Yes!!! GS645 on its way!!!

[trev2401]

Hello fellow photogs.

I've been yearning badly for a fuji rangefinder and recently managed to pick a GS645 (60 f4) version up from ebay for 350$

It looks good from the pictures (almost like new with no scratches), but the person sellign it wasn't sure if it worked.

Just wondering, if it doens't work (knock on wood) upon its arrival, does anyone know if fuji does servicing of its GS645 cameras?

or perhaps someone could let me know of a good repair shop which specializes in GS645 repairs?

Thanks to all

Regards,
Trevor

 

[Doug]

Hi Trevor -- Congratulations on your forthcoming GS645S! This is a fine little camera, and remarkably light and compact. The viewfinder is good, with not only parallax compensation, but the framelines also shrink a little as you focus closer for a more nearly correct framing. RF cameras with interchangeable lenses don't have that. But the RF spot is unfortunately not sharply defined around its border as with Leica et al, rather it has fuzzy edges like most small leaf-shutter 35's.

And there is a noise-maker attached to the shutter! You'd think a leaf shutter would be quiet, and you'd be right, except Fuji incorporated a thing that goes "CLACK!" when the shutter is released. When you use the self-timer, the CLACK occurs as the timer is started, so it's for sure not the shutter itself that's loud.

On the plus side, the lens is great.

You got an excellent price -- if the Fuji works as it should. I paid $425 for mine, and it turned out to be broken. These rigs are on the delicate side, therefore the "bumper" to protect the lens from impacts. But damage can occur anyway, as mine had broken plastic parts in the lens mount, undetected at purchase. Also the RF was sticky; it would move one way but often stuck going back the other way. Slapping the side of the camera usually made it pop into correct position. 🙁 AND, that's not all, as they say... The meter was reasonably accurate in daylight, but as the light got dimmer, it underexposed more and more.

Even so, I chose to take only this camera with me on vacation to Hawaii, using a separate incident meter and often scale focus, and the results were fine.

And fortunately, there IS an excellent repair guy: Frank Marshman at Camera Wiz is often mentioned on another forum as an expert with Fuji rangefinder.
Camera Wiz Camera Repair
169B Pleasant Hill Road
Harrisonburg VA 22801
800/471-8133; 540/434-8133

I hope it's unnecessary for you to send yours off for repair, but it's good to know a source. He also said that the rubber eye-cup and diopter correction lenses from the Nikon N90 all fit the Fuji.

Have fun with yours, and welcome to RFF!