From: Tim Daneliuk (tundra@tundraware.com) Subject: Review: Fuji GA-645 Zi Newsgroups: rec.photo.equipment.medium-format Date: 1999/10/12 After a month of arguing with myself about why I did not need this camera on top of a Hassy, a Wisner 4x5, a Nikon, and an old 2x3 Century Graphic (which is still for sale, BTW, if anyone is interested), I finally talked myself into a new toy. What follows is a quick review of the camera after shooting a half-dozen rolls of E-6, C-41, and most importantly, Agfapan APX 100 (color is for cartoons ;) For the record: All my Hassy stuff was stolen in Spain this year - before I replaced it (which I did do eventually), I rented a Mamiya 7 just to see if it suited me more than the Hassy (it didn't). So, in the last 2 months, I've used a Hassy, M7, and now, a Fuji 645 Zi so this review is in a pretty good context of the current MF state-of-the-art: Ergonomics - Weight is terrific - Shape and general control layout is fine, but unremarkable - The entire camera is "soft" - that is, all the exposure, ASA, modes, and so forth are set via the electronics and controls, not directly on the lens. This is hard to get used to when you're used to exclusively manual cameras, but it's not the end of the world. - Whisper quiet and vibration free - Very well screwed together - definitely pro quality construction that should hold up well unless you're in the habit of dribbling your cameras off hard concrete floors or the like Optics - In a word - "terrific" - I've blown up hand-held negs to 16x20 and the sharpness and tonal fidelity is outstanding. Not quite up to the 'Blad optics, but close enough that you have to *really* look to see any difference - that may also be a rationalization to support buying enough Hassy gear lately at the cost of a small car - it *must* be better, right ;) - Zoom range is rather limited. Think of it as a medium wide - normal zoom - there is effectively no real telephoto operation of any note Great for small groups, candids, and waist-height portraits. Meter - Suprisingly accurate. Backlighting fools it, of course, but you can meter lock or use EV override to compensate. - Since the meter is centerweighted, I was succesfully able to use it like a "wide" spot meter for zone exposure calculation with excellent accuracy. Flash - Suprisingly powerful for as small as it is. It's not going to replace your Metz, but for grab shots, it seems more than adequate. Film Transport - Seems fine, though as a matter of taste I prefer manual film advance - why waste the battery on loading and moving film. Oh well, the engineers at Fuji didn't check with me first, sigh ;) Autofocus - Fast and accurate for handheld stuff - I set things manually when doing "serious" work, more out of habit than necessity. Best & Worst - I love the built-in diopter correction, but wish they had made it a little harder to change since it keeps slipping out of the desired position when I stuff the camera into the bag. A small thing. - I love the ability to imprint the film edge with exposure and date info. Unfortunately, this barely shows up with B&W - you have to use loupe to see it whereas it sticks out more in color since it is imprinted in red. - The disease of all RF cameras - no depth of field preview. You'd think that in a totally "soft" camera they could have displayed the DOF digitally in the viewed display. Not a small thing and an area that Fuji could really have distinguished this camera if the feature were present. The camera "knows" where it is focused and what the f-stop is - why not have the computer lookup DOF out of a built-in table and display it I ask you? - I want more zoom - Lens is a little slow for slower films if you're gonna shoot handheld. It is fine with the more speedy color emulsions. - It is so light and small (lighter than say, a Nikon F5, by a bunch) that you tend to drag it around with you much moreso than you would a Hassy or Bronica or Pentax 645... This means you take more pictures... this is a very good thing. All in all, I love this thing. It will never replace my 'Blad or 4x5 but it has made my 35mm camera essentialy obsolete (anyone wanna buy a beautiful vintage Nikon F with a working FtN meter and lenses?) It's not cheap, but you're buying pro gear here. Its natural niche is probably for street shooters and wedding photographers, but it makes an awfully nice point-n-shoot for the serious photographer. I'd also highly recommend it for *beginners* who can have a camera that makes real negatives for less than the price of a pro 35mm SLR body alone. Questions, comments, rebutals welcome... -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tim Daneliuk tundra@tundraware.com ============================================================================== From: Tim Daneliuk (tundra@tundraware.com) Subject: Fuji GA-645Zi Update Newsgroups: rec.photo.equipment.medium-format Date: 2000/03/02 A while back I posted a review of my shiny new Zi to the pure-silver mailing list and net news. Here's a brief follow-up. A couple weeks ago I had to go to Singapore on business. I knew I'd have very limited time for pix - turned out to be about 6 hours over 7 days (; I brought a digital camera for the tourist stuff, and I didn't want to haul a bunch of heavy equipment around for the "real" pix - this precluded a view camera or MF SLR... so, I took the Zi loaded with my usual Agfapan APX 100 for later development in PMK pyro. I just printed 4 of the images I took there and the results at 11x14 are just stunning - the images are contrasty, tack sharp and the tonal rendering is first-rate. Even the handheld stuff holds up beautifully. I said it before and I'll say it again - under VERY critical examination, I can see slight degradation when compared with images taken with my Hasselblad, but the differences are really, really, small. If I didn't need the interchangeable lenses, I'd get rid of the 'Blad and use the Zi for all things rollfilm. I highly endorse this camera. It takes a bit of getting used to, but if you want a "rollfilm Leica" that doesn't cost the sun, moon, and stars (like a Mamiya 7) this camera is it. I have already recommended it to a number of less serious photographers as a general purpose point-n-shoot if they want spectacular family, holiday, and vacation photos. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tim Daneliuk tundra@tundraware.com