645 camera - advice needed

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Ruvy

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I have a rolleiflex e2 that I like a lot ut sometime I feel its not convenient enough to use (like on travel and such). I want to buy a 645 mf camera and thought that fuji ga645zi is a good option but in 35 equivalency (diagonally calculated) its only 34mm wide in less than 60mm long... same +/- goes for the bronica but it has slower lenses and with three lenses if one can find all it gets rather expensive. In terms of 35mm I want to b able to get as wide as 24 or 28 mm wide and 90mm long... any ideas about options I don't know?
 
Maybe the Pentax 645? Lenses range from 35, 45 (2.8), 55(2.8) on up. Not quite sure the equivalences are in 35mm. Either way, decently wide and decently fast- not common in MF.

Quite cheap if you stick to the original 645. The price seems to double when you go up to the 645N and then again up to the 645NII. I recently missed a 645 with two lenses and two 120 inserts for $200 on ebay. Doh!
 
benlees said:
Maybe the Pentax 645? Lenses range from 35, 45 (2.8), 55(2.8) on up. Not quite sure the equivalences are in 35mm. Either way, decently wide and decently fast- not common in MF.

Quite cheap if you stick to the original 645. The price seems to double when you go up to the 645N and then again up to the 645NII. I recently missed a 645 with two lenses and two 120 inserts for $200 on ebay. Doh!
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Thanks! this sounds like a good idea but isn't it a lot more cumbersome? also, is the 645 all manual?
 
feenej said:
Mamiya 645 has a fab selection of lenes.
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Thanks feenej. I have tried it few years ago and compared to the Bronica SQAi I had at the time it was very nice and compact but how s it compared to a fuji rangefinder in terms of ease of use and weight?

oh. after looking at your image today of the girl at the window I have visited your gallery and enjoyed many of your family portraits.
 
If you can live without the zoom. The GA645 / GA645i with fixed 60mm f4 lens is very capable and portable.

Dave
 
Seems like a difficult list of requirements to me - MF and many focal lengths but also portable. The GA645W is equivalent to 28mm, AF, AE. The GS645W is also 28mm equivalent, but zone focusing.
 
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There is an older Fujica GS645W with a 28mm equiv. lens, scale focus, and built in meter. Nice and compact, and great results.
 
Mamiya 645 plus Zeiss Jena 50mm/4 plus Zeiss Jena 80mm or 120mm plus 180mm/2.8 Sonnar. Each lens is rather inexpensive and is first class optically.
 
Thank you all!!!

Tough choices between one camera that is relative compact meaning a single focal lens vs. cameras that are bugger and more complex (i.e. need to carry magazines and more lenses) - Need to give it some extra thoughts but thanks for the wealth of ideas - much appreciated
 
It is a trade off, and like you say you need to give it some thought to just see where your priorities are.
I can say though that the ga645zi you had in your mind is very compact, is pretty versatile with its zoom lens, and the colours and image quality is very very nice - that lens is really quite amazing. So the only downsides there is you're not going to go wide. I like my more manual Bronica RF645 system better (goes wider too) but that little Fuji is very compact and worth reconsidering if you ask me..
 
Here's a bit of a warning:
A couple of years ago, i bought a Fuji GA645zi. I shot a quick roll of film, just walking around, to make sure it 'worked.' The results were not impressive, but i chalked it up to me needing to get used to the camera. Mistake. I then took the camera on some travels abroad. Came home and found that there were only a few frames that seemed in-focus. And, even those were not as sharp as i had expected, having seen fantastic results from other photographers with the same camera. I sent the thing in to Fuji, and they told me they could calibrate the AF. They did, for about $150, and the camera was fine after that. I think my first roll wasn't overwhelmingly bad because i shot some things at small apertures and DOF covered the mistakes(?).

Whatever. So, a few weeks ago, i bought a GA645i, this time going without the zoom. Again, the 'test' roll was just 'off.' I sent the camera to Fuji, expecting them to calibrate it. But, this time, they told me the entire AF module and the circuit board needed to be replaced. For $800. Significantly more than i paid for the camera.....

My point is, i suppose, that i no longer trust AF rangefinders. You cannot see the focus working, and there's no way to verify what it's doing until it's too late. Even watching at the range data in the viewfinder isn't enough, because the readout appears to correspond to the actual distance.

I'm sure many will chime in about having nothing but positive experiences with the various Fujis, but after going for the GA645i because i wanted a 'casual,' P&S-type medium format camera, i've gone in a different direction, just to be able to have more confidence in the equipment. Just received a Bronica RF645. It won't be as quick in operation, but it's costing me too much to keep trying the Fuji thing. Besides that, how do you know, even if it IS calibrated in one moment, that it won't be out of calibration the next moment? Do these things go gradually, so that you have a falling-off of performance over time? Or, is it just -BOOM- gone, so that you shoot 20 rolls in Guatemala City and only 3 of 'em are worth anything?

Back to the original question..... I got the Bronica because i really only wanted one lens. I would have considered the 45mm for it, but i'm not keen on external viewfinders. If you want a 645 with a nice lens range, consider the Mamiya 645(Pro). You can get a fast 80mm 1.9 'normal,' lens and many of the others are 2.8s. You can use it without the motor winder to save space/weight. With or without the prism.... And, film magazines for it are cheap. Put Tri-X in one, and Portra in another.... Very nice to be able to switch on the fly like that.
 
Zenza Bronica 45-90 zoom on 645 :D

If you want to walk (travel) with the camera and do handheld shots I would recommend a RF medium format.

If you have time,want to use a tripod and have an assistant to carry your gear go with the SLR medium format cameras.


Pros for the RF (for travel)
  • Lighter in weight and some are realy small, like the Fuji folder.
  • No slapping mirror but quit leafshutters, you gain up to two stops with this poor man's VR.
  • The prism on a slr mf weighs a lot and makes it bigger, the wlf is not always handy altough the perspective is nice.
  • When using flash you go up to 1/500 sec speed.
Con
  • Top speed is usualy 1/500.
  • Lenses are not that fast.
  • If going closer you not always get what you see.
I think my al time favorite MF RF's are the Bronica rf with the 65mm and the Fuji folder, much to my regret I have never used the Mamiya's .
 
I've bought a bronica rf645 set (now it's a discounted item!!) with 45/65/100 lenses,flash and pola filter;) and then I bought a 903swc for going wideeeee!:D That'm my MF traveller kit!!!
 
if you were really committed, you could get a bronica rf645 with 45/65/135 lenses. other than that, an slr would do the trick. my favorite is the pentax 645n/nii. you could complement any slr with a fuji or bronica rf, and bob's your uncle.
 
Pablito said:
If it's AF, it's not a rangefinder.
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Fine. I'm not quite anal enough to try to fight this battle.

So, instead, i'll refer to those Fujis, the Contax G1/G2, and Hexar AF as "auto focus, non-SLR, non-rangefinder, gray-area cameras with rangefinder-like viewfinder systems."

AFNSLRNRFG-ACWRF-LVS for short.

Happy?
 
gohaj said:
does fuji GA series allow manual exposure?
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Yes, it has program mode, Aperture priority and manual exposure modes.
It allows a simple manual focussing too. It may be preset to one of several distances, a little awkward to do on the fly.
 
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