Fuji GX680 - what a BEAST!!
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- Опубликовано: 27 апр 2024
- This camera is an absolute monster... and I'm not talking about its size!
Firstly, here's where you can find the awesome Rob's modelling page: purpleport.com/portfolio/riggs
Ok let's talk about the Fuji GX680!
I was pretty chuffed with the images we got from this one. What do you think?
I tried to use it on a shoot which suited its abilities... so I didn't head out for an aimless wander, or try to shoot street photography with it. I set up a shoot with the awesome Rob and took along some lighting and a few bits and bobs, and did some well constructed portraits.
The biggest thing I have to say about this is that the image quality is INSANE. By far the best and sharpest images I've ever had from a medium format film camera. There is just so... much... detail...
Really looking forward to getting these negs into the darkroom and seeing just what they look like when printed. It's going to be crazy!
So, a quick note about the modifications I had to do to get this camera working - firstly the film back. These are the replacement batteries you need:
amzn.to/3w8FOVV
And the best tutorial for how to do it was this one:
• GX680 Film Back Batter...
For the battery adapter, you want to get yourself some of these:
amzn.to/3Wk1B7M
And one of these:
amzn.to/3xYApBh
Take that apart, so that only the battery bay is left, rewire the power leads to some battery contacts like these ones:
amzn.to/4djLvRI
And then 3D print yourself one of these:
www.thingiverse.com/thing:334...
(I said thingify in the vid, obviously I meant Thingiverse!)
And hey presto, a super cheap, insanely good camera! Simple.
Drop me a comment below, let me know your thoughts!
Back in the 80's, I had seen magazine ads I was convinced I needed this. Then I saw it in person and held it. Much much bigger than in the ads. Then I saw the price. I quickly changed my mind.
I bet! It is definitely absolutely massive. The image quality is insane, but you've got to really need that kind of quality to offset the size, and I'd guess the price when new!
This was an absolute pleasure to watch. You are so cool with your subject. What a blast watching you set up the shots and explain the rationale behind lighting, etc. His wardrobe and facial expressions are just perfect! What character in those photos!!!
Thank you so much! I really like working with Rob, he has a great look. And the best bit is he always asks me what he would like him to wear, and I alway say "just come as you"! I really enjoyed this one!
The GX680 has been on my bucket list. It's the closest thing to a view camera that natively takes film rolls instead of sheets.
Yep, I didn't attempt and standard movements on the front there, but there's a fair bit on offer if you want to use it. And the image quality is definitely top of medium format... not quite in the LF league, but then you're getting into that same conversation that plagues digital photography - just how much resolution do you really need?? I would argue that the GX680 offers more than enough resolution for most!
This is a remarkable camera, when it first came on the market in 1987 it was priced at nearly $20 thousand US dollars, just for the base camera, which came with one battery or a DC transformer which plugged into the battery port, and then plugged into a wall socket, two sizes of cord were available 8 foot or 16 foot. Lenses were extra, a fully kitted out unit (3 lenses and the base camera) was nearly $32 thousand US dollars. It was strictly sold almost exclusively to working photographers in fashion/Print media circles in the US, Germany, and Japan. In my 37 years repairing cameras, I've never had the opportunity to work on one, let alone hold one.
Wow! Those prices are wild! Doesn't surprise me at all though. It's clearly aimed at professionals, and was seemingly putting up a good solid fight against the digital onslaught right until the bitter end. I haven't even done it justice yet, I'm really looking forward to getting those BW negatives out into the darkroom and seeing just how much detail is there. I might also, just for fun, try scanning some of these negatives in sections and then stitching them, see just how big I could go with it! I suspect those negs will give me 100MP without breaking a sweat.
They're pretty affordable these days... maybe now's the time to get one???
@@the120ist Your photos were great, the lenses I'd like to see in action is the 65mm f5.6 and the 180mm f3.2 to show off its true talents.
I am in awe, Nick, on how you ingeniously brought that camera to life! Brilliant! The portraits are beautiful, showing the power of the original purpose of this camera. Also you have quite the technique working with your model. I learned a lot. Thanks for your amazing video! 👍🏻❤ Tony
I am just thinking along the same lines. I'd volunteer to be Nick's assistant if he wasn't thousands of miles away! ;)
Your style and workflow remind me of this camera. The best photos I've seen from you
Thank you! I was really pleased with how these came out. I feel like I've revived a dormant love of mine, I used to really enjoy using flash to light scenes, and build complex compositions with multiple units. But it has taken a back seat since a few bad experiences. And now my mind is buzzing with new plans!
@@the120ist you could see all that in your body language. It's very evident you've done that before and that combined with the budget nees of the camera and the battery mod it's literally your channel identity all in one. I think you keep it
Those images were so awesome ! You better not get rid of that camera, I guarantee you will always regret it until you get another ! I want one now, the photos were that fantastic ! I want to ask you to make a detailed video of the battery modification so we can get these cameras working again since they are so unbelievably capable ! I want one so bad and I believe you are going to hear this a lot. Thanks for this excellent mouth watering video. Please do more videos with this camera. LarryMac
Nice portraits genius with the battery conversion!
Thanks! It's great when you have an idea and it actually works. Not often I get that feeling!
This is one of the best photo videos that I have seen. Very instructive as well as humorous and off the beaten track, which makes it extra interesting and entertaining. A few weeks ago I made a similar purchase (kind of) in the form of the Fujica GL690 (aka the Texas Leica) body plus the 65mm, 100mm and 180mm lenses. Obviously, the negative size is even bigger than with the GX680 but fortunately the camera, being a rangefinder type, is smaller and lighter (just sub-2kg with any lens fitted) and is therefore quite easy to use in the field. In fact, getting sharp shots hand-held in daylight has been easy, partly due to the complete absence of mechanical vibration. All three lenses are very sharp edge to edge and do not suffer from chromatic aberration, flare or distortion to any noticeable degree. I have not yet tried shooting portraits with the 180mm and will be carrying out a close-focussing calibration exercise beforehand to see if I will need to shift the focus ring slightly in one direction or the other after initially homing in on a subject's eyes using the rangefinder. This is one of the potential drawbacks compared with the GX680 of course, the GL690 not being a reflex camera. It was not easy to find this kit in good condition since most of the bodies and lenses for this model have had a hard life with commercial photographers it seems. However, with due diligence (and one lens being returned to Japan plus another being repaired in the UK), I now have all four items in near-mint condition:- but for around £1500 all in; not your canny £140. Good news, though: there are no batteries to worry about. And what image quality! Having spent over 50 years shooting 35mm with SLRs, plus some 6 x 6 on a TLR, the IQ that this 6 x 9 camera system delivers is in a completely different league. As you say, comparable to modern digital, but with that magical analogue look. I will not ever sell it.
Bloody great find and well done with fixing it. Great shots.
Great video! Such a nice time watching it. I have the GX680IIIS model (no front movements) and I love it. I use it handheld on occasions, I prefer my RZ67 for this task, but in the studio it's amazing. I have the 80mm and the 150mm. The 150 is absolutely beautiful for portraits.. as you showed with your amazing shots of your subjects. Cheers mate!
I have one. The camera is wayyy too heavy to focus with an eye level viewfinder hand held, which is why I purchased a waist level finder. Absolutely love the camera 🙂
You have to keep her!!! You may not use her regally...... BUT you will make up shoots and sessions for this camera 🙂
Awesome….. been hoping you’d tackle this for a while :-)
Perfect spy camera, and great for sports too 😉
Ha haaaa! Perfect spy camera! Although sports..... now that sounds like a challenge. You could make it work I reckon.. Hmmmmm....
You’ve managed wildlife on 4x5, so yup…. Anything’s possible!
@@bernardkealey6449 I'm not sure I'd agree that I "managed" wildlife on 4x5!!! Scraped a single acceptable frame right at the end perhaps!
Great video and skill! DIY but also during the shoot, weel done!
I love mine. I have three of the mkIII and have used them commercially for well over a decade. There are many ways with adapters and modifications that you can chuck a Phase, Leaf, Sinar or Hasselblad digi back on one of these, so that is what we all did. I went with a Leaf Valeo, and later a Leaf Aptus. I am now looking for a suitable Phase IQ1 back as a present to myself as I have just retired. I am also chucking a heap of film through it, just because I can.
Best studio camera ever.
What a great camera...I was looking for the II. model, but actually, we have to change our windows, so I must wait a few months... cool pics!
I ALMOST bought one of these a few years ago because of how cheap they were. Thankfully came to my senses. But I still think it’s a pretty cool system. I saw a video a while back where some guys took one out for street photos it was rather comical seeing this beast of a camera shot handheld
Ha ha, yeah I bet is was comical! Achievable, for sure, but clearly not all that practical. I'm glad I've tried one, I'm super impressed by the quality of it, and I can absolutely see why some people would love it. This morning I'm leaning towards selling it, on the basis that I don't think I'll actually use it all that much. But that may have changed again by this afternoon! Who knows what I'll want to do it by tomorrow!
Beast indeed! Wow!
Impressive camera right??
at 12:48 one tip, this Gx680 has a front standard, so can tilt and swing!, so you don't need to raise the camera, just tilt the lens, giving a standard perspective.
true of course! For some reason, even when shooting LF, movements just don't pop into my head! Something I need to work on!
@@the120ist yes, but GREAT shoot, the smoke worked well, and nice portraits, and I am a recent convert to LF, just got myself a sinar F2 and 90 and 65 lenses, so still, as Mat Marrash would say "doing the LF dance" ; getting the assembly and shooting drill down pat, so am still learning the limits of these Wide angles, but we all learn, and get there eventually.
@@andyvan5692 Thank you! And good luck with the F2. It's a bit of a learning curve, but as with anything, the more you do it the easier it gets. Apart from me remembering movements of course. That apparently will take a little longer... !
@@the120istInexplicable lapse with those front movements: I used a GX680 (with a digital back, mostly) in a corporate research lab to shoot market research photos, and the front-standard movements were very useful BUT… they weren't indexed or scaled in any way, so recreating a setup when the boss came back a week later and said “Let's do some more just like those” was very iffy!
Ooooer ! wotta wopper ! Genius bodge :) Amazing images, well done.
Ha ha! Yep... it's BIG. Shucks. Glad you enjoyed it, thanks!
I have the 680 III and it is a great camera. The 680 III has a small replaceable battery that powers the camera that goes in on the bottom of the body and the version III film backs also have replaceable battery that doesn’t require technical skills to replace. The swing, rise and tilt is also nice but the 680 IIIS lacks any of those movements. I have used it outside but it isn’t a hiking camera. When shooting outdoors in a park or just away from my car I transport it using a small collapsible canvas wagon.
Not a hiking camera! Now there's an understatement. I can't see any issues with shooting handheld though. Sure it wouldn't be to everyone's taste, but it's "only" 4kgs...
I knew that the mk 3 had a properly thought out battery system, but I didn't know that the film backs have an easily accessible battery. That's great. Fuji do seem to have learned lessons and listened to feedback from the mk 1 and 2, which is refreshing!
Awesome work all round there Nick cracking camera, fix, and model the camera sounds epic too but I swear to my dying fetid breath I’ll confide in you no more🤬
Ha haaa! Never tell me anything mate, it'll go straight in a youtube vid! Cheers Paul!
What a beast! I love MF cameras but this one is a bridge too far for me. My Mamiya RZ67 is as big as I’m prepared to go. You say that you get 10 frames per 120 roll; that’s one more than I get with the Fuji GSW680. I believe Hasselblad continued production of their 500 series film cameras until 2013 and the Mamiya 7ii was still being made as late as 2014. Great video.
When I worked for Fuji back in the 80’s I went on a course to Düsseldorf to train how to repair them.
To take the camera apart it only took a few screws. The electric’s where all plug in. In the design of the camera Fuji payed attention to servicing of the camera to make it easier.
If I remember a digital adapter was made. Might have been to fit a Phase One digital back. Problems started to arise with the shutters due to the amount of firings used in a shoot.
You got yourself a bargain 👍
I definitely did get a bargain! But even at the usual price which seems fairly easy to find of £300-400, this camera is an absolute steal. Crazy really.
Interesting that Fuji actually made allowances for servicing! Possibly the only time in camera history??
I took the film back apart to replace the battery in there, and it was a dream to dismantle... simple, intuitive and everything clunked nicely back into place when I was done. Lovely!
I had considered about getting on the GX680 cameras but I already have the RB67 and 4x5. I will say that I think Fuji lenses are very sharp and provide sharpness and contrast that I prefer.
My understanding is you can still technically buy a Rollei HY-6 which launched in 2007. It would not be easy to get your hands on if you wanted to buy a new one but in terms of a film camera being made well into the digital era I think the HY-6 has the 680 series beaten.
Ooooh, BUT... the HY-6 was (is) a born-hybrid. Never intended as a true film camera, always designed with digital backs in mind. So does it count??
I don’t take photos and yet I like what your doing.
Thank you!
Maybe a metering walkthrough when using flash would be the subject of one of your next videos? I know I could use some help there.
I have never tried one of the Fuji GX680 Cameras, but I would at any time prefer a large format Field Camera with a 6x9 film back ! Fx a Toyo-View 45 Technical Field Camera.
I have one of these, but i had not used it for a long time, so i decided to try it one day recently, i loaded a roll of film shot the first exposure, then the roll of film winds on to the end of the roll, so im not sure if its a film holder or camera issue, i replaced the battery in the film holder maybe 4yrs ago
This came faster than expected. I can’t imagine a camera ever being better.
Ha, it's a spectacular system, for sure!
Seems like the perfect toy to pick up street photography.
Ahahahahahahaha! Nice.
Very unobtrusive. You could really sneak up on people with it.
As an FYI -- I have a GX680 version 1. Fujifilm did create a battery holder for it that takes 6 AA batteries. You just have to do some digging and you can probably find it.
Thank you, yes a few people are saying that. I didn't know! I thought I googled pretty much everything while I was trying to figure out what to do, but I somehow missed that altogether! Oh well, I have my DIY battery now!
That's wonderful, thank you.! I bought version 3 gx680 a few days ago. I can't understand out if an additional tool is needed to work with the digital back? is it necessary to synchronize the back and the camera?
I don't know anything about the digital back I'm afraid. Although a few comments up, or down, here there's a comment from William Orford, who used to work for Fuji in the 80s, he was talking about the digital back. Maybe reply to one of his comments there, he may be able to help.
Wow Rob is amazing for the type of work you do... And that camera :(.. I am jelly lol. I have been wanting one of those a while now.. If you lived in the USA id be making offers for that system just how it sits for amounts you might not be able to say no to lol.... Thanks for the great pictures and I was wondering.. If I have any questions on the hacking to get the battery hooked to the camera could I ask ? Thanks :).
Yeah Rob really is my kinda model! An extravaganza of texture! It's definitely worth getting a GX680! That image quality is just wild. How do the prices look in the US? I might have been a little ambitious with my summary of prices over here, I got mine dirt cheap, and you might be able to find similar at auction, but I seem to have been fairly lucky with that. General prices for a mk 1 over here are still only £300-400 though. Which for what it is, is crazy. In one of the comments here Clay was saying that they originally sold for $20k in 1987! So frankly, even £400 is a crazy cheap price.
Absolutely, any help I can offer, just shout. You should be able to find my email address in my profile, if you click on the little arrow to the right of the description. Drop me an email and I'll help however i can!
@@the120ist Thanks :).. All of the good models are coming from Japan .. Near mint versions .. The older models like you have I see many of them on ebay with either 3d printed AA battery holders or the actual Fuji AA battery holders they did make for them lol.. You should try and find one as it looks sooooo much better then that battery sticking out the side :).. But those are going for around 500 USD or so. That is the entire setup .. The newer models on the other hand are going for twice that .. I have seen the V2 and 3 going for around 800 to 1200 USD again for a full setup with camera , back and lens and battery blah blah.. And yeah compared to what I got into both of my full bronica kits one could even buy a near mint V2 or 3 so its really not horrible considering the price they was when brand new :).
@@Jennifer_Prentice That's interesting, so they did make AA holders for the Mk 1 and 2? I thought it was only for the Mk 3. But it would have made sense to have one for the previous models, and can't have been a major expenditure for Fuji to design one. Ah well, I enjoyed building my own anyway!
I have smaller NP-F batteries which would look less conspicuous, but I hadn't done any testing to see how long they would last. So for the shoot I went with the biggest so there was no chance of it dying on me!
Also, with the over sized dark slide I accidentally created, plus the huge battery, plus the remote trigger for the flash sticking out the top, it kind started looking like a spaceship, and for some reason that appealed to me....
@@the120ist Well we are not really out to win any contest in how pretty our gear is anyway lol... Its about how nice the photos turned out.. Your photo shoot really sold me on this camera.. I hope to get one at a latter time.. :)
@@Jennifer_Prentice Good luck with your search! And as I said, drop me a line if I can help with anything.
This is really funny as I ordered my GX680 about 8 hours before this video was posted haha , I did want to say though I haven't gotten it yet, mine came with a AA battery holder that is from Fuji, looks like it takes 6 of them but the NPF battery us great and super easy to get ahold of / use, also its easy to get holders for them pre-wired. Good work ! I was told that if you dont replace the battery in the film back that it can have advancement issues and alignment problems when the camera is turned on and off repeatedly between shots.
Yeah I'm hearing in a few comments here that Fuji made a AA pack, didn't know that! But there we are, I've made my NPF holder now and it seems to be working well.
The battery in the film back is definitely essential - without it the camera totally forgets that it has a film in if it loses power. So if you start a film, then either take the film back off, or disconnect the battery, or the battery dies, it starts again from zero, and winds the film to the start position when you reconnect power. Definitely needs doing. But pretty simple to do, there are some great tutorials on youtube. I've put a link to the one I thought was best in the video description.
$500 is a no the prices for a door stop
great video!! Do you know where the GX680 can be serviced or repaired? Im in the US.
I'm afraid I don't. I did the repairs and service on this one myself, but it didn't need much. Do you have a specific problem with yours? Or just need it going over?
They built the GX680 to be easily accessible and easily serviced, so I'd be surprised if it was hard to find a camera tech to work on it.
There are a couple of GX680 groups on facebook, worth asking the question in there, I'm sure someone will know someone!
Thanks for getting back to me. I'm thinking of getting one. Just wanted to figure out if I should've because if I need to get it repaired, I can thank you for the Facebook. I will definitely ask there. Love the camera. Hopefully, I'll get one soon.
Company in Germany sell the AA battery packs. You can make your own (as I did). I also got the battery pack from Germany. All good 👍 ebay is the source.
Ah, I didn't know there was a company making them. I also made my own AA pack, before the NPF solution. The one I made seemed a little temperamental, hence me going to the new plan. Enjoying this NPF bodge though, and means it's rechargeable.
I have the gx680iii and no way I will ever sell it. I take it out handheld as if it's a hassy haha
I don't suppose there's a Diana review in the offing is there? I really enjoyed the Holga content.
Ooh interesting... I hadn't planned one. But I do actually own a Diana F... not an F+, it seems to be just an F. Shamefully I'm not sure I've ever put a roll through it. Might dig that one out this afternoon!
Sweet!
That setup is running at £1-2k on the bay
Nah, not for a mk 1. The mk 3 will fetch that easy. I grant you, I was a little ambitious with my pricing in the vid, sub £200 is not realistic outside of the auctions I would say, but there are a few mk 1's around for sort of £350-£500 range.
Yeh thanks for that Nick. Now I'm looking at eBay again. I'm still not upto date with my well controlled GAS as I need a Bronica to fill a 6x6 box kinda space and now you're showing us a rather cool studio camera with movements ? You're really not helping.
Have to say it looks like the category winner in Kilo per £ index too. To answer your question about actually using it. It looks like one of those cameras you have that you might not use that much but you admire and handle it far too much to ever get rid of it. I mean for the price you paid - it's cheaper than many trendy compact point and shoots now. It would be rude not to have bought it. And who doesn't love a huge neg. Great video as ever...
Ha haaaaa... yeah, I'm not trying to help. If I have bad GAS, then I want to bring everyone else down with me! mwah ha ha.
I'm so torn on this camera. My desire to keep it is battling hard with the draw of making a solid profit on it if I sell it. But then I wouldn't have it. But I also have so many plans that don't currently involve a tack sharp, 4kg, MF camera. But that's because all these plans were made when I didn't have a tack sharp, 4kg, MF camera. I think the solution is to let it sit here next to me for a little while. Not rush to a decision. Yes, that's what I'll do. I'll just hold it for a bit. Just a for a little while you know? Not long. But it's too soon to sell it. Don't rush me!
I don’t think anyone has bought this camera in years.
really cool camera good photos you would soon burn thru rolls off film.
Definitely! That powered wind-on does you no favours with that! There is a "multiple" position on the power knob, which would allow you to fire off a whole roll in a few seconds. Now that ain't going to be cheap!
It’s larger and heavier than some 4x5! 😅
It's definitely heavier than most 4x5s! It's probably comparable to my old Toyo monorail, but I don't think I ever weighed that before I sold it. But carrying it on a tripod has the same worryingly-top-heavy feel!
hello, on 120 film you get only 9 frames of 6x8 format, best regards :)
Oooh, really? Ahh maybe you're right actually, the film back was beeping when I hit 9, but of course that would be the last frame. Damn. Sorry about that.
I once owned this beast, and eventually regretted the purchase.
Too bulky for my taste, well I'm not a studio photographer, after all. A 6x6 like Hasselblad or Rolleiflex fits my shooting preference better. And if I need various tilt/shift/etc movements, well just get a 4x5.
The decision on whether to keep it or sell it is definitely led by the question of what will I use it for? The size and weight limit its potential uses, and while the resolution is wild for MF, I can do better with my 4x5. It beats the 4x5 in speed of exposures, but in what situation is that a factor?
I'm going to let it sit next to me for a while, but as things stand right now, I suspect I'll move this camera along to another owner. Maybe. I think.
The only problem with this camera is to find a camera bag for it. Finally I found a solid video bag big enough for it