This is a very light in weight professional Medium format camera. When suffering from back, neck and elbow pain, this camera is a welcome relief! It feels like a 35mm point and shoot, but delivers truely professional results. The images are tack sharp. I have printed up to 16x20s so far and see no problem with doing 24x30s. It is easy to use for Wedding groups and reception candids. Program works great for outdoors. (see weakness remarks for flash)

The auto focus is too slow compared to Nikons.
This camera is TOO quiet! In a noisey environment,(wedding receptions) you cannot tell when it goes off! The zoom is great, but limited to groups and candids. The 90mm end of the zoom is just no good for close up portraits. The same with the slow f-stop. It is no good for portaits where you need shallow depth of field.
There is no manual focus. It says there is, but only if you first measure the distance, with a tape measure, then shut off the AF and set the distance on the LCD screen. Hey, may dad did that in the 50's with his Kodak Jr! The memory for your settings is lost when you shut it off. You need to reset shutter speed and aperature for manual mode each time it is turned back on.
The camera does not know if a flash is attached, so better use only "manual" if you attach a flash. Seems an easy fix for the designers, to set a 60th of a sec any time a flash is plugged in????
This camera needs a "lock out" when the cap is on. Sure a little warning light comes on if the lens cap is on, but you have to really look for it. Instructions need to be re-written by english speaking writters!
( what does "leave you finger from the button mean?"

I am very happy with this Camera. For only $1775.00 it is a great investment. A potential buyer needs to be aware of this Camera's limitations. This is not a portrait camera. It is great for general shooting, candids, landscapes, family groups, etc.
When compared to the fact that you get a Medium format camera, with Auto focus, motor drive, and a zoom lens, all for what another camera's body only will cost, this is a great Camera investment!
If Fuji comes out with a longer zoom or at least a 90-200, I will but another in a 1/125 second!
Paul in Ft. Myers

Customer Service

I have the Area Fuji reps name and number, but have never needed to call him except for advise on buying this camera.

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I have never used a Range Finder before. I have used Canons, I own two Nikons and a Bronica ETRSi 645.
This will not

Well built Light Weight Medium Format Point & Shoot Camera with very sharp lens. A good camera for lanscape and group photography, although I still prefer my 6x6 Rolei with it's waist view-finder, when I have the time to set the camera.

Very limited in use.

Not a very good camera for portrait
The zoom lens max position is 90mm (55mm equivalent for 35mm systems). This is too short for portrait. Also the max. aperture at 90mm is F6.9. You will need a lot of light or charge ISO400 film or use a flash. Also for portraits you want less depth of field then you will get at F6.9. Another problem for portraits is that the minimum focal distance is 1m (3ft). At 90mm this is still too far away if you want to fill the frame with your 1 year old child.

The flash!
The flash is another problem. The on body flash is too weak to light your object with F6.9. With ISO100 film you can only use the flash up to 1.7m (5 ft)! If you want to put a flash on the hot shoe you will have a hard time finding a flash that allows you to turn the head in vertical position. The best solution is to buy a ball-joint with a normal vertical flash and flip it over. Yes, Fuji has a flash but this one is too expensive for what you are getting.

Autofocus.
The autofocus works great, but make sure that you use the AF-lock because, unlike your 35mm P&S, this camera will only lock on the object in the middle of the view-finder.

Depth of Field preview is missing.

This camera is very limited in use, but it is the lightest full automatic medium format camera to carry arround any place. If you are aware of its limitations and you find the solutions to work arround them, you can get some good pictures. Make sure you shoot at least 20 films before you use it for a wedding or any other important occasion.

Customer Service

Not needed yet

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Roleicord, Canon EOS, Pentax Espio928

This is a great walk around camera. Light and fast to use. Love the built in flash and the zoom lens. Batteries last forever.

I wish the zoom was faster than f6.9 at telephoto. It could use a manual focus rangefinder system. 200 film winds poorly.

I love this camera. It is my first choice for travel and personal shooting. It has missed focus on a couple of sessions so I'd rather use the Contax 645 when on the job. This camera has a few drawbacks, but it is the only one of its kind.

I spent two weeks in January on assignment in Kosovo where I slept in below freezing temperatures every night. The camera continued to function in spite of continued exposure to freezing conditions. It was so light and compact that I could walk around with it for 16 hours a day with no camera bag fatigue. The slow lens was a problem for shooting indoors when there was no electricity. Built in flash helped, but it gives the photos that point and shoot look.

Customer Service

Lousy! These guys ripped me off for over $600 to fix the autofocus system and the tripod socket.

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I have the Contax 645, Mamiya 7 and Hasselblad 2000 FCM

Great Lens

extremly difficult owners manual to understand, takes a lot of effort to know what it is that their trying to communicate. Something lost in the translation of words and phrases from Japanese to English. Another thing that I found out to late is that the cameras autofocus system can't handle more than one filter at a time, so if you wanted to use more than one your kinda of out of luck. To use the manual focus mode is truly a pain and in my view point not worth the effort. One last thing that I'm very displeased with is that the minium focusing distance is 3 meters or rounded off 4 feet. So tight close up's of head and shoulders are out of the question. very restricting camera

This is a wonderful camera for shooting weddings, and taking portraits both in a studio setting and outdoors using the program modes. If your intention is fine art, or creative landscape in my opinion the 645zi is just to restricting.

Customer Service

extremly lousy. Fuji is so large that no one knows about the products. They just keep shuffling you from one person to the next passing the buck, and if you lucky you may find someone that will be able to help you but don't count on it. Their customer service is not user friendly to use a computer term

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None which was my big mistake.

Light, compact, easy to lug around. Auto-focus and auto-exposure works great, even in lowlight situations. No problem with out of focus images.

You have to put pressure on the roll of film when loading to make sure it rolls tight on the take-up spool. Otherwise it will be loose resulting in fogged frames. Also, when used with a potato-masher type flash (Metz 45, Sunpak 544) the film orientation does not match that of the flash head, resulting in light dropoff on the bottom of verticals and the left side of horizontals. Keeping a wide angle adapter on the flash solved this problem. And when using a flash of this type you have to set the camera to Manual. As you turn the camera off and on, it sometimes forgets the settings. Need to check every time you turn it on.

I love this camera. Use it for weddings, parties, portraits, children. It's OK in the studio but excels when you have to carry it around. Lighter than my Nikon. Looks good too. Great for serious amateurs and pro's.

Customer Service

No help at all. Arrogant.

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Own Fuji 670III, Mamiya 330s, Mamiya 645 Pro

It's very lite weight,
seems well made.
It's nice to have a med.format camera the size and weight of a 35mm.

Some images out of focus.
Since you can't see what in focus you have to stop down that extra stop. or double check yourself before shooting.

This camera has a very sharp lens and works very well. But don't but it as your primary camera.
It always better to see whats in focus and what is not.This camera has a very small footprint for a mid format camera.So I find myself taking places that I would not take a larger camera.

Customer Service

I did send it back to Fuji, to check out.
Had some out of focus shots and with 220 film film did not rewind all the way.
They found nothing wrong with the camera but did tell me how to fix the rewind problem.

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No auto-focus midformats.
But have use lots of different types of camera's

convenient to pack for travelling and using.Good design --easy to hold.
excellent lens. diopter correction. compensation override.

When viewing verticals, I think at the wide end (55) of zoom--I try and line up buildings or other vertical line, and I think it falls inward..seems off kilter.Is there lens distortion--anyone else notice this? diopter correction knob moves too easily and changes somehow..hard to load.

my negatives look great. sharp --worked with every feature of the camera and really like it alot. have a bit of trouble with manual focus unless at infinity. thats the only way I use it for night photography. I haven't had any trouble with film fog because I am diligent about pressing on left side of film while cranking onto right side. design should be easier to use--and manual is ridiculous. the camera feels good, and I used it over my 35mm this past vacation.
I just wonder if I should have bought the fixed
60 mm lens.

Customer Service

hopefully never have to talk to them

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hasselblad
rollieflex

Easy to use, sharp lens, fully automatic everything, good metering, beautiful solid construction.

Forget maually focusing with this camera.

The nicest and most expensive Piont and Shoot you'll ever own. The quality of the pictures from this camera are phenominal, and it's ease of use is that of a full featured piont and shoot. Definately the easiest medium format camera to use.

Customer Service

N/A

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35mm SLRs and P&S's

The lens is very, very sharp and contrasty. The sharpest zoom I have ever seen, outperforms some of my Bronica primes! I have not detected any distortion either.
Small and light, which means you can take it with you instead of the 35mm. Low weight and leaf shutter make it possible to hand hold it at slow shutter speeds. Light meter is spot-on. It is very quiet.

Autofocusing is a bit quirky and needs a sanity check - luckily there is a distance scale in the viewfinder. The diopter correction setting always changes, but thats a minor quirk. I wish it had a depth of field preview and more logical controls. The lens is a bit slow, but what do you expect from a zoom. The manual is undecipherable.

This is a truly great camera. Of course being a compact it is limited in many ways, but just like with any other camera if you take its limitations into account you can produce very impressive photos. What you get is a light and portable mid-format camera with a very sharp 55-90 mm zoom lens (actually, its more like having four primes at 55, 65, 75 and 90mm). The light meter is surprisingly accurate and I have learned to trust it. All this means you can take it with you instead of dragging a mid-format slr plus a few primes plus all the associated equipment. Its good for just about anything except macro and portraits. It produced some very nice nature shots, landscapes and people shots for me.

Customer Service

Never had a reason to use and hopefuly never will. :-)

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Mamiya 645, Bronica ETRS, Rolleiflex

Superb lens
Date and exposure info on negs (outside th picture area)
Great Rangefinder, convenience.
Compact size, smaller than my F
Good price for quality medium format 645.

No double exposure possibility
No DOF preview

This camera is top quality 'point and shoot' medium format camera.
The optical perforance is far better than my Nikon AF-s lenses and my favorate Nikon 35mm f/1.4 AIS. Even my wife can use this camera to show-off her outstanding pictures. It's always in my bag on vacation.

Customer Service

N/A

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Mamiya 7 II ,