Nick Devlin reviews the Pentax 645D

[jduncan]

Fred

In order to see the Pentax as a game changer you’ll need to see it through the eyes of those who make up the intended market.

If you’re an amateur landscape photographer currently using the best of the small format DSLRs, need a half decent degree of weather proofing, don’t need view camera options, tethering, live view, or anything larger than a 1.3x sensor then the Pentax will have a certain appeal.

The Hasselblad and Phase One offerings are different beasts with different features, but be prepared to pay for those differences.

If you are from the USA, Japan - or anywhere else that has fair pricing – the Pentax is a game changer precisely because of the price.

It's not for you, it's not for me, but there will be plenty of credit cards waiving about out there proving that it is a game changer for the intended market.

Just to underline your post, the samples of the Pentax 645D are on Dpreview. That means the machine is marching towards the mainstream.
I understand that other medium format companies don't have the leverage that Pentax can have on sites like Dpreview for multiple reasons.
 So even if they could match the price the exposure will be less. I am not trying to imply foul play from Dpreview. It's a target market and the familiarity with press releases etc.
So let see how it plays out.

[ziocan]

Wow, a lot of posts to justify the lack of a feature that should be a no brainer: tethered shooting.
I understand that a lot of amateur photographers, who does landscapes when their day job allow them to, do have a check book or a CC, but a simple feature like tethered shooting, would make this camera appealing to a lot of business that have much deeper pockets and would buy it in triplicate.

I believe the little K Pentax series at 1500$ do tethered shooting.

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

The Pentax 645 is a feasible camera for anyone shelling out for a Nikon D3X and buying Zeiss primes for that camera. It seems that there is a lot of 645 stuff around in wardrobes and on EBay. DPReview has also tested the Nikon D3X.

It wouldn't be easy for DPreview to test a camera like the P65+, it's a different animal and doesn't fit in their reference frame.

Best regards
Erik

Just to underline your post, the samples of the Pentax 645D are on Dpreview. That means the machine is marching towards the mainstream.
I understand that other medium format companies don't have the leverage that Pentax can have on sites like Dpreview for multiple reasons.
 So even if they could match the price the exposure will be less. I am not trying to imply foul play from Dpreview. It's a target market and the familiarity with press releases etc.
So let see how it plays out.

[tsjanik]

The Imaging Resource has also published 645D photos and telling comparisons to D3x and 1ds MkIII:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/645D/645DA.HTM

[jduncan]

Wow, a lot of posts to justify the lack of a feature that should be a no brainer: tethered shooting.

Really is not just that. The other systems have tons of  extra features. From GPS, TS, more modern lenses (in term of number), more adapters. Different sensor sizes, tethered control with microfucus (a delight  for macro). If I have to choose I will peek the H4D over the Pentax with easy. Of course I do have the nikon system, so when is raining I know my bag have the tool for the moment. Others are in a different position. If pentax succeed in terms of volume the "lacks of the system" will be fill very fast. If they don't, we don't how they will react. This point to other advantage to phase/hasselblad : Maturity.

[jduncan]

The Imaging Resource has also published 645D photos and telling comparisons to D3x and 1ds MkIII:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/645D/645DA.HTM

The light conditions are very favorable. We now that when high iso can be tested is when light is dim. But the performance looks very good at ISO 1600.

[fredjeang]

On a Blad (and I guess it's the same with Phase products), when I pushed the images to some limits, for ex underexposing 2stops in capture and + 2 EV in Phocus with pushing the recovery to 80 and filling the shadows... in short, pushing the files, the image keeps incredibly clear and do not fall appart, something that is just impossible to acheive with a 35mm without bad compromises. I would like to know how the Pentax files are doing in that aspect.