Here's the front view of the camera. I have a 72mm XL mounted on the lens with a crazy expensive center filter. The center filter for this lens takes up two stops, so shooting Velvia at F22/F45 is nuts if the wind is blowing. I've moved to using Velvia 100 with this set up for the added speed. But, the new Velvia just doesn't have the same punch as the classic.

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This is a shot from the back with the door open as far as it will go. It also has the ground glass. I didn't take off my tripod mount because it helps to keep the camera level with such a large lens out front. The knobs have a good tension on them and the film doesn't get unwound when loaded. The back plate covers the entire back so film flatness is a non issue. All you need to do is before you shot, make sure both knobs are tight.

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The ground glass is a super cool option with this camera and I highly advise getting it. It's magnetized and clicks into the camera like a glove. I tried it on my G617 but it did not take hold or fit into the G617's grooves. I'd have to shave off some of the metal frame so it could, but I'd not ready to do that yet. The GG works like a charm but the door is a bother when using it. I wish the back door could swing down like the GX617 or come totally off or swing 180. It just takes time getting used too. It is nice though, when I'm shooting vert. I put the door on the bottom and used it for a table for my focus loop.

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Here's a shot of the back of the camera. It's got a little window in the back that you can open and close so you can see the numbers on the back of the film paper. It's also got the numbers printed on steel so you can't forget what numbers to put in the window. The film is loaded on the right spool and is taken up on the left one. This little fact took me some time to get used too. Every camera I have ever owned loads film from the left and takes up on the right. So, I have to fight years of programming to load the film correctly. You could load the film on the left and use the numbers 1, 4, 7 and 10, but I'll fight the will and load on the right, because it's the right thing to do :-)

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Nothin' to crazy here, serial number, small and large tripod plate mounts and screws that holds it all together.

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Here's a shot of the camera with the front cone and cone spacer removed to show what happens when you take the front cone screws out. There are light locks on all the cone parts and camera body. It's all very tightly machined and goes together smoothly. Shown is a 10mm spacer, they also provide a 5mm spacer depending on the depth needed for lens focusing.

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The body is made out of one big piece of Aluminum, and it feels that way too. Big, heavy and tough. You can screw the shutter release into either the right or left finger grips, great for aerial or street shooting. I'm a nature guy so I don't use this feature. The grips are hollow and have slits on both sides so the cable can go out the bottom or through the slits.

The two mounts up top are for the viewfinder and spirit level. There is a built in level but I like the extra shoed spirit level that comes with the camera.

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The lens is easy to put onto the focus mount. If you have ever mounted a LF lens to a board then this will be a piece of cake. One thing I had to do was to sand off the inner focus mount diameter paint so the front lens nut could fit snug. The front lens nut has a small lip on it that takes up the play between the focus mount diameter and the lens shutter diameter. Once the paint was sanded off then the lens nut and ring fit like a glove.

You will need to have a lens wrench to mount your lens. I bought one from B&H that can do many different shutter sizes. The Camera comes with a wrench, but it's only for tightening the focus mount to the cone.

The next step was to put in the correct focus spacer that goes between the focus mount and cone. Fotoman had already done focus tests with this lens so they knew exactly what spacers I needed for sharp focus. they provide you with many spacer thickness's so you can fine tune your spacing if needed. All my lens needed was one 2mm focus mount spacer and a 10mm cone spacer.

The third step is to put the lens/focus mount/focus spacer on to the cone. Just stack it all together and use the focus mount nut to tighten it all down. You can use the wrench that comes with the camera to tighten this nut. Now all you have to do is screw the rear element into the lens threads and you're good to go. I've done a bunch of focus testing with the GG and film and all is good with my first mounting.

The only concern I have is that the focus mount has a minor amount of "play" in it. I tightened all of my nuts down super tight and still there is like a half millimeter of play within the focus mount. It's nothing too big, it just makes it feel a little loose. Fotoman says they are addressing this issue.

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Here's the side profile. You can see the slits in the grips. The holes on top of the grips are threaded so you can screw in your shutter release.

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Here we have the adjustable viewfinder. This one goes from 72mm to 90mm. The front of it has a mask that contracts like an aperture when the front ring is spun. It's big and heavy and works pretty good. I did some film tests to see if the viewfinder is on the money when it comes to what is really captured on film. I'll post those soon.

Looking through it is like looking through a loop. Where ever your eye is looking is what's clear, everything else around it is kinda blurry. I have to move my eye all around to check all sides of the viewfinder. Personally, I like my G617 viewfinder better because there is no distortion and i can see everything clearly without moving my head around.

The viewfinder works well for general use. When I frame something with it I add an extra 10% to the composition just to make sure I get it all. If critical framing is needed I can pull out my GG and see exactly what I'll be getting.

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If I had to do it all over again I would have gone with the Fotoman before I bought my used G617. I paid $1900 for my used G617 with CF and if I got the Fotoman with a 105mm and CF I would have paid around $2300. A little more but then switching lenses would be easy. The GX617 and Linhof Pano have 4 lens choices but the Fotoman can take many, many more. Plus the cones are about $500 so you could have a new lens/cone set up for $1000 or less. Pretty cost effective.

Things that are cool:
Adjustable viewfinder
Easy to self mount LF lens
Cheap to have variable lenses
Magnetized Ground Glass
Can screw the shutter cable onto the grip for two handed aerial work
It shoots 617, What's cooler than that!

Things that bug me:
The door swings only 90 degree's, gets in the way sometimes
Seeing through the viewfinder takes some getting used too
Slight focus mount movement
Film loads on the right and takes up on the left
Hard to read film numbers in pre-dawn light, bring a small flashlight

Things that people asked about and are no worries:
Film flatness, it's flat, just keep knobs tight
Knobs have good tension and don't unwind
I had no problem self mounting my lens because Fotoman had already figured out the 72mm XL lens spacing. But if you are weary of doing it then send it on off to a camera shop. I took it as a challenge and to learn something new. It was easy and you should give it a try before sending it on off to a camera shop.

Hope this helps ya all, and happy 617 shooting.

rw

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