Fuji AF Rangefinder 645zi bokeh and flash for portraits ?

[ernest_bunbury]

Hello everybody.

 

I do portraits with flash. I process my film. I use T-Max 100.

 

(I use a flash so I can use f8 and 100ISO films)

 

I'm looking for an AF rangefinder camera to do this.

 

AF because I can't stand MF anymore and RF because it's smaller,

handholdable and I can use 1/15s.

 

I need a small telephoto lens.

 

I know I'm asking a lot. BTW, could it be dirt cheap ? :)

 

So I'm considering the FUJI 645zi Zoom AF RF. 90mm is not enough but

I have not found better so it will do. The only things I need to know

(and I didn't find elsewhere) are :

 

1. How is the bokeh ? It is very important for me.

 

2. The largest f on the longer end (90mm) is f9. To obtain maximal

quality, do I need to stop down to f16 ?

 

3. How is the flash system ?

 

I'm not a big fan of TTL flash or any flash system that stops when

enough light has bounced back (because of the difference between

white and black) except Nikon's that uses the D lenses. That's

another story.

 

The GN classic manual mode is cumbersome (I don't buy an AF camera to

do that :)).

 

So the ideal would be something similar to old flashmatic mode used

with 70s RF.

 

Or better : I set the aperture and the flash adjusts its GN

dynamically.

 

I may be dreaming here. So any information on what's available on the

fuji would do :)

 

Of course, any advice will be duely appreciated. If you know a camera

better than this one for the job, please tell me.

 

Ernest

 

PS : The good thing with this one is that I can remove the flash, add

a tripod, swap Tmax100 for Velvia and zoom out : bang!! I do

landscape now :)

[troyammons]

Actually i dont think F8 at 90mm would be a good portrait camera/lens.

 

A Pentax 645 would probably be a better choice for portraits, but no slow shots.

[catherineadams]

I have the 60mm version, rather than the zoom. I don't know about flash

photography, as I haven't tried to use another flash with the camera. The

attached flash is very strong, particularly in comparison with nikon's setup.

But the bokeh, at least with my camera, is very harsh. I couldn't use it for

portraits specifically. I think my nikon primes are smoother. For portraits, I'd

use my medium format SLR--so I agree with the previous post, since pentax

offers AF.

[flying_tiger]

A friend has a Fuji 645 AF rangefinder with fixed lens. The other day he shot one roll of NPS160 and developed/printed at A&I. The results are so-so, comparable to my EOS 3 and L lens. But no where near my Hassy and Zeiss glasses - night and day. I was not impressed. BTW, my shots were also developed/printed at A&I.

 

For head and shoulder shots, I use Zeiss 120/4 Macro and 150/4 CFi at F5.6-F8. Beautiful images!

[ilkka]

First of all, there is nothing wrong with the lens in either the 645GA or Zi. Something is wrong with the friend's camera or technique.

 

The fastest F stop in long end is not F/9 but something closer to F/7. The quality is good already wide open but will of course improve a bit when stopped down to 8 or 11. Bokeh seems to be quite personal thing so it is best that you try it out yourself. I don't find anything wrong with it.

 

The flash is a simple autoflash, no TTL. The guidenumber is very small, about 10-12m. It can be used as fill flash outdoors but I would not even consider it as lighting for portraits. By adding a few layers of tissue it works nicely as a flash trigger in manual mode for a separate monobloc or two.

 

Certainly a 645 AF SLR would be 'better' with a 150 or so lens, and the Pentax would be the lowest cost option among them, but it would also be a much bigger and much more expensive solution.

[ernest_bunbury]

Thank you for your answers.

I don't like SLRs for portraits.

I like to handlheld my camera and don't want the mirror slap...

At the moment I'm using Contax G2 and 90mm with TTL flash. Perfect.

But I need to go to MF...

Why a 90mm at f8 would not be good for portraits ?

At 2m, it has a dof of 33cm (1 foot) which is good for a portrait, and it is stopped down so it whould be sharp.

Can you explain ?

[roman_kuznetsov]

Hi, Ernst!

 

If you need some kind of smooth bokeh, go for larger Fuji 690 or 670 RF cameras. Ones with 90/3.5 lens are very good, and because this 5-element Fujinon has planar-like construction, it has nice bokeh. Really nice. Combined with TRI-X they do wonders :-) Great for landscapes, too.

 

Fuji's mechanical RF's can be used with almost any decent flash with Auto-thyrstor mode (from old good Vivitar 283 to some recent Canon and Nikons), though this setup tends to get bulky....

 

Roman

[ernest_bunbury]

Thanks Roman,

1. About the RF, thanks for the tip. I didn't know there was some fuji 67 RF... Do you have a name or something ?

I currently use Contax G2 with 90mm lens but it's still 135.

2. Tri-X ? really ? This is 400 :( Have you tried T-Max 100 ? Why do you like Tri-X ?

Regards

[roman_kuznetsov]

Re: Fuji 67 RF - Together with GW690 series (6x9) there is 6x7 series of their cameras. Last one was GW670III. They are almost the same as their bigger brothers, except frame size and frame spacing, getting 10 frames on 120 roll instead of 8. For picture, look at KEH.com web.

 

Why I like TRI-X? I have to admit that I shoot mostly color negative film with my GW690, but sometimes opt for color slide or B&W. I tried TMX, which is too contrasty for my taste (people, landscape, etc.) TRI-X has better tonality and because of ISO 400 and softer toe it is much more forgiving, allowing spontaneous handhold shooting. With 6x9 frime size, grain and resolution is no-issue... Just simple basic combination, TX400 + D76 stock yields pleasant results.

[ernest_bunbury]

Thank you all for your answers.

A friend will lend me one so I will be able to try it by myself.