What have I got myself into?

freeranger

freeranger

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Just picked up a Fuji GA645i off the 'bay. (sub $400 and supposedly excellent condition)

This is my first medium format RF...what am I letting myself in for??
 
after seeing the big negs you'll probabaly throw all your 35mm RF's away.

Todd
 
freeranger said:
Just picked up a Fuji GA645i off the 'bay. (sub $400 and supposedly excellent condition)

This is my first medium format RF...what am I letting myself in for??
Click to expand...

You are going to be amazed. Try shooting some chromes first. When you get them back put them on a light table and be prepared to loose your mind. The slides are large, detailed and they just jump off the table at you.

Best luck with your new purchase.

Bob
 
I know what you're talking about. I started with a Holga for "fun." Now I have both a Fuji GW690II and two (yes, two) Fuji GA645zi's. I love the big negatives. Not only is my Minolta CLE getting no love anymore, even my digital rf, Epson R-d1, is feeling neglected...boy o boy. I hope my GAS doesn't extend into digital MF or I'm screwed. Poor house here I come.
 
JBFreeheel said:
I know what you're talking about. I started with a Holga for "fun." Now I have both a Fuji GW690II and two (yes, two) Fuji GA645zi's. I love the big negatives. Not only is my Minolta CLE getting no love anymore, even my digital rf, Epson R-d1, is feeling neglected...boy o boy. I hope my GAS doesn't extend into digital MF or I'm screwed. Poor house here I come.
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Well,
I think there's a lot of people here willing to adopt your Minolta and/or R-D1 to give them a good home.

Best regards,
Uwe
 
The 645 negative is wonderful- and I really like that the Fuji's are oriented as verticals in the VF- I shoot 80-90% verticals. Color is really fun with these- either chromes or just a proofsheet of neg film is a real joy to look at.
 
JBFreeheel said:
I hope my GAS doesn't extend into digital MF or I'm screwed. Poor house here I come.
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:D This is one of the reasons that I chose the GA645i - no interchangeable lens system to lose sleep over.
 
Just wait until you print your first 16x20. The detail and tonality you will be able to hold at this image size will smoke your 35mm's.:D
 
Todd.Hanz said:
after seeing the big negs you'll probabaly throw all your 35mm RF's away.

Todd
Click to expand...

Just be sure to throw any Leica gear my way..
 
Congrats, I just sold my GA645 even though I loved it because I started to want even more negative (well, and an incurable case of GAS). But it is a great camera, and getting 15 pictures on a roll of 120 is not at all as uneconomical as some critics of MF allege. Enjoy your new toy, I mean tool.
 
freeranger said:
:D This is one of the reasons that I chose the GA645i - no interchangeable lens system to lose sleep over.
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ah, but you could always buy another body, like the ga645Wi...

after you shoot some slides and enjoy them on a light table, be sure to get a couple of your favourites scanned professionally around 300mb so you can work on them in PS and then print at ridiculously large size.
 
freeranger said:
Just picked up a Fuji GA645i off the 'bay. (sub $400 and supposedly excellent condition)

This is my first medium format RF...what am I letting myself in for??
Click to expand...

I got my first medium format camera two years ago, a Pentax 67. Since then I have also aquired Hasselblad, TLR's, a Pentax 645, a bag of old 6x6 folders. On top of that I started collecting loads of 35mm gear - old Japanese rangefinders, a superb Contax G2 system, a Contax T, old Japanese SLRs, point and shoots and on it goes. It's an illness really, called "GAS".
 
I started shooting MF about a decade ago, but didn't see true awesomeness of the format until I recently got back to darkroom printing.

After spending some nights printing from 6x7 and 6x6 negs, I went back to 35mm neg one day and tried to print 11x14. Wow. I almost hurt myself trying to stretch the enlarger as high as it goes. The projected image looked THIN. Oh gotta love the rich tone and sharpness of MF.

I still love 35mm and my Leica & OM gears, but I now can see why Leica M3 was sold as "miniature camera" back in the days. ;)

Yeah, be careful with GAS attack. 6x4.5 is a dangerous teaser to 6x7 or even 6x9. :p
 
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