The Pentax lure

[sanzari]

I guess 10,000 units this is great news for Pentax and their market share. I am still so wanting one of these babies but as its a deviation from my paid work harder to justify. So I am asking the collective 10,000 users that may reside here for guidance and reasons. I am a Nikon user and most tell me stick with a D3X at £5k and use my f1.4 lenses.

Pentax is changing hands, there has been little to no new development of lenses. The only ones available are second hand with varying quality and optics it would appear from forums, WHY WOULD YOU BUY into a new system that at first looks to have no future ??

I am intrigued as to who pays $10,000 for a 20% solution if you use new equipment. Are users investment in older lenses so great that the next step was always waiting for a Digital 546 ? giving you more of a 80% solution ?

I like the idea of a MF Digital back but most of us only use one camera at a time so I guess the upgrade story is a mute point for most unless you need an Alpa, a Mamiya and etc.

I would love to hear from those who wish to share their experience and reasons why they went Pentax to help me decide or at least find common ground.

I appreciate there are financial, commercial, quality, decisions around MF and whether you need it, but my focus is mainly cost and the reason to go for the Pentax at $10,000 is I can buy in the US so for me will be more like £6000 instead of £10,000 in the UK.

The quotes I have had for Phase One secondhand for a DF 80mm Schnedier and a P25+ at best and they are coming in at £10k plus VAT.

Is this better long term or does it matter ?? Can i really get a lens set from 24-200 mm (35mm) equivalent and carry them on a travel with Pentax or Phase one ? I like the idea of portrait or slightly wide shutter leaf for flash sync, but longer makes no difference.

Thanks as ever to help me decide to spend money in the right place. or the right time.

[theguywitha645d]

I think the jump is going to be personal. I don't understand your 20% solution comment. It is a 100% solution for me and I never owned Pentax equipment before. I do not not know why you think this has no future? It is not like Pentax has never made professional cameras. The 645D by any measure is a success and they were just purchased by a large company that has an interest in medium-format digital. Besides, my Pentax will continue to make fine images no matter what happens to the company.

As for he camera. The image quality is stunning and the glass for the most part is excellent and inexpensive--I am happy with a three lens system as I come from a rangefinder/medium/large format background and never felt the need for lots of lenses and focal lengths, although the Pentax can take focal length from 25mm to 600mm, even discounting the 67 lenses that can be fit to it. I have three really nice lenses that do what I need, so why does the existence of other change that equation? I would never use them. (I do have a lust for the 25mm, but not the need.)

It is a well designed camera. Very comfortable to carry and handle. Weatherproofing is a nice touch that I very much appreciate. The control layout is great--I have a Phase One back and the four button layout and tiny screen is unimpressive (I was about to buy a Mamiya/Phase system when I saw the 645D and, after a little research, it was an easy choice). I thought all the exposure modes would be annoying, but I have found situation where I have found use for each. The mirror is well dampened making this very easy to use hand held. Image quality is really good all the way up to 1600ISO.

When you get to medium-format digital, there is a wonderful jump in quality. A large 40MP sensor without an AA filter creates amazing images. Noise is well controlled and less of a problem because of the number of pixels. Long exposures (I have done up to ten minutes with the 645D) are really good. I am not much of a gear head, but there is a certain quality I like in my work. The Pentax gives that. I was fortunate that I could afford this camera. In the long term, and I expect to use this for a very long time (as I have with other cameras), the investment is well worth it and most likely cheaper in the long run of having cameras that are not quite right.

One thing you will have to think about if you ever move up to cameras like this, what are you going to do for storing the very much larger files. Hard drives are easy to fill up with this.

[delander]

I have just bought a Pentax 645D, In fact I got it yesterday. Although I have done paid work in the past I could not be described as a professional. Pentax UK are doing a special deal of 10% off at the moment, which means that you get the body plus the 55mm f2.8 lens for around £9000. If you can claim back the VAT that comes down to around £7400. I looked at and shot with a Hasselblad H4D50 and a Leica S2, but to be honest they were both out of my price range. The only way I was able to get into Digi MF with a new camera was with the Pentax. To do it I part exchanged all my Canon stuff. I also have a Leica M9 and when I got that camera the images from it made me dissatisfied with the Canon images.
The Pentax with the 55mm lens is slightly lighter than a 1ds3 with the 24-70 zoom and to my mind handles better. The build quality seems to be on a par with the Canon. The images from the Pentax are on a completely different level to those of the Canon. The 55mm lens produces great separation foreground to background at f5.6, the colour is superb (if you like that in particular) and the sharpness and resolution again are is on a different level. I know a lot of this is due to the larger sensor, the use of CCD instead of CMOS and absence of an AA filter. With only the 55mm lens, I'll probably be doing some cropping but the megapixels are there if needed.

AF is slower than the instantaneous Canon but I wont be doing fast action anymore. There is a mirror lock up switch! sensor shaking to remove dust and focus fine tune for the lenses (haven't used that yet). Like the Leica S2 the sensor is part of the camera. All in all it is a great camera – so far.

Jeff

[happyman]

...and most tell me stick with a D3X at £5k and use my f1.4 lenses...

Good advice. May get comfortable with (handheld) stitching for the bigger ones :-)