Fujifilm's panoramic medium-format film camera — 6x17cm frames on 120, with interchangeable lenses.
The Fujifilm GX617 is a medium format panoramic film camera introduced in 1993 as the replacement for the fixed-lens Fujica G617 of 1985. It exposes enormous 6x17cm frames on 120 or 220 roll film, yielding just four shots per roll of 120, and remained in the catalogue until Fujifilm wound up its roll-film cameras in 2003.
Unlike its predecessor, the GX617 is a proper system camera with interchangeable lenses: EBC Fujinon 90mm f/5.6, 105mm f/8, 180mm f/6.7 and 300mm f/8, each mounted in its own Copal 0-based leaf shutter with speeds of roughly 1s to 1/500. The body is a die-cast aluminium chassis with a lever film advance, a spirit level on the top plate and no meter or electronics whatsoever - it needs no batteries and each lens takes a separate clip-on viewfinder.
Alongside the Linhof Technorama 617s, the GX617 is the definitive 6x17 panoramic camera and a fixture of 1990s landscape and commercial work, where a single frame covers roughly the area of four 6x4.5 negatives. With no modern equivalent in production, it has become one of the most sought-after Fujifilm roll-film cameras, and complete kits change hands in the UK for several thousand pounds.
When buying used, the big trap is mismatched components: bodies are often sold bare, and each lens must come with its matching dedicated viewfinder plus, for the 90mm and 105mm, the correct centre filter to tame vignetting on transparency film - sourcing these separately is slow and dear. Check the focusing helical on each lens cone is smooth, fire the leaf shutter through all speeds (slow speeds drag first), and run a backing-paper test to confirm frame spacing and counter behaviour, as film-advance faults are awkward to have repaired now parts are scarce.