The strengths of this camera highly outweigh its weaknesses.

None so far. DFW Bath & Kitchen Solution Highland Park

Compact
Lightweight
High quality lens
Fully auto or aperture priority and manual
Built in fill flash (with extra aperture priority slow sync setting)
Bright and big viewfinder with frame varying frame lines, aperture, shutter and focal distance
Lens cap warning (frame lines flash)
Variable dioptre for eyepiece
Easy to load film
Film edge data printing
Takes 52mm filters
Exposure compensation
Well made (made in Japan)

An exposure compensation dial would have been nice on rear of camera. However it is easy to set with a button and dial. Resets when camera is turned off.

The camera is a rangefinder so no point comparing it with an SLR or a modular camera. It can been used as a point and shoot or you can take your time and adjust the settings as desired. Once familiar with the workings, it is very intuitive and quick to use. The zoom lens range and maximum apertures allow the camera to remain compact and lightweight. Faster minimum apertures would only add weight and bulk. This is a fantastic camera to use for travel, particularly when traveling with a non photographer partner. It's medium format 6x4.5 so all the benefits of the larger negative within a convenient body. The lens zoom range is very useful giving a significant enough change from wide angle to between normal and short tele. The fill flash works in A (Aperture Priority) mode at any aperture with a slowest shutter speed of 1/45. There is an As mode which allows slow sync with the shutter to fully espose backgrounds with flash for the near camera subject. In P mode the flash will only fire if the auto exposure requires it. With the flash up, the flash symbol with show in the viewfinder if it is going to fire. Overall, this is a clever and well thought out camera. The selector or up/down wheel on top is the camera can become a bit erratic sometimes on selecting a setting. Research shows this to be problem that shows up now and then but that can be treated with a service/clean of the wheel workings if it is very bad. My particular camera has this problem but it is not bad enough to be a problem in normal use. Don't know if it will get worse or just stay the same. Might even improve with more use (hopefully). The motorised workings of the camera sound good and are not considered 'noisy'. Take care when opening the back of the camera to load film. The electrical ribbon connecting the body to the LCD on the rear of the door can fatigue over time or become a bit brittle. Try not to allow the door to fully open with unloading/loading film and this will reduce chance of LCD problems. The camera is a joy to use, easy to use, easy to carry, produces superb 56mm x 41.5mm images and can easily be always with you. Takes 2 x CR123 lithium batteries which last well and are easy to find. Highly recommended.

Similar Products Used:

GA645i, GA645W

Easily carried,
Nice little zoom,
Great auto focus and auto exposure options.
Has aperture priority, shutter priority and metered manual settings,
Has a nice built in flash that is useful for fill in flash,
Awesome lens produces great images.

Manual focus is hard to use and difficult to get the right settings.
Rangefinder makes it a bit difficult to use polarizer filters, not impossible, just more finicky then single lens reflex.
The built in flash is a little bit weak, but useable.
Accessories are starting to get a little hard to find nowdays.

I bought this camera used from KEH and I am very glad that I did. This is a terrific little medium format camera. I have used a number of different medium format cameras and find I am really drawn to my older folding cameras because they are so portable. I love using those vintage cameras but when I can only carry one medium format camera and want to be sure I am getting great shots, this is the camera I grab. It is very portable and carries easily in my inside vest pocket. And it provides absolutely stunning images, making me look like a much better photographer then I really am. I scan my images and end up with very high quality digital images that I could not get any other way unless I was willing to spend thousands of dollars on very high priced digital full frame cameras or even higher priced digital backs for medium format cameras.

Developing medium format film is more expensive then 35mm, but if you compare that cost with the minimum $3,000 investment for full frame digital, I can develop an awful lot of film before I reach the break over point. In my opinion, for an amateur, this is the most cost effective route to extremely high quality digital images.

Customer Service

I haven't needed it yet.

Similar Products Used:

Pentax 645NII
Zeiss Super Ikonta C 530/2
Fuji GW690III
Mamiya M645 1000S

Lens Quality
Small, neat and light
Pro construction..titanium body.
Built in flash! Small but useful.
Excellent meter

Low zoom range..Portrait wide- standard view
Awkward manual controls: three hands required with triple jointed fingers.
No preview / live view..hell its a film camera!
120-220 film is all but extinct unless you have a specialist retailer handy or mail order.

Excellent rollfilm camera. Last of its kind before the all wonderful digital range ..not!

I have a Nikon D300 and this baby Fuji which kicks the Nikon's butt for slow and thoughtful photography..better colour, sharper etc. The Nikon is great for short sharp shooting but the 20*16's form the 645 film are stunning.

Don't bin your film camera's just yet.

Similar Products Used:

RB67
Fuji 6x9

Various digital Nikon's

Mostly described above:
Lens
Meter
Size
Zoom
Autofocus
Speed
Flash
Old fashioned cable release socket
Well thought out features

Within its limitations, not much.
A larger zoom range would be nice, but that would compromise the size and the quality
Slightly better autofocus would be nice, but it's already very good
It would be better if it metered from within the filter thread, in order to take care of filter factors automatically
Modal controls make it slightly slower to access some features
I'm not a great fan of the default portrait aspect, but I can see why it's been designed that way - I might buy a bracket for tripod use in lanscape

I read a whole load of reviews before I bought this camera, and I have read a lot of conflicting views about it, so I thought I'd have my two pennies.
Overall I am very satisfied after my first three rolls of Provia. The zoom range is limited but useful, and the lens is great - that's a given. The viewfinder is quite nice. The metering is as accurate as everyone says it is - not just good, but precisely bob on for slide film. Of course, it's not a mind reader, so the usual centre weighted rules apply. The autofocus is very good - nearly as good as any autofocus rangefinder I have used, including the Contax G1 and 2, and my Nikon 35ti, which is amazing considering the format. It doesn't always get it right, but it is very good. The flash is also pretty much perfect - a bit like using a Vivitar 385 with a little unexposure dialled in. Of course, it's on the camera, and there's not much you can do about that, but beats my Nikon 35ti for flash exposure, and you can sych al the way to the highest shutter speed. Handling is nice, but sometimes it can be a bit slow to do a simple thing like setting exposure compensation, compared to a camera with a dedicated dial, but I have't had it long, and I'm sure I will get quicker at using it. I had no problems loading film, and found it very easy and quick to do. Long and short of it is, I will be keeping this camera, and using it a lot...

Customer Service

Not known

Similar Products Used:

Are there any?

light wt
very sharp results
excellent light meter
Results will kick any 35 mm camera output....

I bought this camera last month and was not sure how my results will come out I took some picutes on Back Bay in Boston and some at Newport RI. I set the exposure comp. to +0.5. all my results came out beautiful, very sharp corner to corner nicely expose I love it. This camera is great give you 16 exposure every time on 120 easy to carry great for travel.

Compact , light and simple not a lot to go wrong with it.

Due to the metereing system you have to manualy compensate if you attached a filter to the lens.

A nice camera to use, simple uncluttered. If you wish to photograph landscapes and mountains this camera is ideal to slip in to a ski jacket pocket. I have used this camera whilst skiing. The image quality is what you expect from this format, clear and sharp. I have also used it to ttake portraits, it does however mean that you need to be in the face of the subject, this can be off putting for the sitter. Ok for groups.

Customer Service

not used

Similar Products Used:

Bronica E system

lightweight, autofocus, can be had for a good price in the used market. will make a good back-up camera and travel camera.

The lens zoom range and the lens is to max apature is to small.

Overall the camera is a very good value for the money. I like the auto focus in medium format camera. The lens is very good, contrasty and sharp. Fuji is know for there fine lens. I love the auto paralex and zoom correcetion lines in the fiewfinder.

Customer Service

sucks pretty bad, the people I spoke with in the Newjersy did not have a clue or give a dam.

Similar Products Used:

fuji 645 floding model in the 1980s, pentax 645 slr.

Solid,well-built,light,ergonomic,all in one medium format camera. Exposure and lens quality. Very confortable to use.

Slow lens CR2 batteries (expensive) Minimal focusing distance a bit too high(1 meter) Pricey!

Very confortable to use,perhaps the most confortable medium format at all. Light, quiet,with a very accurate exposure,expecially with fill-in flash, gives you superb results with little efforts. I hate to leave my camera choose for me so i use extensively the diaphragm priority and the manual mode, but my wife use it as a point and shoot in program mode and the results are pretty good.I like the clarity of the exposure info and the brightness and precision of the viewfinder image. Ergonomy is excellent with all the controls in the right place so you can set all functions keeping the eye in the finder. The lens is very sharp but lacks at least one stop of brightness. It isn't a real zoom, it's more like having two fixed focal lengths, but for the size, it's enough. Within its limitations i think it's a very pleasant camera, and it's a real joy to use. It's not a close portrait camera but since the lens is well correct from distortion, at the closest focus distance you can obtain head and chest portraits. Data printing on the neg is very useful giving you full information on the shot. The flash is great for fill-in shots but recharges slowly. The AF works well,is not very fast but works even in low light. The leaf shutter is relatively quiet and vibration-free, there is no mirror so you can handle speeds down to 1/30 without a tripod (depending on the focal length) If you can live with a normal focal length this camera delivers optimum performances.

Customer Service

Not Used

Similar Products Used:

rolleiflex 3,5F planar Fuji gs645s rangefinder Konica Hexar AF

Nice lens with good sharpness at each focal length, and quite good flare resistance, although extensive veiling flare can occur in some situations. There is some mild barrel distortion at each focal length. The shutter is nice to use with a definite detent at the halfway position. The camera is easy to handle and the controls easy to operate. There are some nice control touches, for instance shutter speed and aperture settings indicated in A or AS mode will carry over when you switch to M. This is easier than metering in M mode. The viewfinder framelines flash if the lens cap is on. Data imprinting on the film edge is comprehensive and useful. Loading film is easy with no problems. Anyone who has not used this type of camera previously must read the loading instructions on page 21 of the owners manual. Exposures are accurate. AF is mostly accurate but keep an eye on the distance readout in the viewfinder as a check. Sometimes moving the camera slightly will produce a different reading. Frame spacing is the best I have seen on a medium format camera permitting 16 exposures on 120 film. The viewfinder zooms to match lens focal length and three of the four framelines adjust for parallax and image size with changing focussed distance. Diopter correction is inbuilt. The adjusting dial moves out of position easily. To prevent this I stuck a small patch of black electrical tape over the dial.

The viewfinder is not as bright and clear as that of a good 35mm SLR. Actual film edges are not exactly as indicated in the viewfinder but are close. You have to get accustomed to holding the camera with grip up or down for horizontal framing.I find grip up works best when hand holding and grip down on a tripod. Exposure compensatin and manual focus cancel when the dial is turned to the OFF position. You have to remember to reset them if required. I am hearing from camera stores that production of this camera may have been discontinued.

This is one of the most compact medium format cameras available. It is actually smaller and lighter than several high end 35 mm camera bodies and the GA645Zi has a lens built in. The camera with 3 filters, cable release ( yes, it uses a standard threaded cable) spare batteries, lens hood, 5 rolls of film, 3 filters and a lens cloth all fit easily in a Lowepro Nova Micro carry bag. The camera is happy handheld or on a tripod. On purchasing mine I loaded it with film and shot several rolls without needing to look at the instruction manual. all shots were correctly focussed and exposed. I do strongly recommend however that you carefully read the instruction manual as it contains much useful information. It is quaintly phrased in the English translation but for the most part perfectly clear in meaning. The lens has four focal length settings, 55, 65, 75 and 90 mm with no intermediate positions as far as I can tell. In use it is like an oversize 35 mm point and shoot but with extensive provision for manual control over exposure and focussing if desired.

Customer Service

No yet required

Similar Products Used:

Mamiya 7, Seagull TLR, Pentax 67