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Author Topic: Pentax 645D for architecture photography?  (Read 8352 times)

Peter Barnes

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Pentax 645D for architecture photography?
« on: August 13, 2010, 07:53:16 am »

Interest is mounting in the Pentax 645D 40Mp medium format digital camera - it has been released in Japan, due for release in the English speaking world and Europe "soon".  What do people think about its potential for architecture photography?  Are there existing shift or shift&tilt lenses for the Pentax 645 mount?  Is there an effective way of adding shift capability using a shift adapter (like the Zork PSA does for 645 lenses and dSLRs)?
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Peter Barnes

JonathanBenoit

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Re: Pentax 645D for architecture photography?
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2010, 08:36:39 am »

As far as I know there are no shift lenses made by Pentax. I'm sure a custom shift adapter would be an option eventually, but the sensor size is the real issue. You wouldnt be able to find a MF lens wide enough. I think you're only real option would be to use a slr mountable view camera such as the cambo x2-pro or arca m line 2 dsrl. You might be able to get away with the 24mm digitar.

I have zero real world experience with this combo, but I think in theory it would work. Unsure of the image quality though.
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John R Smith

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Re: Pentax 645D for architecture photography?
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2010, 10:55:40 am »

Peter

I think that if you are talking about "formal" architectural photography, then none of the MF cameras are particularly suitable - Pentax, Mamiya, Hasselblad, Contax, whatever. Hassy did have the Flex and Arcbody solutions, but they were expensive and not terribly easy to use. The Hasselblad PC Mutar inflicted a 1.4x crop factor on you, meaning that your wideangles were no longer wide. All these things are just not a patch on a decent view camera with movements and some Schneider lenses (or Rodenstock, or whatever you prefer). I can't see the new Pentax being any better in this regard.

However, if you mean by "architectural" just some nice pictorial shots of buildings and townscapes, then any MF camera processed through the perspective correction in PS or LR3 will stand up to scrutiny. MF digital files seem to have enough "stretch" in them that it is very hard to see any quality loss after processing, IMHO. Obviously you can apply "shift" but not "tilt" (as you can't alter DOF which is already baked-in) but you can emulate "swing" as well. The traditionalists will hold up their hands in horror, but in my view you are better off doing things this way rather than trying to use shift on a lens with too small an image circle and losing quality at the edge of the frame as a result.

John
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Peter Barnes

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Re: Pentax 645D for architecture photography?
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2010, 01:27:04 am »

Thanks John and Jonathon - I am interested in 'formal' architecture photography, or at least with achieving professional results that will provide clients with the quality they want.  I recently started using a Canon 5D and Pentax 645 lenses with a Zork shift adapter and was really wondering if there were suitable large format lenses that could be used with the 645D medium format sensor in a similar way to using medium format lenses on a "35mm" size sensor.
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Peter Barnes

yaya

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Re: Pentax 645D for architecture photography?
« Reply #4 on: August 15, 2010, 02:22:00 am »

Peter hi,

If "formal" means using wide-angle lenses (wider than let's say 50mm on 645) and achieving straight, corrected verticals in-camera, then the best way will be to use a digital back on a technical camera that is designed for this, with suitable lenses.

An SLR type body is limited by the mirror box, which can cause trouble with limited movements. Most large format lenses use a symmetrical, non retro-focus design and as such their rear element needs to sit close to the film (sensor) plane and the camera body will get in the way...

Yair
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Kirk Gittings

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Re: Pentax 645D for architecture photography?
« Reply #5 on: August 15, 2010, 02:33:51 am »

IMO, you'd be much better off going with a camera that is actually designed for architecture, such as http://christopherbarrett.net/blog/?p=1350 or simply using a good DSLR and shift lenses (which is what I make my living with).
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Kirk Gittings

ondebanks

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Re: Pentax 645D for architecture photography?
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2010, 07:27:13 am »

You have some options. Let's go through them in reverse focal length order:

1) 75mm: You can use the Pentax 67 75/4.5 shift lens on the 645D with Pentax's neat 67-645 adapter. But 75mm is a longer-than-"normal" focal length on the 645D's sensor crop.

2) 55mm: Better than that, there's the PCS Arsat 55/4.5 shift, a decent copy of the Schneider Super-Angulon 55/4.5 PCS, and m-u-c-h less expensive. The Arsat is a P6-fit 6x6 lens that fits any of the focal-plane shuttered 645 cameras (Mamiya, Pentax, Contax) with the usual inexpensive P6 adapters. [I have a mint PCS Arsat 55/4.5 which I've decided to sell - they are hard to find these days - PM me if you're interested].

3) 50mm: AFAIK the only off the shelf solution in 645-dom is the 50/4 shift lens for the Mamiya 645, which can be used on the 645AFD/DF series with digital backs. But to fit the Pentax, this requires a custom manual lens conversion (Zoerk say that they do it - http://www.zoerk.com/pages/p_specia.htm).

4) 45mm: Then from Zoerk we have another adapter option - http://www.zoerk.com/pages/p_pshift.htm: "The ProSA-P67 uses lenses from the Pentax 67 system for shift on 6x4.5 format cameras (Mamiya, Contax, Pentax, etc.)". This can take you down to the widest Pentax 67 focal length, 45/4; on the 645D this is equivalent to a 35mm lens on 35mm fullframe. These adapters are probably as hard to find and as expensive as other Zoerk adapters tend to be. And there would be a lot fewer of these in circulation than the 645-35mm Zoerk ones.


The least costly option would be the Arsat 55/4.5...

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Peter Barnes

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Re: Pentax 645D for architecture photography?
« Reply #7 on: August 20, 2010, 08:28:01 am »

Thanks Gentlemen for your informative responses, I think Kirk's approach may be the best for me given my needs and my LFC (local finance crisis), and maybe down the track I will have a clearer idea of my equipment needs, depending on how my photography evolves.  I found some pictures of the Arsat PCS 55mm: http://www.fengniao.com/secforum/622714.html.  Is that a socket for tripod mount on the barrel (2nd image)?
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Peter Barnes

ondebanks

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Re: Pentax 645D for architecture photography?
« Reply #8 on: August 20, 2010, 06:02:05 pm »

No, that's not a tripod socket - it's a cable release type socket. The lens aperture control is of the "preset" type (like all SLR shift lenses, their shifting prevents the use of a normal stop-down mechanism which the camera would trip at the moment of exposure). So you compose and focus wide open (with the main aperture ring "preset" to the stop you'll want to expose at), and then you either turn another ring near the front to quickly stop down the lens to the preset aperture before shooting, or you use a double cable release with one cable in that socket you spotted and the other in the camera. When you press the plunger on the cable release, the 1st cable stops down the aperture to the preset stop, the second then trips the shutter in the camera.
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