No Longer A Weighty Rangefinder

On Sunday afternoon, I decided that it was high time that I bring out the Fuji G690BL for the first time since January. In part inspired by the wonderful photography of Victoria Scott and by the realization that I hadn’t made photos with this burdensome beast since early January, and with some nice sunny weather, it seemed like a good idea.

I have also been considering letting it go.

Of all of my cameras, it probably is the most capable in terms of results. The lens is phenomenally sharp and 6×9 negatives are just lovely. Slide even more so. I’m always impressed with the scans I am able to produce!

The problem? Well, there are two:

1. I don’t really like rangefinders. I find that system fussy and not looking through the lens feels like I’m not able to compose as I would want to. I didn’t know I didn’t like rangefinders when I purchased it, so it has helped me learn that I generally prefer single- and twin-lens reflex cameras.
2. It’s heavy. Like, really heavy. Notwithstanding the very dorky-but-practical weight-distributing strap I have for it, carrying 2.3kg (5lb) around your neck isn’t really pleasant for long. When I have brought it along for longer walks, I quickly became resentful of the brassy lump.

If it had just one of the problems, I could probably overlook it. I use the Mamiya C220 a whole lot and (usually) tolerate its 2kg (4.5lb), after all. But because the Fuji has both of these problems, it just adds up to me not using it very often: perhaps two or three times per year.

While having it out this past Sunday, I also noticed that another problem emerged. The rangefinder patch now drifts around and even seems to drift out of alignment! Since I am not very good at estimating distance (like, at all), just using it for zone/scale focusing is a great way to end up with 7 of 8 blurry frames. Like the lilies to the right above.

I think that at least for the time being, the Fuji will remain shelved until I figure out how I want to proceed.

It will still help produce beautiful photos – so long as I’m feeling energetic and so long as I stick to scenes more distant and can use infinite focus – but it won’t really do that if I’m even more reluctant to use it!¹

It could be time to look into one of the more capable 6×9 folders!

1. I could also get it repaired! I already have a pretty big backlog of cameras that I would prefer to use in need of repair, and given the above gripes, I am certain that the cost would greatly outweigh the benefit. I am definitely not confident in my own abilities to learn to repair it myself either. ↩︎