Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Fujica GS645 Professional

Fuji Photo Film · Fixed lens · 6×4.5 on 120 or 220 film, the frame in portrait orientation with the camera held normally (camera-wiki; Wikipedia) · 1983

Also known as: Fuji GS645 · Fujica GS645 · Fujica GS645 Professional · Fuji GS645 Professional · Fuji GS645 Pro · FUJICA GS645 Pro · Fujifilm GS645 · Fuji GS645 75mm f/3.4 · Fuji GS645 75mm F3.4 · GS645 Professional 6x4.5 · フジカ GS645 · フジ GS645 · FUJICA GS645 プロフェッショナル · フジカ GS645 蛇腹

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Fujica GS645 Professional (1983) Fuji fixed 1983 — No production figure or serial table has been published; antiquecameras.net passes on a rumour that the model was discontinued by 1985, without a source
  1. Every specification figure (date, finder, base length, meter range, weight, dimensions, exposure counts) is camera-wiki's, with Japanese Wikipedia agreeing on the date, the 0.63× finder, the LR44 cells and the 40.5 mm thread, and Wikipedia on the weight and dimensions. No Fuji document was read directly.
  2. Self-timer: Rob Hawthorn quotes 8–9 seconds and timed his own at about 7; no maker's figure was found. Shutter range: camera-wiki gives 1–1/500; the T setting is from Hawthorn (a T button without a cable-release thread) and Theo Panagopoulos on the sister GS645S (a timed exposure cancelled by a second press). No source read here gives a B setting.
  3. End of production is unrecorded. antiquecameras.net (last updated 2011) says only that it is 'rumored' the camera was discontinued by 1985; the GS645S of October 1984 is the last of the line. The same page cites a Modern Photography test of the lens in its June 1984 issue, not read here.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • A 6×4.5 folder with a coupled rangefinder: the lens door opens downward, the bellows self-erect, and the camera must be at infinity with the shutter cocked before it folds (camera-wiki; Duke)
  • FUJICA on the top plate and EBC FUJINON S 1:3.4 f=75mm on the lens; the GS645W reads 45mm f/5.6 and does not fold, the GS645S reads 60mm f/4 and carries a bar around the lens
  • Textured grip on the right-hand end; shutter-speed and aperture rings turn in opposite directions so exposure can be shifted while holding the camera (Hawthorn)
  • Bellows: original bellows are prone to pinholes and tears; replacements exist and have been fitted to many cameras, which Hawthorn warns is risky because of the shutter linkage (Hawthorn; Osborne; Photrio)

Fujica GS645 Professional (1983):

  • The only folding camera of the three GS645 bodies: a self-erecting bellows behind a rounded lens door, 56 mm deep closed and 122 mm open (camera-wiki; Wikipedia)
  • EBC FUJINON S 1:3.4 f=75mm on the front ring; aperture ring stepless from 3.4 to 22, ISO set on the lens barrel (camera-wiki; Hawthorn)
  • Name plate reads FUJICA, as on the GS645W; only the later GS645S carries FUJI (Japanese Wikipedia)
  • Dedicated bayonet-fit lens hood; a 40.5 mm attachment thread and a 19 mm thread in the eyepiece (Japanese Wikipedia; Hawthorn)

Specifications

Format
6×4.5 on 120 or 220 film, the frame in portrait orientation with the camera held normally (camera-wiki; Wikipedia) · 15 on 120, 30 on 220; 7 on a half-length roll of 120 (camera-wiki) exposures
Finder
combined coupled rangefinder and viewfinder with automatic parallax correction and a brightline frame · 0.63× magnification · automatic parallax correction
Base length
39.5 mm
Effective baselength
24.9 mm
Shutter
Copal #00 leaf shutter in the lens, cocked by the film-advance lever (camera-wiki) · 1s–1/500 and T; the T button has no cable-release thread (camera-wiki; Hawthorn) · flash sync hot shoe and PC socket, X-synchronised at every speed (camera-wiki; Osborne) · self-timer
Film advance
single-stroke top lever that advances the film and cocks the shutter (camera-wiki; Japanese Wikipedia)
Back
hinged; takes 120 or 220 (camera-wiki)
Meter
Photodiode (GPD cell, Japanese Wikipedia) reading through the viewfinder window, not through the lens; switched on by half-pressing the release; three LEDs (+, o, −) in the finder; EV 3.5–18, ISO 25–1600 in 1/3 steps set on the lens barrel; two LR44 cells in the base plate (camera-wiki). The camera works without batteries; only the meter needs them (Wikipedia).
Weight
820 g
Dimensions
147 × 114 × 122 open; 56 mm deep folded; 820 g without batteries (camera-wiki; Wikipedia) mm

Magnification and base length from camera-wiki; automatic parallax correction and the double-image rangefinder from Japanese Wikipedia; the brightline frame, which Michael Duke uses for levelling horizons, from Emulsive. The three meter LEDs (+, o, −) sit in the finder. Rob Hawthorn finds the patch usable but not as bright or crisp as a Leica's or a Zeiss Ikon's, and the base short; Matt Osborne says the same of the patch size.

What reviewers say

History

The GS645 Professional of March 1983 is the first of three fixed-lens 6×4.5 cameras Fuji Photo Film sold under the GS645 name, and the only one that folds. Behind a rounded lens door, self-erecting bellows carry an EBC Fujinon S 75mm f/3.4 in a Copal #00 leaf shutter; a coupled rangefinder with automatic parallax correction sits in a 0.63× finder on a 39.5 mm base, 24.9 mm effective. Closed, the camera is 56 mm deep and weighs 820 g without its two LR44 cells, which power nothing but the meter: a photodiode reading through the finder window, switched on by half-pressing the release and answered by three LEDs over EV 3.5–18. Film speed is set on the lens barrel, the single-stroke lever both advances the film and cocks the shutter, and the hot shoe synchronises at every speed to 1/500. A roll of 120 gives 15 frames in portrait orientation, 220 gives 30. Japanese Wikipedia files it as a spring camera (スプリングカメラ), the same word used for Fuji’s folders of the 1940s and 1950s, and Wikipedia reads the design as a return to those roots.

The GS645W of October 1983 and the GS645S of October 1984 dropped the bellows for rigid wide-angle lenses, and nothing in the sources suggests the folder itself was ever revised; antiquecameras.net passes on an unsourced rumour that it was discontinued by 1985. Its reputation rests on the lens and suffers for the bellows. Rob Hawthorn, writing in 2018, found the 75mm sharp at every aperture with smooth out-of-focus rendering, the textured grip and the counter-rotating speed and aperture rings a pleasure, and the whole camera easier to carry than a 35mm SLR; against that the original bellows are prone to pinholes and light leaks, replacement is awkward because the shutter linkage runs through the lens door, the aperture tab feels flimsy and the T button has no cable-release thread. Matt Osborne names bellows pinholes and a sticking shutter as the two common faults and still calls it the best of the three. Michael Duke, shooting it beside a GS645S, patched his bellows with silicone, had the shutter pulley cable snap, and notes that the camera must be focused at infinity with the shutter cocked before it will close.

What the camera is like to focus is the other recurring note. The rangefinder patch is small, Osborne says, and Hawthorn finds it neither as bright nor as crisp as a Leica’s, with a base that feels short for a 75mm at f/3.4; Duke uses the finder’s brightline frame to keep horizons level. The meter is dependable except in strong backlight (Duke) and accurate enough for slide film (Hawthorn), with the caveat that a filter on the lens is not seen by the cell and must be compensated on the ISO dial. Filters otherwise go on the dedicated bayonet hood rather than the 40.5 mm thread, and a close-up attachment was sold that Hawthorn found hard to use.

No original list price has been found in any source read for this page; the figures in circulation are used prices, such as antiquecameras.net’s $300–450 range of 2011. The 75mm lens has its own page, which carries the optical detail.

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This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Example photos

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Fujica GS645 Professional? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Fuji GA645 Professional · Fuji GS645S Professional · Fuji GS645W Professional

Lenses for this body: EBC Fujinon S 75mm f/3.4 (GS645)

Sources (8)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.