or shift of rear standard.

5. The focus lock lever doesn't actually lock the focus, it just makes the action firmer.

6. Despite all this, an awesome machine for the right person in the right situation- just not me!

[scottknudsen]

I've heard that Fuji Lens are poor compared to other medium format cameras! Has anyone ever seen any comparison tests done on medium format lens that prove this to be right or wrong?

[scottknudsen]

I am also considering purchasing a GX680II and have the following questions.

 

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1. What backpack would work to hold camera and 4 lens, 4 film backs, filters and also additional room for raingear, food, water and some prospecting equipment? Would a Domke Photo Backpacker work?

2. What camera bag would work for the above camera equipment only?

3. Is it hard to get the 6*8 format enlarged while keeping the same aspect ratio?

3. Would the Sinar 5" (125mm) filter system be the way to go since the fuji 50mm lens uses 112mm filters?

 

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Any answers would be very helpfull :)

[p_ll_stef_nsson]

In july 1996 I got a GX680 with for lenses, why I had GX617 and the GSW GW 690 cameras and liked the lenses from Fuji. As good as my Linhof 612PC II or Leica. I was intresded to use the GX680II for traveling and lanscape. On my first day, middle of nowhwere i took the camera and lenses for a long walk. The day was perfect.....for Iceland, but suddenly a storm and rain came, i waited but in the end i gave up. When i was taking the camera form the tripod i droped it and broke the Angel finder and lost the focusing screen down 500 m birdcliff. But since then we have been good friends. On a good tripod, you can walk miles, and it have tilt and shift no other MF camera have. In Iceland it can bee often bellow zero, but the battery has been much stronger than i expected.

But next spring Fuji will come with 3th generation GX680. In two types one for traveling mutch lighter called GX680S III . That camera does not have tilt,shift and swing. The other is similar to II with same lenses almost.

For those who will have 6x8 and travelling really light i saw last week in Tokyo that they have started with GS and GSW680 III similar to 690 they still make. They have stopped doing 670.

Pall Stefansson

[jeff_philbrook]

Doesn`t tilting the lens board on a 680 cause you to use an outer section of the image circle and thus lose image quality? Would`nt you want to tilt the film plane like a Hassy Flexbody instead? (I know the formats are not comparable but to try for quality and then move intentionaly away from the center of the lense circle seems crazy!)

[mike_sellers]

Would the solution to the limited coverage of the 50mm Fuji lens be to mount a Zeiss Biogon 53mm lens on the view lens adapter ? Would this work? What are the limiting factors that determine which large format lenses can be used with the GX680? What about the Voightlander Apo Lanthar 105mm which was made for medium format originally.

[john_hartung1]

With the help of a knowledgable salesperson at B&H (NYC), I found that

the Lowepro S&F Specialist 85 AW fits the GX680 like a glove (with the

camera facing up -- camera back to bottom of bag) -- so mounted on the

SF Waistband and both the 85 and waistband supported by their shoulder

harness, I can lug this thing.

 

For long hauls with lots of accessories, I find that a Babyjogger (or

similar product) can't be beat. You can run those things over curbs,

tree trunks, etc. without stressing the load (at least with the large

12 inch bicycle wheels). These baby carriers work MUCH better than

any handtruck-like apparatus. When my baby was still a baby, I used

to rollerblade her around in it. We went over some big bumps. She

always laughed!

 

-- John Hartung, hartung@post.h