I am a 73yo retired photographer although I was active in studio & pro jobs for about 20 years. I have all my film cameras plus my newer digital ones. You have re-invigorated my desire to pick up my "babies" again and get outside to click the shutters once more. Now all I need is a cute cat as an assistant. Please keep posting. I have learned so much from you already. I am getting my Pentax 645 ready to go and I even ordered a Lomo Sprocket Rocket. Best wishes. Chris from Colorado.
I love the photos! But I'm also impressed with the artistic nature of your B-roll and your editing. Most of all, you're a very interesting looking young man.
Wow, its always a pleasure to find Calgarians in the wild! Nose Hill Park looks magical covered in snow, I'll have to check it out! Great video, and great images!
Haha hey! Calgary needs more visibility~ and yeah, definitely check out Nose Hill on a frosty day, 10/10 would recommend. Just make sure you’re dressed properly, but you know that already 😆
just found this video as I am looking to get another Fuji GW camera soon (previously owned a GF670 and GSW690III), nice to see another Calgarian film shooter!
YardSalePicasso haha the cat says thank you back 😛 I’m sure you’ll have fun with a 6x9 camera. Now I wanna go out and use mine again haha summer landscapes maybe 😂
Hello Bon Very nice video, liked your images a lot. Well done, I am considering one of these cameras in both focal lengths. Many thanks for sharing Dave
I'm eyeing this camera, so your video was super informative! It's also a very promising choice because I took my pentax spotmatic to shoot Muskoka here in Ontario, and the shutter kept freezing up, so it's great to know that this camera can handle sub-zero temperatures
Hey thanks! Yeah, I had no problems operating the camera in -40°C and iirc I was out for almost an hour 🥶 the camera is metal so it does get quite cold on the hands even with gloves haha
I love the video! New subscriber here :) Hey quick question. I'm wondering if these cameras allow the user to partially cock the shutter and still fire a frame ( this would cause overlap to your negatives for 6x9) or if there is a double exposure feature to possibly do the same thing. What Id like to do if this is possible is to modify the back door to have red frame viewing holes for 6x7 and possibly 6x6 (like on older Mamiya 6 and other fixed MF rangefinders of the 50's) so that I can crop the internal frame window to 6x7 or 6x6 and just slightly advance the film until the appropriate numbers on the backing paper align in the red viewing window for those other formats... ANY insight would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much! Alex
Hey, sorry I missed your message somehow! To answer your question, unfortunately, I don't think it'd be easy to do that with the Fuji GWs. Fuji really made it hard to make "mistakes" using the camera; afaik, you can't do multiple exposures (unless you reload an exposed film). The camera will only fire a frame if you fully cock the shutter. Also, the film advance mechanism requires a plate (which is on the backdoor) to press on the film and a gear, which means it'll be hard to put a red frame viewing hole there 🙁 Maybe check out Lomography's Belair 6x12 cameras? they allow you to switch modes (6x6, up to 6x12, iirc) the catch would be the plastic lens... they used to make glass lenses for the system, but I haven't seen them in a while
I really like the photos, specially the ones at 7:20 and 7:50. I was close to buy a Fuji GW690 III but then I went for the GA645 to have a different aspect ratio.
@@Bonsees It's great, the lens is amazingly sharp. It's a relatively compact medium format camera, you can nearly use it as a point and shoot. I have also a smaller medium format camera because it's a folding camera but then I need to carry around a light meter, with the GA645 it's all there and its autofocus is also good.
Fabrizio Zago - Photography and Media nice! I’ve thought about getting a GA645i before, but I got a Pentax 645 instead because I thought I’d prefer to have interchangeable lenses. That autofocus does sound nice haha. I do like the slowness of manual focus and how it forces me to be more intentional with my shots, but with street photography, sometimes there’s no time to be slow at all haha 😂
@jackson pine This makes no sense to me... why should I buy a bigger 6x9 camera with no autofocus when my aim was to have a 6x4.5 with autofocus to use "on the go"?
Rob Mudd I haven’t, but I’ve looked at some of the mods online before. seems like you’ll have to do some hack to trick the camera that it still has 120 film which is a little complicated haha
I feel like as long as it's not snowing too much that the camera gets soaked, it's fine... when I brought mine out, it wasn't snowing, just really really cold haha
Nice cat! Photos are pretty good too. Too light as a camera review, for example omitting to mention that the camera has no light meter system - a deal killer for most of his generation. Otherwise, if all you do is use a DSLR rig to re-photo positive images from these large negatives to put on social media, this is a total waste of money and effort. The digital imaging process will introduce so many variables that your final results are going to look just as good with a standard 35mm film set up for a fraction of the cost, and it's a hell of lot more convenient to use. That said, if you actually have a use for a high quality medium format film negative or positive, there are practically no cameras which can deliver the image quality of this camera and lens (or its 65mm lens variant) at its price.
Thanks! I wanted the video to be more of a “hey look I took photos in the cold” rather than a full review of the camera. But I’ll keep that in mind if I make full reviews. My “daily” setup is 35mm. I only use medium format for more serious projects like when I plan on (someday) making bigger prints of the photos. The dslr setup is quick and easy, but if I see some good shots (I only really like 2 from this roll) then I’d send it to a lab that does drum roll scans (like downtown cameras in Toronto). I agree, shooting medium format (heck, film in general) for social media might be cost inefficient, but for me, it’s all about the experience and enjoyment I get from it. I don’t really think it’s a waste when I enjoyed it. It’s my hobby after all. Luckily I have a day job that funds this expensive hobby 😅 Anyways, cheers~
Thank you! For these photos, I used my mirrorless camera that I was using to take videos as my meter 😂 (slightly overexposed to get closer to that high key look)
Boy, Did you know that there are wide angle and small tele lens versions of that camera ? , I really like the idea of a 6x9 rangefinder camera, but that version doesn´t have interchangeable lenses, and carry three cameras just to have different lenses is not a good option for me.
Yeah, that's the downside of this camera. I know about the older Fuji GL690 version which has interchangeable lenses, but since they're so old, finding a reliable version is hard now
Beautiful photos! Great compositions. The GW690 is my favorite medium format camera for landscapes. The negatives from that camera are huge. So much detail and clarity. Do you make prints from your photos?
Sean Doherty hey thanks! I haven’t made any prints larger than 4x6 photo prints but I’ve been thinking of making some large prints to sell so this expensive film hobby becomes a bit more economical haha
@@Bonsees No, don't do the hahaha. The photographic world is one of the very last to retain the ancient standard of Imperial measurements, (4X5" and 8 X 10") which are associated with human dimensions and cosmic intervals, whereas the metre was erroneously calculated, it relates to nothing whatsoever (hence, it is abstract) which becomes readily obvious when viewing modern architecture in western Europe, built according to the metric scale. None of it will ever be beautiful.By the way, learn as much as you can about composition, which is immensily important.
The camera will think you have a short 120 film that used to be available in Japan... after 4 shots, it will stop taking photos and will just wind your film until it's fully wound. TLDR; you'll lose 4 frames.
fitosub I usually use a light meter on my iPhone but since I’m wearing my thick winter gloves, I used my digital camera instead. Placed it on aperture priority with iso 400, exposing for the shadows.
