Doubts about GA645

[Little Prince]

I've not used this camera much. I did take it for a little day long trip last weekend and the results have raised many questions. Hope you folks can enlighten me.

First, I have a hard time figuring out where the camera is focusing. I know that it displays distance but often enough I don't remember that when shooting. I thought scale focusing for the hyperfocal length might be a useful solution, but that method isn't easy to use on this camera is it? You gotta do some acrobatics with multiple buttons and so on. I'm not sure I've been able to do this right before. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I know I should have known about the metering pattern before but previous rolls came out quite all right though what I shot on this trip didn't. The difference was that in previous situations the subjects were pretty solid and well defined. In this last case I had been metering fog. Now afterwards I realized I really don't know how much area the meter covers. Most shots are kinda overexposed.

Apart from the fog thing where focus might have been thrown off, I also used it towards some fire and people behind the fire. That was another difficult situation where I wished I had an RF spot or TTL viewing.


I do like this camera. It is light and tactile. Has allowed me to handhold steadily at 1/15. That is very valuable. This time though I was pushing it too far and many shots were ruined by shake or a moving subject (such as dog). I'm wondering if I might be better off with another camera of a similar kind for travel/outdoor purposes. I'm taking it on another trip later this week as a sole camera. I might risk many pictures because of my unfamiliarity and the camera's unsuitability but I'll be able to make up my mind if I want to keep it.

Do the Fuji 6x7s offer a good RF spot? Can I scale focus with them? How about the Bronica RF? I know it has got a good RF spot, but what about scale focusing ability?

Opinions on the resolution of these concers are awaited.

[Doug]

The Bronica has regular manual focusing, so you can set hyperfocal distance if you like, or just use the nice Leica-ish rangefinder. Kinda like a big Leica M7...

The Fuji GA is more like a big Contax G1, but with a built-in flash and fixed lens. I too have had dumb focus errors, like focusing on the wall behind my subject... but that's where the focus cross-hairs were when I hit the shutter button! What I do with both the GA645 and the G1 is to line up on an item that I want sharp and half-press the shutter button to lock focus and exposure, then recompose and press all the way down. A two-stage process, and it's best to pay attention to the distance readout to be sure the camera has been able to find focus on the object. This takes some practice! I think these cameras are "happiest" when doing all their auto-everything, but you have to learn how to get them to automatically do what you want!

Color negative and chromogenic black&white films have a lot of overexposure leeway but no tolerance for underexposure. So I fudge the camera's ISO setting to 2/3 stop lower than the box speed rating. Fuji NPH400 at EI 250, for instance. And I tend to use ISO 400 and 800 speed films in the 645 cameras. So, I have some margin for exposure error on both sides, and this works pretty well.

Here are a couple shots in Makawao on Maui, one where I used my head and nailed the focus, and one where I didn't! (GA645Wi, Fuji NPZ800 @500)

[DougK]

I'm coming into this thread a little late, but I have to second what Doug said above about this camera being happiest in program mode. The only focus or exposure errors this camera has made are if I pointed the center of the cross-hairs in the wrong spot, I manually set the wrong focus, or if I messed up an aperture or shutter speed (I checked the settings imprinted on the negative, love the way the Fuji data imprinting works). It took me a couple of rolls before I really felt I knew what this camera was "seeing", so to speak. Now that I'm in the habit of checking the distance readout before I release the shutter, I haven't had a problem

If for some reason you need to control the camera's focus, it's a breeze; tap the AF/MF button to switch modes, then hold in the MF button below the lens and spin the control dial. I rarely switch to MF mode though since I can only choose 14 steps versus the 870 steps available in AF mode. I've not had the camera ever fail to lock focus or experienced significant focus hunting.

I wouldn't give this camera up for the world

[Little Prince]

Hmm.. slowly absorbing your points. Nothing wrong with the camera itself of course. Have to say I love the data imprinting also. It's invaluable.

After thinking further and spinning out a few more rolls, I amend my comments to the following. WRT focus, it is fine if you are doing some kind of portrait or the like. If you're using it for landscape (as I often do, taking it as an outdoor travel camera), more often than not you need great dof. Pointing the AF at some intermediate object that you have to guess at has not worked well for me. At least I'm not comfortable doing that. So I have to use a hyperfocal method. I am now paying attention to the distance readout and have been using the scale focus. However, as you mentioned, the steps are few and the the dof tables recommended by the manual are almost certainly not optimal. I've had quite a few shots where I used the hyperfocal point as gathered from the table and have infinity out of focus. I'm guessing I have to use the recommendations for one or two stops smaller. Of course I'm not entirely sure if the infinity blur may not be due to wind/haze.

Exposure: Been working nice. So far, from the last few rolls, snaps metered with the camera and those with a handheld spotmeter have been comparable. So I'm one more of those people who's going to say I don't know how it meters but it does it right! The comparisons were on slide film.

I will still hang onto it and try the next time with a pod and more conservative dof settings. For now, it's a love-hate thing. Gotta be one of the most portable cameras for the quality.

[DougK]

I definitely see your point and I have to admit there have been times I wish this camera was a true rangefinder. After the first roll I wasn't sure I liked the camera, but by the fifth it had definitely grown on me. I love knowing that along with the ease of use I'm getting that great big negative.

[aizan]

Flat lighting, such as that caused by fog, calls for maybe a stop of underexposure. It's understandable that those pics came out overexposed.

Figure out hyperfocal for those landscapes and push film for low light and you're good to go. Medium format is great for pushing film.