My Plastic Fantastic Fuji GA645Wi

<p>I can't say I was thrilled when I took it out of the box. I may have even let out a shriek. I've had plastic cameras, but this one is really plastic. It felt light, and hollow. Not normally a good tactile feedback. It was nice and clean though as promised, and it did come with all the straps & caps in right order, and even a manual. So, slowly my confidence rose as I opened it up, twiddled the dials a bit and gave it a good once over. Might as well get some film in there and see if hold light.</p>

<p>I threaded a roll of Tri-X and set the ASA to 1250 and rambled out to the back yard to crank a roll. Hey! This thing gets 16 pictures to a roll! My first 645 camera and I already like at least one thing - more pictures. Framing with a 645 is naturally in portrait mode. That caused a few pauses, but in no time I was finding subject that fit right into this aspect ratio, and only occasionally turning the camera for a landscape.</p>

<p>I took the first 10 pictures on straight Program mode. Might as well find out quickly if the meter works. This camera meters through the rangefinder. For the last half dozen shots I switched to aperture priority mode. They will hear you coming with this bad boy - no silent warrior here. The autofocus has a long travel and sounds exactly like a washing machine! Focus, small lag at the end of the focus travel, then tiny beep when the shutter goes. The shutter release is two stage to allow metering and focus before closing the shutter. The final stage takes a surprising amount of finger pressure and travel. More than any other camera I have, but I really like that. My Mamiya 7 has a hair trigger, and I usually have one accidental firing on every couple of rolls. This one requires real intent to take a picture. It goes well with the machinery-like noises! There is a Manual mode too, but it takes button pushing - and that's too much like trying to set a three button digital watch for my taste. This is a point and shoot camera, and I don't intend to use it much in manual mode. The Av mode only requires spinning one dial on the top deck to set aperture.</p>

<p>Blessedly, there are not a lot of controls to fiddle - as it should be with a camera of this type. There is an exposure comp that is easy to set, a mode dial, a selector wheel and the manual focus button. The back has a couple buttons for setting the data back, which I never use.</p>

<p>One of the reasons I bought it was for the wide angle lens. It is a 45mm f/4 which equates to 28mm on a 35mm camera. A wide angle for my Mamiya is about $1300. So, while I save up for that, I have this to fill in a little bit and still have a pretty good size neg. And, it's a camera I can take on casual outings - which is the idea behind the P&S.</p>

<p>Back to the film. I shot the 16 pics in 10 minutes and raced back in to develop it. WOW! As soon as I strung up the roll on the shower rod I forgot all about the plastic body. Beautiful looking negs. The Program mode seems to work very well, and the lens is giving nice results. I was completely happy with the film results and 645 still provides about 2.5 times the real estate of 35mm. I think I will enjoy this addition to my MF toy box.</p>

<p>Fujifilm seems to have found a bit of a niche with these fixed lens MF rangefinders. There's not a lot of competition here, and this seems like you get a lot for your money. The lens is fast enough for most situations and still remaining compact and light. I imagine having an f/2 lens on here would add a pound to the weight. From what I see in the first pictures, it is a respectable lens. Film threading has partial automation with a powered takeup spool. And if you have barcoded film (Fuji), it will auto-load and set the ISO and 120/220 type for you. It does advance automatically, and at the end of the roll it auto-winds the roll off onto the takeup spool for you. That's as much automation as I have ever had in a 120 camera. I'm looking forward to using this over the next week and really wring it out!<br>

Attached is one of the pix from the first roll. </p>

<p> </p><div></div>

Hey, that looks like classic Tri-X in Diafine.

 

What's considered a fair ballpark price for the Fuji GA645Wi? I'm really tempted by a MF rangefinder but the Mamiya 6 and 7 are way out of my budget.

<p>I can't wait to see more pics from this camera. Very nice and enjoyable write-up, btw!</p>

<p>Lex Jenkins,<br>

They seem to run about $400 to $500. In my very limited experience, it was hard to find one with the 45mm lens. Most of this model were the 60mm lens.<br>

That makes it about 1/3 or less of the cost of the Mamiya 6 & 7. It is also much lighter ( a good and a bad thing) and smaller front to back because the lens is more compact. The Mamiya build quality, while not top drawer, does make this one look a bit toy'ish. But I am not too worried. The owners love these things and have mostly all good things to say. It's in the pictures.</p>

<p>I'll be taking more later today Andy.</p>

<p>This is one of the others from yesterday. I used the Av mode @ f/16.</p><div></div>

<p>If you can get by without autofocus, there is a scale focus version with the same lens. Also, it has a mechanical shutter as well as match diode manual exposure. I have the GS 645S version with the 60mm f4 version and really like it. The manual version should be a little less expensive.</p>

<p>Mike Gammill,<br>

Has yours been reliable? How long have you had it?</p>

<p>I was out this afternoon and shot three rolls, They are hanging now. I love the way the camera handles. I am especially appreciative that there are not a bunch of small controls to worry about when you grab it and take it to eye. The 45 mm feels right at home as I generally shoot 28 and 35mm lenses on my 35mm cameras. </p>

<p>m stephens: I've had my GS645 S for about 4 years. It's never missed a beat. The 60mm f4 lens is about equivalent to a 38mm lens for 35mm. It has a coupled rangefinder and shutter speeds that go to 1/500 second. The wide version has the 45mm f5.6 and is scale focus. Same metering and shutter.<br>

FWIW, there is also a folding GS645 that has a 75mm f3.4 lens, which is about normal for this format.</p>

<p>Mike Gammill,<br>

I am really glad to hear it has been reliable, because I am really liking mine. I shot four more rolls this morning and it is just a pleasure to use this camera. Thanks.</p>

<p>Great post, amusing and interesting. Another camera to put on the Christmas List...</p>

<p>Great.<br /> I enjoyed the trip and would like to see more.</p>

<p>I had to look this one up to see what it was like ( I found something related at http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0105/cameracorner.htm )</p>

<p>JDM von Weinberg,<br>

Mine is similar, but probably a slightly newer version than what is shown on that site. Here's a bit better exposure from yesterday. </p><div></div>

<p>Very tempting, not sure I'll wait until Christmas..</p>

<p>Hi everybody!<br>

Excellent picture Stephens!! your are v.good at shooting not like me :)<br>

I have the Fuji GA645Wi since 10 days. My father brought it to me from California during his trip there. A real Gem! I have made my first HP4+ the last weekend, the negative came out really good and beautiful. Sharpness is there even at f4 and 1/20, I did some portrait of my wife at the end of the day, not too much light, so I was at f4-f 5.6 and a speed of 1/20-1/30s. I examined the final negatives with an eyepiece. While I was a little bit skeptic about the results because of the low speed I was limited to, surprisingly they came out good and sharp. I am loving it more and more. Also, DATA imprinting on the unused area of the film is really vital on my opinion since I can directly access the "taking photo" conditions and to correct my behavior in taking photos in the future, if necessary.<br>

The camera is made of polycarbonate, appearance does not pay a lot but personally I can still feel its high quality materials. To handle it is a real pleasure and I mean it, soft, feminine shape, big enough to feel you are stable with it while taking photos. The 45mm lens is just as wide as I like, I feel myself comfortable with it, even with portraiture.<br>

I understand the P, A and Manual program. I used the A and the AF as settings. Very easy. I felt I was concentrating on composition of the image, no focus to care about or exposition time determination.<br>

What I don't understand is how to take Flash photos. When I pop up the flash, I have the symbol in the VF but in low light condition, it is still proposing 1.5 sec as exposition time. I wish to take flash photos sometimes with 1/45s a least or 1/100. How to do that? I thought the following:<br>

<br />since the guide number of the Flash is 12 at 100ISO; so a photo taken at 3 m and f4 should be just ok according to the formula : Guide number= F number x Flash distance. Will my photo be correctly exposed at 3m, f4 (or f5.6 and 2m) and 1/45s ?</p>

<p>I just found out that putting the camera on P mode allows one to take flash photos. Under my circumstances, the camera proposed a couple f4/ and1/45s with the flash activated, which is convenient to me.</p>