Shooting experience on G617 vs GX617

[Adam Kimball]

I'm in the market for a 6x17 panoramic camera and leaning toward the G617. Primarily because this will be my first panoramic camera and who knows, I might not gravitate to the format. But one thing, I wonder about - how does the shooting experience differ? In particular, how much do the frame lines in the GX617 viewfinders matter in practice. Although, I have spent half a life in LF, at this point I am not overly technical about my shots, I've loosened up a bit, I guess.

Anything else I should be thinking through here?

Adam

 

[Jeremy Mudd]

I'm in the market for a 6x17 panoramic camera and leaning toward the G617. Primarily because this will be my first panoramic camera and who knows, I might not gravitate to the format. But one thing, I wonder about - how does the shooting experience differ? In particular, how much do the frame lines in the GX617 viewfinders matter in practice. Although, I have spent half a life in LF, at this point I am not overly technical about my shots, I've loosened up a bit, I guess.

Anything else I should be thinking through here?

Adam

Hey Adam,

I'm not certain that understand the question. Are you asking if the framelines in the the GX617 viewfinders are accurate?

If that's your question - they are no less accurate than the G617 finder. The exception is if you are trying to focus on something at the close focusing difference, which at that point will introduce parallax issues. You'd want to use the optional ground glass attachment for those situations before your first shot, or have a piece of 6x17 ground glass cut and rig it on there with rubber bands if the factory attachment is hard to find (it is). You could do the same for the G617.

There's never been a time I can recall that I've developed a roll and thought that the framing of the shot wasn't what I intended.

99% of the time my GX617 shots are at infinity, or zone focused and stopped down, so its never been an issue for me. I have the ground glass attachment but its been used rarely. It is a nice piece to have if only to give one a warm fuzzie feeling of having the complete kit.

If that doesn't answer your question let me know, thanks!

Jeremy

 

[mshchem]

I have a G617, it's a lovely camera. I've shot Fujichrome with it, no center filter was very pleased. I would love to have an entire GX617 outfit but too much to spend.

 

[Mike Lopez]

I would not get too caught up over the frame lines, because they are only approximations in all of these cameras. I have a G617, and, on the horizontal, the frame lines only show about 90% of what the negative will see. It's likely to be the same for the GX617 lenses and finders. It's unfortunate, but at the same time, I doubt you will notice any real difference at all between the two cameras (with the obvious exception of lens alternatives with the GX617).

 

[Jeremy Mudd]

I would love to have an entire GX617 outfit but too much to spend.

A few years back I was shopping for a G617 when Roberts in Indianapolis made some sort of used GX617 bulk purchase and had several of them with 180 lenses for less than the going rate for a G617 at the time so I bought one of those instead. Which then lead me down the rabbit hole of wanting to get all of the rest of the lenses and accessories. My wallet in the long run would have been better off with the G617 but it is what it is I guess. Luckily this was at a time when the prices had yet to skyrocket on GX617 lenses so I was able to piece everything together in a rather short period of time. One of the lenses is sorta semi-famous - it was used by a pro photographer to photograph a certain ex-presidents golf club in Ireland.

Jeremy