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Author Topic: Excited about the Pentax 645D all over again?  (Read 61358 times)

hsmeets

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Re: Excited about the Pentax 645D all over again?
« Reply #120 on: September 27, 2010, 06:30:52 am »

I shot with it at Photokina this week, and I was very impressed with just about everything the camera offers. The menu / LCD, handling, shutter slap, autofocus, etc etc. To me the proof is in the pudding with the file quality. I think the Hasselblad H4D 31 pricing is going to seriously affect the viability of the 645D, primarily because of the installed base and known quality of the lenses. I haven't seen a Pentax 645 lens on a shelf in quite a few years, and their marketing online is very slim with regards to what is actually available.

The 645D has more DNA of a 35mm DSLR than a medium format camera, and I think that is a good thing.

+ 1

True, the lenses are the achillis-heel of this camera. Great camera for (former) Pentax users that still own some lenses. For all newcomers not so great until the lens situation has improved and more fit for purpose lenses have arrived.


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Cheers,

Huib

Eruditass

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Re: Excited about the Pentax 645D all over again?
« Reply #121 on: September 27, 2010, 03:38:35 pm »

Here is what they had to say:

Quote
Pentax has developed a very good timing and braking system for the mirror on this camera and as such with moderate to fast shutter speeds most of the exposure takes place whilst the mirror ascends towards the top of housing, as well even when it does hit it's incredibly well dampened and has little effect on the picture. We had no trouble with hand holding shots down to 1/8 of a second, so in our opinion what they claim in their camera seems to work well.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=36465260
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JonathanBenoit

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Re: Excited about the Pentax 645D all over again?
« Reply #122 on: September 27, 2010, 04:02:05 pm »

Here is what they had to say:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=36465260

Come on now, you can't review something without pointing out the negatives along with the positives. I'm embarrassed that link was posted on lula. Keep that stuff over there please.
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Eruditass

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Re: Excited about the Pentax 645D all over again?
« Reply #123 on: September 27, 2010, 10:25:20 pm »

I agree that is more like a marketing preview, but thought some may be interested.  I have read my fair share of narrow-perspective reviews while lurking here.
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ndevlin

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Re: Excited about the Pentax 645D all over again?
« Reply #124 on: September 28, 2010, 08:30:02 am »

True, the lenses are the achillis-heel of this camera. Great camera for (former) Pentax users that still own some lenses. For all newcomers not so great until the lens situation has improved and more fit for purpose lenses have arrived.

Not at all sure what you mean by this. You can get everything from a fisheye to an 800mm, with a raft of zooms in prime focal lengths. The only thing missing if a Tilt lens.

If your concern is availability, only a few of the lenses are rare on the used market, most of them are still available new in Japan, so I suspect that there won't be much of an issue with availability once the camera comes ashore.

- N.
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Nick Devlin   @onelittlecamera        ww

tsjanik

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Re: Excited about the Pentax 645D all over again?
« Reply #125 on: September 28, 2010, 12:46:04 pm »

Although I am committed to this camera, I am certainly concerned about service in the US since Pentax outsourced its repair facility in Colorado.   Interestingly, here's a quote from Ned Bunnell (President, Pentax USA) addressing that issue "What we're saying is, if a photographer buys this camera, we will provide that photographer with direct contact to one of our support staff in Golden, Co. It's different from if you bought one of our traditional cameras in the past when you got a support group. In this case, you'll have a name."

I'm not quite sure what that means.

The link is here:
http://www.pdngearguide.com/gearguide/content_display/news/e3i0121638c1a14264adbc8a534b23ff0e6

BTW Bill Gouge discusses the 645D's mirror in the interview with Nick Devlin

« Last Edit: October 01, 2010, 11:39:44 am by tsjanik »
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Dave Gurtcheff

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Re: Excited about the Pentax 645D all over again?
« Reply #126 on: September 28, 2010, 01:30:02 pm »

Not at all sure what you mean by this. You can get everything from a fisheye to an 800mm, with a raft of zooms in prime focal lengths. The only thing missing if a Tilt lens.

If your concern is availability, only a few of the lenses are rare on the used market, most of them are still available new in Japan, so I suspect that there won't be much of an issue with availability once the camera comes ashore.

- N.

Nick: I read that Pentax AF lenses will communicate with the body, and in camera corrections will be made for CA, distortions, etc. I have two AF lenses and 5 MF lenses. In your opinion, could a firmware update allow the user to manually input the lens used? I picture my most used lens being the MF 35mm...a wonderous lens from my film days. It would be nice to tell the camera I was using it, and the camera provide some lens corrections. What do you think? You may have surmised I will be an early buyer. Some of my 645, 645N film shots are my biggest sellers.
Thanks for your insight.... ;)
Dave Gurtcheff
www.modernpictorials.com
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ndevlin

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Re: Excited about the Pentax 645D all over again?
« Reply #127 on: September 28, 2010, 10:43:02 pm »

Dave,

All of these sorts of corrections are done in the proprietary software (be it Phocus, C1 or the Pentax equivalent). All the camera does is meta-tag the image.  If Pentax computes optical corrections/optimizations for these older lenses, there is no reason the couldn't add a firmware option to input the lens data manually from a menu a-la the M9.

I, too, will be interested to see how the older lenses work, especially the 67 glass.

- N.
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Nick Devlin   @onelittlecamera        ww

ErikKaffehr

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Re: Excited about the Pentax 645D all over again?
« Reply #128 on: September 29, 2010, 12:28:54 am »

Hi,

Lightroom 3 or ACR can also automatically adjust images if:

- There is a lens profile
- Lightroom knows which lens was used

A lens vendor can create a profile but Adobe has a tool available (for free) that makes the job. If the images are not tagged with lens type that information can be entered in ACR/LR manually.

Best regards
Erik

Nick: I read that Pentax AF lenses will communicate with the body, and in camera corrections will be made for CA, distortions, etc. I have two AF lenses and 5 MF lenses. In your opinion, could a firmware update allow the user to manually input the lens used? I picture my most used lens being the MF 35mm...a wonderous lens from my film days. It would be nice to tell the camera I was using it, and the camera provide some lens corrections. What do you think? You may have surmised I will be an early buyer. Some of my 645, 645N film shots are my biggest sellers.
Thanks for your insight.... ;)
Dave Gurtcheff
www.modernpictorials.com
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Erik Kaffehr
 

Dave Gurtcheff

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Re: Excited about the Pentax 645D all over again?
« Reply #129 on: September 29, 2010, 02:03:24 pm »

Thanks for the info. I think ACR 6.1 already has lens corrections for the AF series of lenses. A good sign.
Dave
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tsjanik

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Re: Excited about the Pentax 645D all over again?
« Reply #130 on: October 18, 2010, 09:06:03 pm »

FYI: Pentax USA ( http://www.pentaximaging.com/slr/645D/ )is now accepting your credit card info for preorders of the 645D (expected in December).
« Last Edit: October 18, 2010, 09:32:57 pm by tsjanik »
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bernhardAS

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Re: Excited about the Pentax 645D all over again?
« Reply #131 on: October 18, 2010, 09:59:10 pm »

Well the Camera is on Pentax US Website.

But .... 0 additional lenses.

I really hope the AF lenses production is re-started.

B
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