Fuji GX645AF

There's an interview with the Fuji developers in this month's Asahi

Camera. I started to do a pirate translation, but that's more than

anyone wants to read. Here are a few points of interest.

 

1. Fuji brought a proposal for a dual-format (6x6/645) camera to the

table but Hassy vetoed it, since they wanted a hand-holdable camera.

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

 

2. Why does the shutter only go to 1/800, not 1/1000? We tried, but

decided that reliability would be compromised.

 

3. Did you have Zeiss in mind when designing the lenses? No. Of

course, we did make a point of achieving superior performance. <g>

(FWIW, one of the Japanese magazines prefers the bokeh of the Fuji

80/2.8 to that of the Zeiss Planar.)

 

4. Why are the lenses such clunkers? The in-lens shutter requires

that there exist a narrow point in the optical path, and that

increases the size of the elements before and after the shutter. And

we decided that we would not compromise quality for size.

 

5. Fuji insisted on supporting film barcodes and backs that handle

both 120/220, and Hassy insisted on the "ready manual focus" (I guess

that would be always-available manual override of the AF???) and the

built-in dark slide. (This latter one caused the Fuji designers loads

of grief.)

 

My take is that it sounds to me as though Fuji designed the camera

and let Hassy put their name on it. Since I like Fuji cameras and

lenses, I see that as _good_ news<g>.

 

It looks as though both will be available in Japan, the Fuji in black

and the Hassy in gray at a hefty price premium. (I expect that the

GX645AF will be competitively priced with the Contax 645 in Japan.)

I just hope the shutters in the H1 lenses don't require 'overhaul' after 5000 exposures. I just hate that.