Fuji's 6x9 fixed-lens rangefinder — the GW690, the Texas Leica, leaf shutter, coupled RF, 1978.
The Fujifilm GW690 is a fixed-lens medium-format rangefinder camera launched in 1978 as the first of Fuji's Professional GW series shooting the large 6x9 frame on roll film. It was aimed at commercial, portrait and landscape shooters who wanted big-negative quality in a hand-holdable body rather than a view camera.
This is a medium-format rangefinder producing eight nominal 6x9 frames on 120 film (or sixteen on 220). It has a permanently mounted fixed lens with a leaf shutter built into the lens rather than a focal-plane shutter, focusing via a coupled rangefinder in the bright-line viewfinder. The body is fully mechanical, so the leaf shutter fires without a battery, and the lens carries an EBC multi-coating.
Its size and large negative earned it the nickname the Texas Leica, since it handles like an oversized rangefinder while delivering 6x9 detail. It suits landscape and environmental portrait work and travels more easily than a medium-format SLR of the same format, though the fixed lens and lack of a built-in meter ask the user to work deliberately.
When buying used, check rangefinder patch contrast and vertical and horizontal alignment, and confirm the leaf shutter fires cleanly at all speeds including the slow ones. Because the lens is fixed, inspect the front element for haze, fungus and scratches. Note the frame counter, which doubles as a shutter-count log Fuji marks on the body, so an owner can gauge how heavily the camera has been used.