The
Fujica GS645 Professional Series (generally referred to as Fuji GS645)
is a 120 film folding rangefinder camera, 4.5 x 6 format, released 1983
by Fuji Photo Film Co (now Fujifilm Co), Minami-Ashigara, Kanagawa.
The Fujica GS645
is a late model for a 120 film folding camera. It has automatic film
advance, an extremely good rangefinder with parallax correction and a
built-in semi-coupled light meter, and, of course, a wonderful lens.
Size (mm): 147 x 114 x 56 Weight: 820 g Lens: EBC Fujinon 3.4/75, closest focus 1 m Shutter: T, 1 - 1/500, F 3.4 - 22 Finder: coupled rangefinder Film advance: automatic via lever
Here
are some photos of the camera. As it's a 4.5 x 6, you have to turn the
camera by 90° for ordinary landscape format. In consequence it unfolds
sideways. There is a short introduction to the use of it and how it
feels at the bottom of the page.
Camera
front closed. Top: film advance lever, shutter release button, rangefinder window, viewfinder window. In the middle: camera opening button. Bottom: flash connector.
Seen
from the back. Viewer, film counter switch, film advance lever.
Seen from the bottom. Tripod socket, battery compartment (2x LR44).
Seen from above. Hot shoe, shutter button (lockable), film advance lever (one stroke).
Camera front open.
Seen
from above of the camera bed, camera open. From front: speed
setting ring, aperture ring, focus ring. The tiny, tiny ring between
speed and aperture, only movable with your fingernails, is the film
speed setting. And the tiny lever between aperture and focusing is the
self-timer.
Seen from the top, camera open. From front: Speed setting, aperture setting, focusing, depth-of-the-field scale and "T" setting
Camera back open.
Film chamber. Note the little red buttons that liberate the pegs, similar to a plaubel makina.
Leather pouch.
Small,
but important accessory: the tiny shade. It comes with a leather pouch
that could be attached to the strap as it has to be detached before
folding. And a new camera leather pouch.
Seen from the back.
Handling
a Fujica GS645 is easy, it's like
other 4.5x6 folding rangefinders. Loading film is quite easy because of the little red buttons that liberate the pegs. Open the
camera back and put the
film roll into place. Same
procedure for the take-up spool. Insert the film
paper
backing
into the spool and advance it using the lever, until the start
arrow meets the index mark in the middle of the film plane. Close the camera back. Then action
the film advance lever until the little window shows "1". It stops automatically.
Open
the camera. The shutter is already cocked by the film advance. Look
through the rangefinder and set the focus. Press the shutter button
half-way and set speed and aperture. 3 LEDs to the right of the finder
will guide you. Press the
shutter release down. That's it. Action the film advance. To
close the camera set focus to infinity, press the interior button on
the front of the bed, it will fold easily. Do not try to fold the
camera before the film is advanced (and the shutter is cocked) and the
focus is set to infinity. It might damage the system.
The Fujica GS645
is a very nice, relatively small camera, easy to use. It fits into a
coat pocket. Handling is fluid and logic, once you are used to it. The
lens gives phantastic results, the metering system is very good. It's a
nice advance to old folders. I liked it a lot.
Yet there are
several weak points: the bellows are prone to leaks. The
shutter/aperture system is less sturdy than on other professional
cameras. If you try to fold it in the wrong moment, you can easily mess
up the system. Mine has nicely worked for years, but when I took it out
of the cupboard to write this, the shutter/aperture system was dead. It
had worked some months ago. Quite a deception. Meanwhile I found the reason for the shutter problem. So here is a page about a Fujica GS645 shutter problem.
