Fuji GW670 mkIII review
I continue on the never ending quest to find the perfect camera, this time of the medium format variety! It’s been a few year since I had a 6x7 camera, the last being the rather large Pentax 67, and I fancied something different.
Here we have the Fuji GW670 mkIII, this camera is also available in 6x8 and 6x9, but as the name suggests, I went with the 6x7 variant.
The GW670 is a rangefinder camera, therefore it has no mirror box, making it more compact than an SLR, such as my Hasselblad. This model is fitted with the fixed 90mm f3.5 and its sister model, the GSW is the wide variant and fitted with the 65mm f5.6.
I chose the 90mm because I was interested in trying it for portraiture, and I enjoy shooting with a shallow depth of field.
The GW is also a fully mechanical camera, so no batteries, no light meter, and a maximum shutter speed of 1/500th. The shutter speed & aperture are both adjusted by rotating rings on the lens, it has a built in lens hood, and a spirit level built into the top plate to help compose on a tripod. There is also a second shutter release button on the front of the camera where your fingers from your right hand would grip it, allowing easy access in the portrait orientation.
So how do I feel about the camera?
Well, on paper its a good camera, and the lens on it is fantastic, it takes wonderfully sharp photos, but in my opinion the rest of the camera lets it down.
The exterior body of the camera is plastic, it feels fairly durable, and its light for its size, but I wouldnt exactly say it feels well built. The winding lever, shutter botton, and shutter/aperature rings feel pretty toy-like, and when you advance the frame, depending on where you are in the roll seems to have an effect on how many times you have to actuate the winding lever which just feels a bit odd.
The shutter also makes a (in my opinion) horrible sound, you hear the click of the leaf shutter, but also a loud ‘dong’ sound, which sounds to me like a big spring being released, and for me at least, meant I didn’t really enjoy using the camera despite really liking a lot of the photos I took with it.
The focusing patch in this camera was also something I struggled with, its an oval, slightly off coloured matte patch and seemed somewhat small. Most of what I photographed was actually landscapes, but when it came to anything else, I was never entirely sure if I was actually in focus with it, which was a little irritating.
In the end I ended up getting rid of it in favour of another rangefinder, this time in 35mm….
Would I recommend it to someone?
If you are like me, and the experience of using a camera, its sound, and feel are an important thing to you - then no.
If those aspects weren’t important to you and you wanted a fairly light travel camera with a decent fixed lens, then I would certainly consider it, but I would recommend you have a play with one in your hands, and only if it was at a good price!
