Using Kodak 120/220 film in a GA645zi

[doc mason]

I will shortly received a new Fuji GA645zi camera and a box of

kodak films (Portra 400nc and 160nc rolls) as my birthday gift

from my family. My wife and daughter tried to buy my gift secretly,

however, neither one of them know very much about cameras. I

will love the camera, but I worried about the film, because I don't

know if they will work with my camera. What functionalities of the

645zi will, and will not work with these films? Please help1

 

Doc

[p._neil_ralley]

Doc,

Just type PORTRA into the search box in the top right hand corner of the screen and you will find a few postings which may be reassuring.

[patrick_drennon]

Robert,

 

I have a 645Zi and use Kodak film in it about 50% of the time. The ONLY function that will not work is the automatic film speed reader. It works only with Fuji film, Kodak film doesn't possess the barcode. The film speed is very easy to set manually, just follow the instructions. All other functions are retained and the camera is a great tool. Load it and have a blast.

[craig brown]

Great Gift! (my wife and daughter got me a beard trimmer for my birthday!) I've had the opportunity to do a lot of traveling over the past six months. I got the 645zi for that. It is a GREAT camera! Check out my site www.csbrown.com and look at the Hong Kong B&W photos (under travel). People in Hong Kong move very fast and I am convinced that if I had brought my manual Mamiya 645 Pro-tl I wouldn't have gotten half the shots. Note that the quality of these photos is limited to my ability to scan negatives (which I am not that good at).

 

The film you choose depends on what you are doing. My Germany, Austria, France and England shots were all done during the winter. It was never really bright. Though I brought a wide variety of film, I only used 400 speed. I eventually settled on Kodak Portra 400VC. This is a great, great film. My goal was to capture as much information as possible in a short period of time. With 400 VC, it's good in almost any outdoor lighting situation (though I have used Portra 800 right before dark). The tiny built in flash may not be that great but it is better then nothing. I've gotten some good shots when I was close to the target.

 

Bad Points? In crowded cities, I wished for a wider lens. I actually lugged my Mamiya along with my 645zi and Movie Camera when I was traveling. This is only a problem if you can't step back from the subject. The 645zi is easy to load but you do have to pay attention and apply a little pressure on the roll (when loading) or you will get a small amount of fogging. I've only gotten fogging outside of the photo. 220 film is a little harder and I always get a little fogging (but again, I have never lost an image due to fogging). When I am taking "once in a life time" shots, I only use 120.

 

Good luck

 

 

-Craig