I have never gone through film as quickly as I have with the Fujifilm GA645. Ten rolls in the first week of ownership. There are other cameras I profess to really like that have not seen this much use in a year.
What is it about this camera?
Usually film is an add on distraction for me. As much as I use film digital usually is my main use case. I think it may be as simple as this… For me, the Fujifilm GA645 is a combination of everything I like about cameras that one could argue have nothing in common with each other.
Compact: Despite it being medium format to my surprise I can get this camera into my larger jacket pockets.
Rangefinder: While not being manual focus, so not a true rangefinder, I do get that rangefinderish wider field of view of the real world that helps me frame the photo and take in what is around me.
Medium format: A great camera that makes wonderful medium format images. The lens is also excellent, which is no surprise with a Fujifilm camera.
Discrete: Due to its relatively compact size and unassuming form factor folks do not pay me much mind. Draws less attention than other medium format cameras like the Yashica MAT LM.
Ease of Use: No more complex to use than an SLR or many modern digital cameras.
Looks/Feel: Some may ding the plastic body but I find the build to be fine and it is not a bad looking thing either.
I will usually like a camera for a very specific thing. The look and feel. The resulting image. The ease of use. The size. For me the GA strikes a nice balance between all of these attributes. And, while not inexpensive by any stretch, it does this without being as eye wateringly expensive as other medium format cameras or Instathreadface social media analog darlings I have had my eye on.
It would seem the perfect medium format film camera for me was made in 1995. Personal preference of course. But this camera is right up my alley.
I have only once run into the dreaded “fat roll” issue where the roll is… well… fat (An on the nose description.) when you finish/unload the roll which leads to potential light leaks. Fortunately, only one frame was impacted on the one roll where this happened.
I seemed to have found a solution. I gently place my thumb on the film by the take-up reel to provide tension so the film is tight… I hope that makes sense. Well, a few rolls on this has become a rare occurrence and I am not that bothered when it does.
Anyhoo, on to the images.
Since I have run through so many rolls of film instead of sharing images from one roll I will share my favorite image from 5 different films I have used so far. All were developed at home with Cinestill CS41. Nothing Earth-shattering. Just some images I grabbed while going about life.
Kodak Portra 160
Lomography 400
CatLABS X100 Color
Cinestill 50D
Lomography 800
Well, that about wraps things up here. A great camera and I am having a great time using it. One of many great options out there, but this is a win in my book.
Eric L. Woods
I shoot a variety of new and old digital and film cameras. Industrial Engineer by education, IT is my vocation, and I really enjoy using, testing, and writing about cameras. All three of the latter are very therapeutic exercises for me. If you are so inclined my blog address is ewoodsphoto.com and I can be found on Threads and Instagram. All the best to you.
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Greg Hammond on 5 Frames with a Fujifilm GA645
Comment posted: 18/06/2024
P.S. I especially love that Lomo 800 architectural image. Props!
Comment posted: 18/06/2024
Ibraar Hussain on 5 Frames with a Fujifilm GA645
Comment posted: 18/06/2024
And really likes the photography.
Thanks again
Comment posted: 18/06/2024
Louis A. Sousa on 5 Frames with a Fujifilm GA645
Comment posted: 19/06/2024
Comment posted: 19/06/2024
David Hume on 5 Frames with a Fujifilm GA645
Comment posted: 19/06/2024
I just didn't get on with the experience of using it for horizontal oriented shots. No matter how I tried I could NOT hold it level. Maybe being left-eyed exacerbated the problem. Also, the AF would struggle in misty conditions (my favourtites) Anyway, off it went and my fond memories of it remain.
Anyway - another great post Eric! Cheers.
Comment posted: 19/06/2024
Nathan on 5 Frames with a Fujifilm GA645
Comment posted: 19/06/2024
Comment posted: 19/06/2024
Jay Dann Walker on 5 Frames with a Fujifilm GA645
Comment posted: 21/06/2024
The first one (circa 2013) passed away on me during a bush photo shoot in Central Australia. Annoying, as I had to finish the three-day expedition with my backup kit - a Zeiss Nettar and a Weston Master V. Images were great, tho'. The second I had serviced which seemed to do the trick, and then sold to someone who got a year's use out of it before it finally kicked the bucket, he then wanted his money back from me and threatened to complain to eBay for a refund. Fortunately for me he also lived in Melbourne, so I told him I would sue the pooter off him if he tried that. Heard no more. An unhappy ending to a potentially good saga with a great camera. While we were still off riendly terms he did say he got some truly wonderful images from it, 'tho.
What motivated me to end my relationship with the GAs was, as someone else has posted, that I had to hold the thing vertically to get horizontal images. Which rather soured it for me. Otherwise, I accepted that these Fujis were essentially 1990s electrical and everything 'lektrical has its day - on the other hand, Nikon ELs I bought in the '70s are still functioning quite okay, altho' I'm also aware that these too often get sudden decease syndrome.
Looking at your images, I suspect yours suffers from what is known as 'selective focusing'. Not terminal, but it can be annoying.
My two GAs made the sharpest images I've had from an all-electric MF camera. On a par with the 75/3.5 Zeiss Planar in my Rolleiflex, but with the added advantage of autofocusing and the precise metering.
Your posted images are super good, BTW. A few even great. Obviously the GA inspires you to create beaut pictures.
If Fuji had found a way to keep the GAs quiet, fixed those quirky electricals (or guaranteed a long-term repair for them) and maybe made the thing less of a beast to carry around and a little smaller, more like a Zeiss Ikonta or more precisely like the Fuji Gas, I reckon they would still be selling them today, by the thousands every year. A good camera is hard to beat...
Best, DANN usually in Melbourne, now in Surabaya
Comment posted: 21/06/2024
Jay Dann Walker on 5 Frames with a Fujifilm GA645
Comment posted: 22/06/2024
On rereading the article I noted you went thru ten rolls of 120 during the first week. Impressive. Here in Australia, that film plus processing (if done by a lab) would have amounts to 25%-30% of what you paid for the camera. Which may be why we nowadays see so few film cameras being used.
I bought my two in the mid-2010s for < AUD $400. One from a reputable secondhand dealer in Melbourne and the other from Ebay. The latter came to me after only one bid, which sufficiently annoyed the seller that he just threw the GA unwrapped and unpadded into a post paid bag and sent it to me. I expected the worst from it but it went on functioning well throughout its entire time with me, about one year. The first GA was the one I sold on Ebay.
Photographing with a GA (or for that matter any other fairly big MF camera) imposes a certain mindset. I hesitate to use the term "minimalist" but it comes closest to describing my attitude to these cameras and my approach to MF photography. Some Buddhist mindfulness applied to it also helps. The image becomes the ultimate goal and given the relatively high cost of film per exposure, the challenge lies in determining your visual outcome before you take it and then capturing what you previsualised in one or two exposures. With film the 'spray and pray' mentality - and the equally regretful habit of many 'D' photographers to post the on average 1,897 images they made of the family picnic of the grandson's christening or whatever mundane event they are attending, online for almost nobody to look at - becomes nonexistent.
Of course there are downsides. All that time spent scanning and then post processing, to name but two. Investing in a good scanner able to download more than one image at a time, surely helps. Ditto organizing your scan time to do other things while your Plustek or Epson or whatever whirrs away and does its thing, often as not too slowly for my liking.
As for 'PP', well, over the years I've likened that to the years I spent in the darkroom, inhaling fixer fumes and struggling to see an image coming up in a developer tray under a faint safelight. For me those days are now over as I no longer print (I still process my own films but that is an entirely different form of torture, ha!) and I've mad my peace with scanners and scanning. Happy to agree that working with 16 on 120 images from a GA minimizes the suffering.
Let me compliment you again on a superbly well written article and thank you for the time and effort you put into it. Also the beaut images you added. Greatly appreciated by me and I'm sure many others, going by the comments so far.
Best, DANN
Comment posted: 22/06/2024
David James on 5 Frames with a Fujifilm GA645
Comment posted: 22/06/2024
Comment posted: 22/06/2024