Experience with a Fuji GS645S? Looking for a travel camera.

[Paul Howell]

I have not bought anything yet. It's probably down to the Mamiya 6 or the Bronica RF645, but both are expensive.

So many of the Mamiya 6 75mm lenses listed in Japan have fungus it makes me wonder about the long term viability of the system if they are that prone to fungus and/or haze.

Why not a 50s vintage Mamiya 6, 75mm lens, a clip on light meter, maybe a set of filters with push on adapter. Couple hundred dollars, give you a change to see how you like the concept before investing in a more expensive system?

 

[Craig]

Why not a 50s vintage Mamiya 6, 75mm lens, a clip on light meter, maybe a set of filters with push on adapter. Couple hundred dollars, give you a change to see how you like the concept before investing in a more expensive system?

No interchangeable lenses. I already have a Fuji GW690, but I find both the lack of interchangeable lenses and built in light meter limiting.

The Fuji does what it does very well, but sometimes it would be nice to have it do a bit more.

 

[itsdoable]

<snip>

So many of the Mamiya 6 75mm lenses listed in Japan have fungus it makes me wonder about the long term viability of the system if they are that prone to fungus and/or haze.

My Mamiya6 3.5/75 has been fine, I've owned it since new. Of the Mamiya6 & 7 lenses I owned, the 4/80 was the only one that got fungus, I cleaned it and it was fine till I sold the M7 system. Haze is pretty common on most old lenses, the center elements near the aperture get exposed to a lot of off gassing lube and dust. A lot of RZ lenses seem to have/had fungus, not sure if it's the design/manufacturing, or maybe they just get used a lot.

 

[Paul Howell]

How important is a folder to you? Light, compact, but not folder, a standard Mamiya 645 with a few lens would be much less that an Fuji.

 

[Craig]

I've actually never considered a folder. The Fuji I was originally considering was not a folder.

There is a camera store I like that is reasonably close and on'y takes quality used cameras and lenses in for sale. I'm keeping my eye on them and if they get something interesting in I'll probably buy.

 

[John Wiegerink]

I've actually never considered a folder. The Fuji I was originally considering was not a folder.

There is a camera store I like that is reasonably close and on'y takes quality used cameras and lenses in for sale. I'm keeping my eye on them and if they get something interesting in I'll probably buy.

If that store has a pretty good turn over on used equipment you might be in luck. Also, you might just hint to them what you are looking for just in case. Sometimes they might have someone come in with a camera that they might feel is just not pretty enough for them to sell, but still a 100% perfect picture taker. That would be just what I'd be looking for. That way they could contact you to see if you were interested. I would always buy local if the store was honest, didn't price things to ridiculous and was easy to deal with. Good luck!!