So as most of you know I’ve had the Medium Format itch for some time, I borrowed a GFX50S+32-64 for 10 days last year (managed not to drop it!), and enjoyed it, but felt it was bit cumbersome, and weighty especially with a couple of lenses. The tiltable EVF was a thing of wonder though, and the output when everything came together sublime.
Since I’ve spent the last 8 weeks at home recovering from a broken ankle, I have done a lot of investigation and research, and when I say a lot, it really has been 'a lot'. For a time I considered a GFX50R (at its currently reduced price) with a GF23mm and GF45mm, these would cover most of my shooting styles, but still it comes with a high price tag, and the one thing niggling away was that although its classed a Medium Format, the sensor isn’t that big, and the bigger sensor, the more of that Medium Format look (as the lens focal lengths used offer compression with still a wide view).
I also spent a lot of time looking at the X100V, and although I will get one in time, it will have to wait. The V is much improved wide open, but around F8 where I do 80%+ of my shooting, its no sharper, so for the moment my battered F stays – my lightweight kit option.
So research turned to medium format film cameras, I also wanted something not too old, and the Fujifilm Rangefinders appealed, some of these were made up into the 21st century (including the GF670 which you still get new copies of around £4K). The later ones possessed Autofocus and even motor film wind (and one even a 4 position zoom lens!), but there have been a lot of instances of electronic circuit boards dying and at present they are not repairable, so I went back a generation for something that was fully manual. At the 645 size, you are into a world of leaky bellows, weak lens mounts, etc.
The more research I did, the bigger I wanted the image, as with the bigger image comes ‘that look’. And nothing in the rangefinder style comes as big as the 690 series, a 6x9cm negative, 5 times the surface area of a FF camera!! Fujifilm produced two cameras (3 generations of them) one with a 90mm (FF 39mm equivalent) and a 65mm (FF 28mm equivalent), both lenses known to be excellent with the 65mm reckoned on being one of the top lenses of all time. Affectionately known as the Texas Leica (due to their size), these cameras whilst relatively common in the Japan/USA and quite rare over here. But the search was on. I’m not brave enough yet to buy one from Japanese eBay, though there are people in Japan who will source cameras for export, I thought that to start with I’ll try and get one in the UK, ideally from a dealer with some kind of warranty.
These cameras are known to be very robust, quite over-engineered, and cunningly they have a roll counter on the base plate of the camera, so you can get idea of the usage (though I suspect the counter can be clocked!). I’m generally a wide angle shooter so even though I would have bought either variant to start with, I would have preferred a GSW690III with the 65mm (28mm FF) lens. I found one at Cameraworld in London, on a commission sale, with a bit of negotiation it's arrived (and I’m quite excited
)
My intention is to have the film developed and scanned, so I can still process in Lightroom, then if I get something that I really like, I can get it re-scanned at higher resolution (drum scanned). Now just to get
@Riz_Guru excited, if a 6x9 negative is scanned at 6400dpi, the resulting image file is 22,677 x 15,118 pixels, or 342MP image, nearly 2m wide printed at 300dpi!!! I won’t need to scan to that resolution, but I should have that medium format look to the images.
Yes and before anyone says it, it is quite weighty, about the same as a GFX50S+32-64, but the ‘sensor’ is nearly 4 times times larger!! I suspect that I’m entering into a whole new world of GAS. So here it is, with a X100 for scale!!! Go large or go home……..so
@Riz_Guru, not what you were expecting, no GFX but a Texas Leica!!!!
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for looking., 
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Alec
Egyptology
Family of Shells
Spot the Face
Laggan reservoir at sunrise
Dukes Pass
Crown-3
Church-1
Teiha
The Garage