[Leica] For Trade: Fuji GA645Wi

[Douglas Cooper <douglas@dysmedia.com>]

In a final spasm of Luddism, I am determined to trade this for something
hand-cranked.  So if you have Leica equipment to trade for a mint Fuji
GA645Wi Professional, I'm interested.  I traded a mint Rollei TLR for this
in Japan (along with all sorts of accessories), and while it's a great
camera, I find I don't shoot 645 much.  Superb wide-angle lens:  45mm
Super-EBC Fujinon -- the equivalent of a 28mm in 35.  Minimal distortion,
and absurdly sharp -- Mamiya and Fuji seem to be producing the sharpest
medium format lenses these days.

This was designed to be a street-shooter.  It's smaller than any medium
format camera that I know of (including a Rollei TLR), and with fantastic
ergonomics:  two shutter releases (for vertical and horizontal shooting);
fast and accurate autofocus; and an unbelievably simple film loading system.
Takes about a quarter the time to load this than it does my M3.  And it will
print data on the frame of your film!  (Shutter speed, aperture, date,
whether the focus was manual, etc.)  This is probably the last of the great
fixed-lens Fujis -- they've strayed into zoom territory, and I suspect they
won't be back.

I was turned onto this camera by Michael, the film expert at B&H -- he's the
guy with the punk haircut who breeds rats (I kid you not -- a rarity in New
York, never mind in a Chasidic photo store).  He's an expert printer, and
knows more about emulsions than anyone I've met; the only guy at B&H I'll
trust with an opinion.  Michael shoots with both this camera and the GA645i
(normal lens, not considered quite as good), and swears by them; you almost
never see him without one of them hanging by his side.

Anyway, I'm open to all offers, but am particularly interested in:

an M2
a 35mm Summicron
a 90mm Elmarit-M
a user-condition Noctilux or 75 (do such things exist?)


cheers,


Douglas Cooper
http://www.dysmedia.com