The Light Touch
•Equipment
Touch the Light.....
John MacPherson
Landscape and Environmental Photography from Scotland
For several years I have been using the Fuji 69. I purchased one for a stock photo trip to the USA, as I didn't want to carry the weight of the Pentax 67. This camera, with a Canon EOS1n and 35-350 zoom, is easily fitted in small backpack or waistbag, and gives a terrific compact travel outfit. The Fuji is available in two guises - the GW and the GSW. The former has a 90mm lens and the latter a 65mm lens. The sharpness of these lenses is nothing short of phenomenal. However lens tests tell you nothing about real world, in-your-face performance, and both these lenses will provide stunningly sharp images, with incredible colour rendition and little fall off in quality at the edges. Placing a 69 transparency beside any 'lesser' formats will induce a gasp from most picture editors The 69 is a rangefinder camera, so there is no through-the-lens viewing. This can make using filters such as split-ND or Grad Grey fairly difficult. Ordinary filter use, such as polarizers, is easy, simply establishing the orientation of the filter before using it, or carrying a second similar filter and looking through it and transferring the settings. There is no battery to rely on, as all the speeds are mechanical. And no mirror means no vibration. Only problem is that for long exposures (over 1 second) you have to 'stop' the exposure by rotating the shutter-ring around the lens. It's a wee bit awkward but can be worked around. The lens hood is a complete pain, and many folks hacksaw them off. I've kept mine - so far. The format allows cropping to many sizes, and can produce lovely 'panoramics'. All in all these are great cameras, relatively light and transportable, and wonderful for travel photography, and when you consider that they cost less than one lens for an interchangeable lens camera they represent terrific value for money.
•6x9
