Comparing two Fuji GA645Zi

[sanking]

I have owned a Fuji GA645Zi for the past three years and it has been my main walk-around camera during three trips to Mexico. For those not familiar with this camera it is a 6X4.5 auto-focus, auto-exposure camera with a variable focus lens 55mm – 90mm. I have been very pleased with this camera in terms of its performance in delivering well-exposed, well-focused negatives of high sharpness and contrast.

In spite of the fact that I text extensively most of my equipment I had actually never tested the quality of the Fuji GA645Zi in terms of resolution. A few days ago I acquired a second Fuji GA645Zi and decided to compare the new one with the old one by testing resolution using oAF 1951 resolution target. I set the target up at 64” from the camera, put the camera on a tripod and made eight exposures with each camera on T-MAX 100 film. Four of the exposures for each camera were made with the camera set to Program Mode, where the cameras chooses shutter speed and aperture. Exposures were made with the variable focus lens set at 55mm, 65mm, 75mm and 90mm. With both cameras the aperture selected by P was f/6.7, and the shutter speed was adjusted to give the same density on each negative. Finally, four exposures with each camera were made in Aperture Mode, where I selected an aperture of f/11 and allowed the camera to choose the correct shutter speed. I developed the film in Pyrocat-HD 1:1:100, on spiral reels in tank, for fifteen minutes at 72F. Agitation was once every two minutes. The negatives, when dry, were evaluated with a microscope at 40X magnification.

Here are the results.

1. Cameras in Program Mode, which resulted in an aperture of f/6.7.

Camera One
55mm-----72 lp/mm
65mm-----60 lp/mm
75mm-----73 lp/mm
90mm-----60 lp/mm

Camera Two
55mm-----68 lp/mm
65mm-----58 lp/mm
75mm-----50 lp/mm
90mm-----48 lp/mm


2. Cameras in Aperture Mode, lens set to f/11

Camera One
55mm-----68 lp/mm
65mm-----60 lp/mm
75mm-----58 lp/mm
90mm-----60 lp/mm

Camera Two
55mm-----81 lp/mm
65mm-----68 lp/mm
75mm-----52 lp/mm
90mm-----34 lp/mm

The differences noted have more to do, IMO, with the way the camera is auto-focusing than in the quality of the lenses themselves. However, I felt that the use of auto-focus was a more valid way of comparing the cameras since this is the way one would normally use them in practice. Also, the data suggests that optimum performance of this variable focus lens is clearly tilted toward the wide angle side rather than longer focus .

The performance of both cameras in these tests was really excellent, just a tad off what I can get with Mamiya 7II. Based on the data one should have no problem making really high quality prints up to 16X20” from the Fuji GA645 Zi, and that has been true for me in practice.

Sandy King

 

[mabman]

So, I take it you feel this is a camera worth owning.

I've been looking at them intermittently - I want to shoot more MF, but I find myself reaching for a 35mm most of the time when I want to go for a walk, and I think a more compact MF camera like this would be ideal.

However, last I looked they were going for US$500-600 - is that still accurate? Not an outrageous price for a camera like that, but a bit more than I'd like to spend

 

[sanking]

So, I take it you feel this is a camera worth owning.

I've been looking at them intermittently - I want to shoot more MF, but I find myself reaching for a 35mm most of the time when I want to go for a walk, and I think a more compact MF camera like this would be ideal.

However, last I looked they were going for US$500-600 - is that still accurate? Not an outrageous price for a camera like that, but a bit more than I'd like to spend

I think it is one of the best walking around cameras ever made. With the variable focus lens you have more flexibility than with a Leica + 3 lens, at much less cost, and with much greater performance given the large negative area.

$500-600 is peanuts for what this camera offers, IMO. It is truly a unique camera that will give results almost on par with Mamiya 7, and much better than anything you could dream of from 35mm.

Sandy