What are the best lenses for Pentax 645D for a landscape photog?

[Royce Howland]

Cheers Scott.

Until I can really understand what's going on with my FA 35mm, I've elected to keep them both. I will need to shoot some actual tests before long to nail down this particular issue.

When I'm shooting on a tripod with a measured sort of approach, the A 35mm is what I go for more often than not. I typically shoot right around f/11, often focus stacking for extra foreground DOF if the conditions allow. Though I miss Live View, I don't have much trouble manually focusing with accuracy through the viewfinder in good light; for anybody who could do the same, I'd say the A 35mm is a good bet. Corner vs. center sharpness trades off a bit differently than the FA 35mm, and I believe there's a bit more chromatic aberration on the A version of the lens. But those factors are splitting hairs, in my opinion, not a major factor either way. Based on what I've seen, I'd say for landscape work a good copy of the A 35mm is a very solid bang-for-buck on this camera.

I do go for the FA 35mm sometimes when shooting on the tripod, but where I typically grab it is when I want to be more dynamic, walking around & "snapshooting" on the fly with autofocus and (usually) wide aperture. It does a great job at that.

[smhoer]

Royce,
There is a mint 35mm A for sale locally that I plan to do a quick store parking lot test on my camera.  If good I will add it to my bag.  Several times I have noticed the 35 FA distortion you describe in long distance landscape shots.  They are noticeable in prints when going really large and can be exaggerated when stitching.  I will gladly trade-off some resolution for no distortion.  Thanks for the info you posted.

Scott

[ACH DIGITAL]

Hello, I'm a Canon 5D MKII user. Most of my lenses are tilt shifts. I'm really willing to move to medium format but my budget is no quite large to buy a technical camera + a phase or Leaf back and lenses. I s there anyway of adapting a tilt shit lens or use an adapter with the Pentax 645D?? I do Macro product shots and architecture.
I would appreciate some guidance on this. Cheers..

[smhoer]

The only T/S lens I know of for the Pentax 645d is a Harblei 45mm T/S.  If you do a search on Pentax 645 Mount Harblei 45mm they show up sometimes.  Don't know if they are still made.

[Royce Howland]

Aside from some sorts of DIY projects that may be done out there, before today the only tilt-shift option for the Pentax 645D that I'm aware of is the Hartblei 45mm f/3.5 Super-Rotator. There is a new one currently in production for Pentax 645 mount, not just a rehash of the old lens which has been out of production for some years. The Hartblei company seems to have separated into different unrelated or semi-related parts, all using the name "Hartblei"; confusing.

So far, I've seen no actual usage reports of the new Super-Rotator, but a few folks on another forum have copies. Here's the source for it:
http://www.hartblei.kiev.ua/

Today I just saw a reference to a "Wiese 3.5/45 mm shift and tilt lens Technoplan-T" supposedly made in Pentax 645 mount as well. First I've heard of it.
http://www.wiese-fototechnik.de/e/eshift_t.htm

Tilt-shift is a hole in the Pentax 645 lens lineup. When I said above that my 645D kit isn't leaving me wanting for much, tilt-shift options are part of what I do still want. That's reason alone to keep my 5D Mk II and Canon TS-E lenses for the foreseeable future...

[theguywitha645d]

Novoflex has a bellows unit that allows for tilt and shift. It is limited to enlarger lenses, which are excellent and cheap, but you do not have short focal lengths. If you can get a Mamiya to Pentax adapter, then the Cambo X2 Pro is another option. I also believe Horseman has a similar body that can take Pentax 645 lenses, but I don't know if there is a camera mount. Finally, There is a Pentax 67 75mm shift lens that is easily adapted to a 645D. The problems is how to get wide. So there are solutions for macro/table top work, but limited for architectural work.

[ACH DIGITAL]

Well this is very helpful, thanks for the comments.. I found on the Zork page that you can shift a 45mm Pentax 67 on this camera. I don't know how good is this lens and still I could go wider, at least a 35mm.
I might have to wait for others system prices to drop down...

[theguywitha645d]

If you are look for an architectural camera, then the 645D is not it. You really need a MFD back and then mount it on a technical/view camera of some sort. This will not be cheap. However, you can save a bit of money on a back with fewer pixels. I have found the advantage of MFD is not the pixel resolution, but the chip size. My Phase 25+ is so much nicer than any 35mm sensor with a similar number of pixels. This type of setup also becomes a little more complicated as you will then need to deal with lens cast.

[rljones]

Royce,

The Wiese lens is simply a massaged Hartbiel/Kiev. They have the same number of elements and groups and the same movements. Michael reviewed the Super-Rotator several years ago on the Contax 645 body.

[sanzari]

Back to the original post I am keen to understand the real world use of film and scanning and digital.

for something like a 645 or a 617 format, a photographer i know has about 4000 images on line now and spends £2k per year film and process. With his own drum scanner or indeed scanning the special ones this is still about 5-10 years of use before you have paid for the Digital world. ?

So I have been seriously considering a 67 or 617 camera and going back to film for large format prints and fine art. According to this blog is there really a similar printable quality from a 67 neg to a 24meg pixel Full frame sensor ??

I can stitch a shift lens of course and end up with 2 x 24 meg pixel image for the XPAN view of the world, so am i wasting time and money in 617 world ? apart from moving clouds etc should i not bother with the large point and shoot cameras of old like Fuji, etc

[Codger]

As the original poster, I'll step in and thank everyone for their input.  My original remark about the "dearth" of choices was based on the two lenses Pentax had created for the new 645D.  Apparently there are quite a few serviceable lenses from the film 645 system.  As a longterm Pentax 67 user I'll have to think about how practical some of my 67 lenses might actually be in a new digital relationship.  Anyway, I appreciate the views and insights from so many of you so far.

[theguywitha645d]

As the original poster, I'll step in and thank everyone for their input.  My original remark about the "dearth" of choices was based on the two lenses Pentax had created for the new 645D.  Apparently there are quite a few serviceable lenses from the film 645 system.  As a longterm Pentax 67 user I'll have to think about how practical some of my 67 lenses might actually be in a new digital relationship.  Anyway, I appreciate the views and insights from so many of you so far.

A number of 67 users have had good luck with their 67 glass on the 645D. You can check the Pentax Forum dot com. You can also look at Travel 67 web site.

[theguywitha645d]

Back to the original post I am keen to understand the real world use of film and scanning and digital.

for something like a 645 or a 617 format, a photographer i know has about 4000 images on line now and spends £2k per year film and process. With his own drum scanner or indeed scanning the special ones this is still about 5-10 years of use before you have paid for the Digital world. ?

So I have been seriously considering a 67 or 617 camera and going back to film for large format prints and fine art. According to this blog is there really a similar printable quality from a 67 neg to a 24meg pixel Full frame sensor ??

I can stitch a shift lens of course and end up with 2 x 24 meg pixel image for the XPAN view of the world, so am i wasting time and money in 617 world ? apart from moving clouds etc should i not bother with the large point and shoot cameras of old like Fuji, etc

I am not sure it is an either/or situation. I have used film panoramic cameras and have stitched with the 645D. You are going to get great images from each process and each process imparts its own character and a way of working. Moving clouds are not a problem with stitched panos, moving waves on the other hand are more tricky, but not impossible. I get amazing results with my 645D and stitching, but I also miss my medium-format panoramic camera. I think the choice comes down to workflow, process, look, and availability of supplies.