I have the RF645

sf · 12-08-2005

It came this morning at 9:15 or so Pacific time by UPS.

Less than two days in post from England.

SEE THE PICS! People always take so many pictures of their babies.

The viewfinder seems to be (CORRECTION : totally perfect). The infinity alignment is perfect if I back off like a millimeter from maximum. Very perfect camera. Beautiful lenses.

Both the 65 and 45 are nearly the same size. The camera with the 65mm is smaller than my D70(with its 50mm F1.8 AF) by 2 of 3 measurements and only larger by maybe half a centimeter by the 3rd (width). Both cameras weigh the same, near as I can tell.

I put some of the new Velvia 100 (not 100F) into the camera, mostly because i just want to start with a Fuji spool in there when i hit the street tomorrow. I went down stairs and fired the camera off at a few apertures. WOW. It is nearly silent (the actual shutter movement), then that really strange sort of gurgling howl follows at a mouse's voice level. Both sounds together amount to about the sound output of the M3 I listened to at Glazer's in Seattle. The shutter itself is almost inaudible. Too bad we can't choose manual shutter recharge because without the weird sound, most people would not even know the camera went off at all.

Loading film wasn't terribly difficult, but not very easy either. Not something that could be done in the field without focusing on it. But that is normal for MF work anyway. With the fuji spool hook, that will improve alot.

For my trip, I'm not even going to bring the lens caps. I just bought some Hoya UV filters. . . . cheap but couldn't be noticeably worse that the next level puchase. The camera with 65mm attached and a 45mm with viewfinder all fit in a nice small camera bag that would be comfortable to carry around. It takes up as much space as my D70 with its 50 attached and the 28mm on the side. Nice.

The focusing mechanism is not as quick and fluid as the Mamiya or as Leicas are, but that is nice because it helps you slide into perfect RF alignment easily. No clumsy or numb hands will make focusing difficult. The RF patch is better than the Mamiya 7II that i tried out at Samy's. I find that the LCD display is visible and out of the way, but that the lens does protrude into the viewfinder's view.

Good packaging by Robert White.

Now, I will go out and buy protective filters for the lenses and some film. E-6 since I have no way of getting any scans. Maybe I will try and have some negative film scanned at the Icon.

I bought two Hoya UV filters, a little bag for the camera, and some film. Thanks to the cutie at Samy's for giving me the free Velvia.

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Day #1 of actual usage :

Went out today to shoot some rolls around LA - went to the Farmer's Market on Fairfax. Shot some Neopan 400 and some NPZ800, both regularly (no pushing, pulling). The camera is easy to focus in low light (I went out after dark), but I had some help from the lights in the market. I think people actually took notice of me more than they might have had I been shooting with a little digital p&s, but oh well. This is actually the second time i have ever attempted "street photography" - mostly I just shoot landscapes and portraits. So this was a nice change of pace, and the RF645 made it easy. The leaf shutter made a HUGE different for hand holding down to 1/15th and even 1/4 (braced).

Using Fuji film makes a big difference, having the little hooks on the spools so that one doesn't have to wrestle with loading. If I were going out to shoot around the farmer's market again, I'd shoot something 1600ish rather than the NPZ, though, because I had to stay around F4-5.6 for reasonable shutterspeeds (from 1/15th to 1/90th depending on the light.

The camera is noticeable around the neck - definitely heavier than most street-able cameras I have used, but I carried it around my neck for a couple hours without chaffing. I found that i had it in my hands and up to my eye more.

The rangefinder breed is so much more streetable, thanks to compactness and stealth, that i felt far less noticed than I did with my MF slrs. Infact, thanks to the lack of a glowing LCD that turns on after each shot (my D70), the camera has become the most low-key of any I own.

All the controls are really nicely placed. I made use of the AE lock regularly, and used the self timer a couple times today for some Velvia work this morning. The little LCD screen inside is nicely out of the way, but easy to see when you want the information. I used both the 45 and the 65, and found that the external viewfinder for the 45 is not VITAL, but does help alot because without it, you have to really strain to imagine the framing. I shot without it at the Farmer's Market. It is not easy to change lenses, because, as someone else here has said, the little red dots are not easy to see in low light.

It takes more force than is comfortable, when changing lenses. Gotta put some muscle into twisting them on and off. Not as smooth and easy as most other cameras, but, that little film protecting shield is nice to have. The trouble with taking them off and putting them on, is that there is no easy to grab portion of the lens that doesn't twist (aperture ring and focusing ring), which makes it hard to twist off the lenses and put them on).

Film flatness : At first, I didn't think that the film was very flat, after loading new film, but over time, I have gained some skill with loading film properly, and have gotten so that my film is always very flat. All of my shots are very well cut on the negatives, which goes to show that the film is indeed very flat. Perfectly flat.

One thing I don't like about the camera is the film winding lever. It is always kind of loose (like the Mamiya series as well), but it is fast (1 wind is always enough). Note : I have felt more Mamiyas now, and they do have a more wobbly, unstable feeling wind lever. The Bronica is more sturdy.

The little sound that the camera makes is really strange. Like, as I said before, a little mouse in a lot of pain. But, the camera is very quiet and quick to use. Just as quick as the Pentax 645NII, and surely better glass.

The camera feels like a rock. More solidly built than any other camera I've ever held, with the only real exceptions being the M3, M6, and my old Canon AE-1. Of course, there are other cameras of similar heft and density, but this one is pretty spectacular. Everything inside is metal. Very sturdy and permanent. Feels more solidly built than the R3A I used to have. Pounds the Mamiya 6 and 7 cameras into the ground. Hard.

While I was in England and France, I was working with the camera in impossible weather, really low light, really bright light, in crowds, in the rain, on subways and bullet trains, in airports . . . everywhere. Even in a squall on the moors in northern England. It performed perfectly. I only wish that I had not babied it so much, and had instead taken some shots that I let pass because of the awful sideways rain.

This review will be totally updated / rewritten soon.

Lou Iaquinto · 12-08-2005

Hi Shutterflower,

I am sure you will be pleased with the RF645 and yes, RW does a great job. Four days to Australia was pretty amazing.

Enjoy,

Lou

Lou

sf · 12-09-2005

Here is the first batch of pics from my photo-review of the RF645. I find that there are not many pics of this camera on the net, so here are the first 5 of many I have ready to post.

The pic with the green/viewfinder deal is the camera viewfinder.

The other viewfinder pic is the external finder for the 45mm.

You can see some of the lens in the camera viewfinder. The LCD is mostly shown, only a small portion (the 1 off of the 125 for the shutterspeed) is missing.

The set is compact enough to be comfortably carried in a bag on the shoulder. Definitely a travel-able camera.

sf · 12-09-2005

More pics (they are all small, so to save space and save your time loading them). None are larger than about 80K.

The camera with lens, the other lens, several rolls of film, the 45mm finder, and various little things all fit nicely in this shoulder bag. MUCH more compact than any MF camera I've ever used. About exactly the same volume of stuff as when I take my D70 and two lenses out to play.

You can see how it might be difficult to see those two red dots in the dark.

Everything feels solid EXCEPT the film winding lever, which feels just like the Mamiya models. But, is so easy to wind that you will wonder, at first, whether the camera is advancing film at all.

NOTE : the camera bag is NOT purple. It is black. For some reason, my D70, when I balance for tungsten, makes it purple. Strange!

sf · 12-09-2005

And here are the last pics. Hopefully these are not too many pics, but I wanted to put up a nice, complete set.

A pic of the nice hind quarters of the 45mm, the 65mm (to the right), a detail on the controls, and the final pic - of the whole set.

ChrisN · 12-09-2005

Shutterflower - congratulations on the new camera. Thanks for the good pics too; I've never seen one of these before; I'm impressed!

wlewisiii · 12-09-2005

All I can say from what I've seen here is that if I'm half as estatic when my Canon 7 arrives I should count myself lucky...

Thanks for a good presentation.

Willia

sircarl · 12-10-2005

Shutterflower --

Many thanks for your extensive notes. I'm about to spring for the RF645 myself, and it's reassuring to know it makes a good first impression.

Did you -- will you -- consider getting the 100mm lens as well? The RF20 flash? (I vacillate, because I'm not sure I would use either very much.)

Look forward to seeing some photos you've taken.

sf · 12-10-2005

Definitely want the 100mm, but don't have the money for it right now. I'll probably buy it though. Given my very very weak willpower.

Buy from Robert White. Best price around. IN comparison with everywhere else, they are about $800 less, or about 400 pounds and change less - because of the essentially free 45mm lens. If I had bought from B&H Photo in New York, I'd have paid $1700 for the body/65mm combo, then had that down to $1250 with the rebate (USA only), but RW was only $1100 for the entire setup. WOW.

Go for it.

sircarl · 12-10-2005

Robert White isn't as good a deal for us here in the UK, since we have to pay the 17.5% VAT that you avoided in the US. There's someone selling an " almost-new " RF645 on eBay with the 65mm, 100mm, and the RF20 flash -- I'm tempted. With that, it would be fairly easy for me to get a new 45mm lens to complete the outfit.

sf · 12-10-2005

Oh yeah. VAT. That is pretty heavy, I guess. I was lucky not to pay any import duty/tax shipping it into the country. Unless the price of shipping included that.

Buying off Ebay might be your best choice. Especially for the 100mm lens - those are realyl rare. I only found one place that had them new.

Might want to make sure the body is matched for the 100mm, and doesn;t have 135mm lines.

sircarl · 12-10-2005

I'm assuming that someone selling an RF645 along with a 100mm lens has a camera body calibrated for that lens, otherwise why would they own the lens in the first place? Besides, they say they bought it new about a year ago. Weren't the older (135mm-calibrated) bodies produced long before that?

sf · 12-10-2005

Yeah, you're right. That makes the most sense. I am perhaps a little on the paranoid side when it comes to Ebay. But the price looks good for that setup. The 100mm is more rare than the 45.

The 65mm lens does look slightly too wide for portraits. I've seen work from the 100mm, and it is perfect for portraiture - though still doesn't allow really close focus. Look at Doug's gallery, he has some shots made with the 100, and it looks great.

beethamd · 12-10-2005

>Sircarl - Mifsuds.co.uk have just reduced the rf645 and 65/4 to £499 including VAT. I bought my second one from them a few weeks ago for £539.00 as a backup/different film body to my existing second hand one that I bought for £550 with the 65/4. Looked high and low for the 100mm - although one went on ebay for £300 (new) a week or so ago, but the end time (3am ish) and a cozy warm bed conspired to stop me bidding.

sircarl · 12-10-2005

Hi beethamd,

Thanks for the tip, but for the complete outfit -- RF645 body, 65mm, and 45mm -- Robert White is still cheaper (GBP 763.75, as opposed to Mifsuds price of GBP 798 -- both including VAT).

Too bad that 100mm lens isn't more readily available. But like you, I'd rather not lose any sleep over it!

treehouse · 12-12-2005

Great review. Love the pictures. Exactly the kind of info I have been looking for - there are a handful of reviews available, but very very few pics. Thanks.

Parkes Owen · 12-12-2005

shutterflower....thanks for the great review and pics. I`ve been wanting this camera for a while but will have to sell off some other gear which i havn`t used since i got my xpan(can`t put it down!) Looking foward to your 645rf pics.

sf · 12-14-2005

first shots taken with the RF645

These were taken at the Farmer's Market in Los Angeles, after dark, except for one, and with Neopan 400 for the B&W and NPZ800 for the color. The shutter speeds I was using ranged from about 1/15 to 1/40 for these shots. The pics are all under 400 KB.

All with the 45mm, I think.

Trius · 12-14-2005

Wonderful! I like that Neopan. But I'm really interested in going to that café in the last shot. "French specialties" ..... yummy! But ketchup avec la cuisine Fraçaise? Hmmm, I dunno.

Earl

Flyfisher Tom · 12-14-2005

Shutterflower:

Very helpful information in your review, thanks.

That is incredible tonality and smoothness in your shots, love that extra real estate on MF.

Now you've done it, you've stirred up the sleeping Santa

sf · 12-31-2005

returned last night from my euro trip (London and English countryside and paris/versailles). The rf645 was my only camera companion since the digital died suddenly the day before i left. Pity, because. . . . actually, no, it was great.

I am not exactly the sharpest mentally right now - having only 11 hours of sleep in the last 4 days, but, I'd just like to say that the RF645 performed beautifully throughout the trip. Even in temperatures well below freezing, everything worked smoothly. Of course I babied it heavily, but its problem free operation was nice.

I only thing that happened that didn't please me was when a roll of Provia didn't wind tightly on the spool, and when I finished the roll and took it out, it was really "big" thanks to tons of extra space around the spool. Probably blew that roll.

I took 20 to 25 rolls of 120 on the trip, everything from PanF to Delta 3200 and NPZ800, and it was marvelous to use. I will post the pics in the next week. Hopefully they all look OK after being mercilessly scanned at airports (through a lead bag, but still) churches, museums, and pretty much anything that any tourist would be interested in seeing. Batteries last forever too.

sircarl · 12-31-2005

shutterflower,

I purchased an RF645 a couple of weeks back on the US eBay (I live in England). Also the 65mm and 100mm lenses. Will be picking them up next weekend in the States. So was pleased to read that you're still enthusiastic about the camera. Looking forward to your pics!!!

Rico · 01-01-2006

Shutterflower,

Thanks for a great write-up, and the handy illustrations. How are you finding the portrait orientation? My MF usage has been the square frame only (old folder, Hassy).

Doug · 01-02-2006

Hi Rico -- The square format has the advantage that you never have to consider at shutter-pressing time whether to turn the camera for some other orientation.

Other cameras with rectangular picture proportions do force a decision at this point, but I'm not at all sure if it makes any real difference whether you have to turn the camera to get a vertical or turn the camera to get a horizontal picture.

645 format SLRs default to horizontal while 645 RFs default to vertical. I don't recall if folks back in the 60's complained about the vertical orientation of half-frame 35's, or what the thoughts were about this back before WWII in regard to folding cameras seemingly made to work vertically or horizontally. Probably a non-issue... it is for me now, anyway.

But then one of my first cameras, about 1963, was a half-frame Petri, so I was exposed to the vertical orientation early-on. Now along with various horizontal rigs I still have half-frames, and four vertical 645 rangefinders... Here's proof that the Bronica RF645 can make horizontal shots... <grin>

RObert Budding · 01-02-2006

I've had no problem adapting to the portrait orientation. After all, I get a visual reminder every time I look through the finder!

Robert