Fujifilm GA-645Wi

Fuji GA 645 Wi

This is one of the best cameras I've ever used. Small, light, superb & super sharp lens, autofocus, manual exposure, auto advance of film, program, aperture priority, manual focus, built-in flash, data printed on negative border, what would I need more?
It is the ideal camera for those who want a MF camera, easy to carry.
I shoot chrome and B&W film with this camera and I've never had a bad light metering or out of focus image, made with this camera.
There are many people complaining about this camera but, many of those have never read carefully the manual, wich I admit, is not very user friendly.

Image sharpness and contrast.
Great lens multi-coating
Manual focus does work well if you read the user manual carefully.
Good light meter
Data printed on negative border
Flash sync at any shutter speed

User manual
Not a good looking camera

Fuji GA 645
Pentax 67
Pentax 645
Rolleiflex 3.5E
Mamiya 6 Mf
Hasselblad 500 C/M

Never used

Couldn''''t get past the manual focusing feature of this camera. Unlike the 645zi, using hyperfocal distances cause the frame lines to change to the close-framing position causing problems in reframing for distance photographs. Sold the camera.

Superb Lens quality

Much cheezier feeling than 645zi. Manual focusing as per review summary

GA645zi (superb camera)

na

A good P&S medium format camera. But must be familiar to its "characteristics", otherwise, you may only get a blur, out of focus photo!

- Razor Sharp Lens(in-focus)
- Light shuttor(can hold less than 1/10 sec)
- Light weight and small size, versatile!
- Good price
- Easy to use
- Data record

- The manual focus operation is stupid

- There are some "bind spot" that cannot be in focus e.g.0.8m (even you step down to aperture 22, this distance can never be sharp(according to the DOF table in the manual

This is my first MF

Never use

I'm the contrarian on this camera. Other than the lens -- which is superb and yields amazing photos -- I do not get why people rave about it.

The AF frequently doesn't focus on what you want it to; it often did not lock on what it was supposed to. Unlike an SLR or a mechanical rangefinder, you have no way of knowing it, other than looking at the distance readout and estimating distances. This was a very irritating aspect of this camera.

It was nice of them to include an on-board flash; the problem was that the flash was appalling. In all the time I owned the camera, I never got a good flash picture. Was it a TTL flash? Who the hell knows, because the manual was so awful, it didn't tell you.

Nor did it tell you how to get the best out of the metering. Was it centered-weighted, total average, or what? Again, who knows?

The camera was oriented for portrait taking (long side (6) up and down, short side (4.5) left to right). This was inevitable when you think about the design of a 645 roll film point-and-shoot camera, but it is a pity when you think about how well this camera suited landscape work. What made it worse was that when you flipped the camera to take a horizontal shot, you had to flip 90 degrees in the opposite direction from the one which most photographers are accustomed to (right hand on bottom, rather than top), or you obscure the meter and mess up the exposure (to their credit, they added a second shutter release to make this operation easier).

So, what should they have done with this camera? Kept the package -- which is a near ideal size and weight -- but make it a MECHANICAL rangefinder (like their 670 and 690). They should improve the metering and the flash. If they had, they might have produced the ultimate MF camera to take hiking.

Because of these shortcomings, I sold the camera and bought a Plaubel Makina. Though it has proved fussy in other ways, it fulfilled my requirements: small, convenient package/big negative.

But, as I say, I'm in the minority on this one. Most people love it. And, truth be told, I look at some of the photos I took with this camera, and some of my favorites are among them, and at those moments, I miss it a bit.

Superb, superb lens; lightweight and small; price is fairly reasonable for what you get (if what you got worked better)

autofocus is erratic; metering is hopeless; portrait orientation is unfortunate, given its special appropriateness as a landscape camera; flash is hopeless; instruction manual is hopeless

wide range of 35mm and medium format cameras

not used; I have generally found Fuji difficult to communicate with, compared with other camera companies

Great for reportage in 120 mm format. Also
Stock photos in 6x4.5 format can't hurt.

Very easy to use, very sharp, and by all means a great camera for marriages. " NO NOISE "
Also for reportage " No Noise "

If the intention, is to be fast and easy, with a 120 mm neg: None....
"Danger" it has DX CODE only with Fuji film. So if your using Kodak or Agfa, you must change the ISO by hand.....

Mamiya 6x7, Pentax 6x7
Fuji 6x4.5

No need as of yet.