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Looking for a 65mm f/8 or f/5.6 lens for a G 690BL (with viewfinder).

Hi,

The market for G690 lenses seems rather depleted nowadays. There were two 65mm lenses for sale on keh.com in December 2005, but they have been sold now.

I guess you have to check regularly the classified on RangefinderForum.com and Photo.net, as well as the listings on eBay and Keh (don't forget the "in-transit" section). Those are the places you are most likely to find G690 gear. 65mm lenses tend to appear regularly every two months or so.

Abbas

There is a 65mm f/5.6 for sale here: http://www.keh.com/OnLineStore/BrandTableOfContent.aspx (sorry the site doesn't allow direct links; you have to navigate to "Fuji Medium Format/Fixed Focal Length Lenses").

Price is rather high at $789.00 for a bargain condition lens (which means not perfect cosmetically, but glass and shutter are OK). But these lenses are so rare...

Abbas

There is a f/8 65mm on eBay right now:
*** click here***

Abbas

I've never used any of the lenses except the 100mm. Come to think of it, I've never even seen any.) They're (perhaps necessarily) big and heavy and (probably with good reason) expensive. Still, I'd like to pre-educate myself for the time when I see one at a good price. The f8 is surprisingly slow and the f5.6 is obviously one stop faster; and they have (or are usually associated with) different viewfinders. Is there any other non-trivial optical difference between the lenses in real-world (not test chart) use?

Peter,

I have the 5.6/65mm lens, which is very sharp right to the corners, even wide open. It has almost no visible distorsion (the 50mm distorts slightly more) and vignetting is negligible. According to other users' reports, the 8/65mm is just as good.

These wide angle lenses tend to fetch high prices lately (there is one 8/65mm in "bargain" condition for sale on Keh for $546.00). The 5.6/65mm is rarer than its sibling but not that much more expensive when you are lucky enough to find one. If you intend to do lanscapes (or even interior shots on tripod), then maybe you don't need the extra stop and it would be easier to settle for the 8/65mm.

Anyway, I don't think these lenses are well suited for candid or street photography. The external finder makes them quite inconvenient to use for snapshots. For available light photography, I use the AE 3.5/100mm with Fuji Pro 800z film in 220 rolls. Auto-exposure with high speed film and 3.5 aperture makes an usable combination, but still no match for a 35mm rangefinder!

You could try to contact eBay seller fotofila, who travels to Japan regularly and sells a lot of G690 cameras and lenses on the auction site. He is a nice guy to do business with and he might be able to find a specific lens for you if you order one from him.

Cheers,

Sebastien

Thanks for the HU Mikhail. $500 BIN is quite expensive for the bare lens (no finder, case or rear cap), but maybe it will sell for less.

Cheers,

Sebastien