Gswiii-690
Gswiii-690
Hi,
I am the happy owner of a GSW690-III.
The lens (5.6/65mm) is absolutely superb. I agree that setting the diaph at 22 will give lots of depth of focus, but remember that (this is a rule of thumb) the physical limit of image resolution , measured in microns as the diameter of the "circle of confusion", is about equal to the aperture number. Because of diffraction, closing the diaphragm too much will result in poorer resolution. Closing at f/22 means that even at the centre of the image the max resolution is around 25 lines per millimetre - rather poor compared to what this lens is able to. I did not make accurate measurements but it looks like the best results are obtained at around f/8 or f/11. Similarly parasitic reflections are virtually eliminated from f/8.
To summarise, lens absolutely sharp and contrasted, very good flare resistance.
The weak point is the shutter. Mine failed due to a screw that got loose inside and went into the blades. I could buy a new shutter at about 100 USD on eBay (they also had a good second hand shutter at about 40 USD). Replacing the shutter essentially needs to unscrew the front and rear lens assemblies. Unfortunately, on mine the rear assembly was too tight and I had to remove all the lens assembly, which implies removing the rangefinder assembly and the shutter interlocks. Reassembling the shutter interlocks is rather tricky (took me several hours!) even with the maintenance book (really needed!) but now the camera works wonders.
The shutter is noisy, yes (sounds like a Fisherprice toy). Some people say the noise comes from the frame counter: this is wrong - the noise is exactly the same without the frame counter. Doesn't matter as this is more a landscape camera than a street camera.
"Plastic body": NO. On the type III some external parts that were metal on type II are plastic, yes, but the camera structure itself is solid aluminium-magnesium alloy, and very, very well made. A very solid, rigid, accurate camera.
The other weak point on the GSW690-III (not on the GW690-III) is the lens shade which does not hold in place. I suppressed it and replaced it with a screw-in "petal type" shade which is perfect for the job.
I am using several medium format cameras: two SEMFLEXes (one with Flor Berthiot 3.5/75 and the other one with the rare TN 3.5/75), a Bronica S2A (with Nikkor 3.5/50, Nikkor 2.8/75, Nikkor 3.5/135 and Zenzanon 3.5/200) and a Mamiyapress S23 (6x7 and 6x9 backs) with the 6.3/50mm, 3.5/90mm and the 2.8/100mm.
The Bronica is a fantastic pleasure to use with people: ideal in parties, weddings etc. I love the 75mm and the 200mm, the Nikkor 50 is good but not as good as the 75. The 135 is good in portraits, the 75 and 200 are very good in landscape but I dislike the square format for landscapes.
The Mamiya 100mm has a limited use, I think it is more studio-oriented. Very good but colours are flat. It gives good results in B&W though. The 50mm (ultrawide in 6x9) is excellent in landscape.
But, none of the lenses above are as ticky sharp as the Fujica 65mm (except, maybe the bronica-nikkor 2.8/75 which is a late, MC version).
My main use of the Fujica is making Fujichromes (Provia / Velvia ISO 100), scanning them (up to 6000x9000 pixels!) then trim them down to 56x72 to make "6x7" slides (into 85x85 mounts) I use in the Leitz-Linhof projector.
singer1924
