For this week’s installment of Film Friday, we’re taking a look at the latest video from Bellamy Hunt, Founder of Japan Camera Hunter, wherein he provides an overview of the Fujifilm GA645ZI, a medium format camera that is considered by some to be ‘the greatest point and shoot camera of all time.’
The 11-minute video provides a comprehensive hands-on overview of the GA645ZI, a fully-automatic point-and-shoot that was originally released in back in 1998. As Bellamy notes, the GA645ZI proved to be the last camera in its lineup, which started with the GA645 with its release in 1995.
Bellamy’s unit is actually a slightly more rare black version, which was released a year after the original champagne-colored model hit the market. His overview is a fun watch for any film aficionado and well worth the time for those interested in seeing the pinnacle of medium format point-and-shoot cameras from Fujifilm.
About Film Fridays: We've launched an analog forum and in a continuing effort to promote the fun of the medium, we'll be sharing film-related content on Fridays, including articles from our friends at 35mmc and KosmoFoto.
I own, and intermittently use, a Fuji GS645S. The various Fuji 645s were not cheap when I bought mine, but now... Oh my... At least the GS645S is fully mechanical (apart from the meter), should be reliable and can be theoretically serviced. The newer autofocus versions, not so much. Another thing, if I want an all auto camera with sharp zoom lens I can pick my digital. Sure the Fuji will give you pretty negatives with little effort, but where is the fun in that?
It’s a lovely camera, I found a bronica etrsi a better option but it’s all kind of academic, unless the film scene can support making new cameras at some stage Im not sure where it’s going. I collect many film cameras but never use them, I can’t see the point of the film cost and scanning when you can shoot digital
Nothing is permanent — even archival prints. But online sharing is even more transient/fleeting than pretty much any other medium.
Going through old boxes of prints, transparencies, and negatives is where the memories are.
I seriously doubt that our grandchildren will be able to access their own, or anyone else's, old smartphone shots as they age and begin to look back through multiple generations/lives/events that came before them. There's a lot of technology behind viewing, listening to, or otherwise experiencing digital assets.
Prints — from film or digital originals — though transient, will stand up to the test of time.
@brownie314 - If I want to share online, I will scan the print.
I should also say that I use digital (Fujifilm XE1) for color and film for BW (Olympus Pen FT half frame and an old Japanese half plate field camera for 4x5).
Focal - yes, if you are not careful about how you store your digital content - of course, future generations will be confused as to how to access it. But - if you have one central location for all of your files and it is well documented - it will be much easier than film to locate and understand what you are looking at. All you have to do is look at the state of most film from the 50s 60s, 70s. Most of it is lost or corrupted beyond repair due to environmental conditions. Yes, some survives - but that is because the care takers took extra precaution to make sure it survived. With digital - it is pretty simple to make sure it survives.
@ Point and Shoot, back when I still shot film, a roll of 120 cost approx the same as a same type 35mm film, you only got far fewer shots on it (15 645, 12 66, 9 69 etc) and that was not so surprising because the total film surface was similar, both fit in an A4 negative holder sheet. It sure made me more careful with my shots. Though interestingly I had from my rolleiflex roughly 3 worth enlarging negatives out of 12, and for my nikon it was 3 out of 36, and for digital, probably 3 out of 100 i am really happy with. One aimply shoots more and more if it doesn’t cost
They should try the Fuji GSW 690 II. Called Texas Leica. 6x9, with a terrific fixed 65mm lens = 28mm in FF format. No electronics. Twice the neg size of 645 and half of large format.
Superb camera! I took it to a trip to Indonesia many years ago. Beautiful b/w negatives. If I ever were to get back into film, I would probably buy this camera.
6x9 is also the smallest (!!!) in my opinion that would make it worth all the trouble to shoot, develop, scan, retouch film.
I ordered a GW690 III a few days ago. Has been on my want list for a long time and I decided to finally splurge for it. The 90mm lens fits my needs better and f3.5 vs 5.6 is a lot nicer, so I'm really excited when that monster of a camera finally arrives. They are pricy, big and heavy but getting to shoot 6x9 is pretty exciting for me. I've only shot 35mm and 6x4.5 before.
The one thing missing from some (all?) Fuji 6x7 / 6x9 cameras was a light meter. Of course that shows how much more knowledgable you had to be to use one of these cameras. But why was such a basic feature left off the 67 & 69 when all the Fuji 6 x 4.5 cameras had light meters? Another quirky Fuji thing.
Some of the coolest Fuji 6 x 4.5 wides were only sold in Asia and whenever I was in Japan I'd get another one. The 645s were light as a feather, sharp as a tack and (like everything) built like a tank. For some quirky Fuji reason, they pushed the 645 model with the bellows, worldwide, but didn't do much to market the wide angle 645s.
I have the 690 3rd gen. Stellar results though rather busy bokeh. Not as heavy as you would think since it is mainly made of good quality plastic. Focusing is a bit difficult. It has indeed no light meter, I use a Lunasix or an iPhone app for that. Very expensive to use due to only few shots on a 120 film. Yet wonderful.
Well weight always depends on what you compare it to. For a MF camera it's probably not that heavy, especially since it's 6x9 (looking at stuff like the GX680). But 1.5kg is still heavier than my heaviest lens and my regular kit I use probably clocks in under a kilo. I can't imagine how heavy the camera would be without the plastic. I've had some interest in the RB67 until I actually held one and realized I would probably rarely take it anywhere, even if interchangeable lenses are pretty tempting.
@Nosasaeng - the gw690iii is pretty carryable around the neck though. Yes, 1.5kg but doable. Not like an rz69. And you won’t be tempted to carry extra lenses. Anyway have fun with it.
Thanks. Seems like I will have to wait a bit for it though. Shipping by air is suspended from Japan because they can't enter the russian airspace so it was put on a boat it seems. That's gonna take a few months...
@sasaeng keep in mind that you need to forward the film lever TWICE between shots. That is how much the film needs to travel for the next shot! Also, don’t look at the counter at the bottom. You will never overrun it with today’s use.
Clarification: The GW645 = 28 mm equiv; the GW690 = 45 mm equiv (approx). Love my 690 - do 30x40 pints with it (Portra 400). One thing I always have to watch for now that I am so used to digitals - forgetting to take the lens cap off. Some of my world beating shots (LOL) were taken such that no one will ever know..
I also managed to leave the cap on my 690 for a few shots, damn! Regarding big portraits, the bokeh is a bit nervous due to only a 5 part aperture. But lovely quality.
It's a lovely camera but highly dependant upon its 25 years old electronics. After a few months and a few rolls mine stopped working properly a couple of years ago. Also the slow lens does make hand holding a bit challenging. If only Fuji cared about film and made a new camera, I'd buy one...
I own the 60mm fixed lens and it’s so much faster than the zoom version. My version is very reliable and the viewfinder is so much brighter than the zi.
My 80 mps scans from my Mamiya 7 6x7 from the pro lab that I use look amazing even next to today's high 45 mpx cameras. The large prints like incredible.
After reading your comment, I'm really glad that I returned to this thread.
I also have an RZ67 Pro II (with 3 lenses, 120, 220, and polaroid backs), as well as the pentaprism finder). Quite an investment at that point in my career. I put it all away in '95, or so, after I bought my first digital camera. It's been stored safely in a closet, since then (I had almost forgotten I had it). I took it out of mothballs recently, after reading one of the recent Film Friday articles.
Anyway, I had left this thread to go find someone to develop and scan the the film I'm planning to buy for it. Depending on my results, I'll either use it regularly or sell it.
If you don't mind, could you please tell me who you use for scans? Way back when, I used to have drum scans made by a local service bureau, but I don't think they're in business anymore.
Glad to hear you're shooting with it (it's a bigly different experience than shooting digital), and I hope you're having fun! Good luck!
@focal yokel - You are the third poster in the last year who has asked me about where I have my scans done. I am nearing the age where time is more important to me than money. I use two different labs depending on my end result usage: 1. www.ScanCafe.com for archiving and low-resolution posts and 2. www.ncp.com (North Coast Photo) in California for my best slides and negatives that I may make large prints from.
That does not match my experience, unfortunately. From my Hasselblad, I get 5000x5000 pixel scans MEANINGFUL resolution. With meaningful, I mean useable resolution. Sure, I can scan higher, but all I get is a cleaner view of the film grain. Not more details in the image. I have taken side-by-side shots with my Hasselblad and Digital camera, and 24MP equivalent is about it. My Sony A7r3 can resolve more detail of a scene than my Hasselblad ever could (not counting "special techniques" like using Tech Pan especially developed etc.)
There are reasons to use film. but resolving power is not one of them. Just my 2c.
I once 'scanned' my color slides with my D800 camera and projected the slide with a Leica Colorplan projection lens on an even piece of paper next to the computer screen and concluded there was really no more detail to be scanned in any of my slides above about 20 MP, except somewhat sharper grain.
After reading the comments regarding scanning MF transparencies, I decided to look into digital backs for the RZ67.
Upsides/downsides (like everything else in life, nothing is really clear cut).
I did come across a video by a photographer — Julio Ryuuzaki — who is committed to the camera. He has used six different digital backs on the RZ67, and he gives his experience on using each, and finally, the one he went with.
As far as digitizing film grain, it is the experience I had, but had not remembered.
Anyway, a digital back seems the path to a clean digital file. it's worth a look for anyone wanting to bring an 'oldie but goody' back to life in the digital age.
It's also interesting that he did commit to this camera, and his reasons why (he sold off all of his 35mm gear, and is never going back).
@4photos - There is a difference between looking at a scan on a monitor and transferring the result to a print. I was referring to a print as an end result, not pure resolution. Film grain adds to the result at viewing distance. A 6x7 cm frame has almost 5 times the area of a 35mm frame. The late mountain photographer, Galen Rowell, was making and selling 20x30 in prints from high end equipment and drum scans using Kodachrome 25, 64 and Velvia 50. He did not use consumer scanning equipment.
I always thought these looked interesting, but it's much larger and heavier than a Canon F-1 with a 50mm lens attached. I have shot the F-1 and I can tell you that the metering is good so I'm not sure what the advantage of a P&S the size of this is. Many people will say, "but MF has such higher image quality". Sure, the net effect is reduced grain, but getting focus on MF is more difficult. Typically, larger formats should not be used handheld as the optimal aperture is around f/16 - f/32 for a 6x7 film. For a technical minded photographer, a MF point and shoot is kind of ridiculous, you'll probably only surpass 35mm film by 5-10% in real world image quality and resolution. Yes, you can shoot the camera wide open, but the image won't be sharp, so what is the point? See where I'm going with this? These are all the reasons why MF died and 35mm won.
I have the fixed focal length variant and the results were tremendously better than my nikons, not just 15%. Focusing was easy since it has a reliable (though slow) AF. It is also nicely sharp wide open. My splendid travel camera. It was apparently also popular for wedding photographers for those special shots, yet could easily be used and carried next to a 35mm camera.
nice to see the legacy efforts of the fuji digital of today
digital "MF" and great apsc with lots of legacy DNA ... lots of learning due in general for those who dismiss fujifilm out of sheer ignorance ... the crowded 24x36 market can be left to those who deify it .
These Fuji film cameras were just great. I had the GSW690II, and it still tears at my heart I needed to trade it in 2014. Fantastic negs. I'll get one again after I retire.
I have its fixed focal length brother the ga645. A wonderful camera I made excellent quality travel photos with. It was very portable and easy to use. It would be incredible to have the exact same camera with a medium format sensor. I don t use film often anymore.
I have been wondering whether someone might try a fixed lens medium format camera Tom given that the cost of sensors has come down a fair bit, you might be able to create something not that much different in price to say a Leica Q2.
A 100 MP camera with a high quality short zoom that collapses(something like say 20mm to 35mm equivalent) I could potentially see that appealing as a travel camera.
Fujifilm's first (I believe) digital camera was based on a very similar body to the GA series, unfortunately with a much smaller sensor. I used one a few years after it's release (I think someone had donated one to my college) it was "quirky". https://www.dpreview.com/products/fujifilm/compacts/fuji_ds300
See I love portrait oriented cameras for the exact same reason. Most of my shots end up being vertical so I'm always holding cameras on their side. Half Frame cameras and vertical 6x4.5s are awesome because I can just shoot them with the camera upright now.
this medium format P&S camera is a good demonstration of why MF its going to stay exotic even today in the digital era. The frame size is just too big for the camera to be reasonably sized (unless using mini-medium format sensor like Fuji GFX). The FF P&S (namely Sonys RX1) show clearly that 35mm format is the perfect format to produce cameras perfect for the size of our human hands.
Size is not the issue with many photographers, weight is. I used my Mamiya 7 6x7 in a few countries in Asia. While I was there, I saw a photographer using its big brother 6x7 and a Bronica 6x7.
If you shoot Portra 400 120 B&H still has good prices on it...just bought 10 rolls for $ 131 USD (included shipping and customs).. I think that is good, no ?
Superb camera and fuji is inspired by him to go out, the first compact that exceeds one million pixels. The Fujix DS-300 1.3M CCD (1997) here compared to the very famous X100 https://www.flickr.com/photos/maoby/albums/72157713712845508 I've always had a soft spot for Fujifilm. :)
The Fuji GA645ZI was a beautiful design from a street photography standpoint, I wish Fuji had copied this design for the GFX50r, I mean they had it already in the 90s. Just imagining this with interchangeable lenses and no rangefinder just mirrorless. https://www.japancamerahunter.com/2022/03/camera-geekery-fujifilm-ga645zi/
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