Pentax 645Z

[leeonmaui]

Aloha,

Maybe we we will see a posting about the Pentax 645Z in the whats new section soon?
Or another great hands on by Nick!

[ndevlin]

Aloha!

I wait with baited breath for word that the new "Z" has hit our shores for testing. Truth be told, I have even snagged a couple of lenses on ebay to test with (the 120 macro and 33-55). (If these legacy lenses don't give top results, Pentax will be hard-pressed to make the ownership case.)

I moved away from the original 645D for a few reasons, so I will be especially interested to see if the new camera is better on those fronts (AF accuracy in middle distances and shutter vibration).

That said, this is likely to be an amazing camera, given what a handling pleasure the 645D was.

I've slogged along with a "4" series Hassy for a lot of work in the last year and, while I adore the image quality, the overall slowness of the machine, the crappy battery life, the farcical screen and the teutonically dense control architecture have tried my patience.  The 645D was at a whole other level on these fronts. 

Plus things like $250 for a battery on the Hassy - a battery which still drains like butter melting on a hot skillet during heavy shooting - versus a $30 battery on the Pentax which lasts and lasts.....

Hopefully the new bird lands just in time for spring!

Cheers,

- N.

[hsteeves]

The 33-55 wasn't even considered that good on the 645d - at least on the short end. I would go after the lenses that performed well on the D if I wanted the best performance out of the Z. Besides, the next new lens is supposed to be a wide angle zoom.

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

Interesting to hear about your long term experience with the P645D and the Hassy H4. The things you mention takes some time to find out.

Best regards
Erik

Aloha!

I wait with baited breath for word that the new "Z" has hit our shores for testing. Truth be told, I have even snagged a couple of lenses on ebay to test with (the 120 macro and 33-55). (If these legacy lenses don't give top results, Pentax will be hard-pressed to make the ownership case.)

I moved away from the original 645D for a few reasons, so I will be especially interested to see if the new camera is better on those fronts (AF accuracy in middle distances and shutter vibration).

That said, this is likely to be an amazing camera, given what a handling pleasure the 645D was.

I've slogged along with a "4" series Hassy for a lot of work in the last year and, while I adore the image quality, the overall slowness of the machine, the crappy battery life, the farcical screen and the teutonically dense control architecture have tried my patience.  The 645D was at a whole other level on these fronts. 

Plus things like $250 for a battery on the Hassy - a battery which still drains like butter melting on a hot skillet during heavy shooting - versus a $30 battery on the Pentax which lasts and lasts.....

Hopefully the new bird lands just in time for spring!

Cheers,

- N.

[leeonmaui]

Dude!

It won't be a very good review using old lenses, not that they aren't excellent, I am always please with the results from all of the old primes I have, although in all honesty I have
Only published pieces shot with the 35mm and the 120mm Macro.
I wish they had  gone longer on the Macro than 90mm, even considering it as a portrait lens, something in the 150mm to 200mm might have been more useful.

Anyway, I hope you can get your hands on a 25mm If you get to do a review, by all accounts it is excellent, I played with one briefly In Paris, at the time I thought, it was nice, no better than my 35mm AF and in retrospect, I guess that's pretty good! Since i crop a bit, the wider 25mm will be a welcome addition to my bag. I especially love the fact that it has a Slot for a CPL; as believe it or not what lenses for what system has influenced most of my system and lens choices always, as I can't imagine not shooting with one.

If for some reason, there is a Phase, Hasselblad, D800E, Pentax 645Z mega shootout/review on the site, it would only be fair to use the newer Pentax digital lenses! 

It sounds like the new version has a few nice changes.
being a bit faster is one of the things I am most pleased with.

The dramatic ISO increase Is something that really got my attention as ultra long exposures for some night sky photography will be a welcome feature for me.

At any rate, I'm sure I will be in the queue early for the new body!

We have had crap light for a few weeks here, but hopefully in June we will get back to perfection and I'll be on kauai shooting for most of the summer, pert of it I hope with the new body!

Lee

[ndevlin]

Dude!

It won't be a very good review using old lenses, not that they aren't excellent, I am always please with the results from all of the old primes I have, although in all honesty

Lee,  it won't be a very good camera if the better legacy glass isn't capable of taking full advantage of it. Pentax's new digital lenses are (i) way overpriced; (ii) not terribly useful focal lengths; and (iii) in fairly short supply.  Lovely that they are weather sealed and, in the case of the 90mm, apparently stabilized.  But the 'Pentax advantage' is price, a key component of which is the older, lens expensive glass, or, newer, less expensive glass. 

If I have to drop $4K on a Pentax 90mm, I'll buy a used Hassy 100mm f2 for $2,500 instead, thank you very much.

- N.

[leeonmaui]

Aloha,

I'm not saying the older lenses are a poor
Fit for the 645d or the new 645z
Im very happy with most of the primes performance.

I was just making a point that if and when you guys get around
To doing a side by side comparison it would be nice to use one
Of the newer lenses.

If it comes down to your to cheap to
Buy one, and I have one by then, you can borrow it.

Lee