Fuji's final 6x9 fixed-lens RF — the GW690 III, leaf shutter, coupled rangefinder, 1992.
The Fujifilm GW690 III is the third and final generation of Fuji's Professional GW690 fixed-lens medium-format rangefinder, introduced in 1992. It carried the 6x9 series to its most refined form and remained in production into the 2000s as one of the last large-format-negative rangefinders made new.
This is a medium-format rangefinder giving eight nominal 6x9 frames on 120 film (or sixteen on 220). The permanently fitted lens uses a leaf shutter in the lens, not a focal-plane shutter, and focusing is by coupled rangefinder through a bright-line finder. The body is mechanical and the leaf shutter fires without a battery; there is no integral light meter.
It remains widely known as the Texas Leica thanks to its rangefinder handling scaled up to the 6x9 negative. Landscape and portrait shooters choose it for negative size in a body far more portable than a 6x9 SLR or field camera, working with a single fixed lens and an external meter to keep the process simple.
When buying, check rangefinder patch contrast and alignment, and run the leaf shutter through its speeds to confirm accuracy and dependable slow settings. Examine the fixed front element for haze, fungus or coating wear. Read the shutter-count and frame indication Fuji marks on the body to estimate usage, since these bodies were often worked hard by professionals.