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Author Topic: Pentax reduces the price of the 645D to 8800 USD  (Read 32715 times)

Radu Arama

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tsjanik

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Re: Pentax reduces the price of the 645D to 8800 USD
« Reply #1 on: August 31, 2012, 07:06:13 am »

Perhaps a 645DII in the works?  Perhaps the D800 has slowed sales?   I'm not sure this move will convince anyone to buy a 645D, who wouldn't have otherwise; it will certainly reduce the resale value of the camera however.

The price that should be reduced is that of the 25mm IMHO.

Tom
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hasselbladfan

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Re: Pentax reduces the price of the 645D to 8800 USD
« Reply #2 on: August 31, 2012, 05:20:21 pm »

Fully agree. More than half the price of body and back.
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FredBGG

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Re: Pentax reduces the price of the 645D to 8800 USD
« Reply #3 on: August 31, 2012, 05:49:46 pm »

Chances are that a new version or a second additional version is in the works. Full frame maybe.
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Radu Arama

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Re: Pentax reduces the price of the 645D to 8800 USD
« Reply #4 on: August 31, 2012, 08:16:32 pm »

Hi Tom,

They try to put some difference between this model and the next one which will be "a quantum leap" and priced at 12999 USD. Besides the prices of used 645D will be dictated by the thousands of Japanese which will "upgrade" their 2 to 3 years old cameras in 2013 with the next model.

Best regards,
Radu

Perhaps a 645DII in the works?  Perhaps the D800 has slowed sales?   I'm not sure this move will convince anyone to buy a 645D, who wouldn't have otherwise; it will certainly reduce the resale value of the camera however.

The price that should be reduced is that of the 25mm IMHO.

Tom
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Lacunapratum

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Re: Pentax reduces the price of the 645D to 8800 USD
« Reply #5 on: August 31, 2012, 09:50:11 pm »

Exciting!  Thanks for letting us know.  Tom
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tsjanik

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Re: Pentax reduces the price of the 645D to 8800 USD
« Reply #6 on: August 31, 2012, 10:50:17 pm »

Hi Tom,

They try to put some difference between this model and the next one which will be "a quantum leap" and priced at 12999 USD. Besides the prices of used 645D will be dictated by the thousands of Japanese which will "upgrade" their 2 to 3 years old cameras in 2013 with the next model.

Best regards,
Radu


Radu:

Very interesting.  I would assume a "quantum leap" to be near full frame, an advantage that 35mm cameras can never overcome.  High ISO and live view would be nice as well, but not as significant to me and, I suspect, most users of the 645D.

Regards,

Tom
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zentenam

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Re: Pentax reduces the price of the 645D to 8800 USD
« Reply #7 on: August 31, 2012, 11:10:11 pm »


It would be nice if Pentax would bring out some New Digital A. F. Lenses instead of a New Body. We have been waiting long enough.
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Radu Arama

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Re: Pentax reduces the price of the 645D to 8800 USD
« Reply #8 on: September 01, 2012, 08:39:24 am »

Hi Tom,

The tea leaves read at this moment that Pentax will keep the 6 micron pixel pitch and increase the size in the 48x36 mm region. The camera is rumored to be the first (or in the first row of a new class) to make real use of a 16bit RAW. I am more excited at the thought of much improved electronics inside the camera the original 645D was built using already "middle aged chips" so I expect a dramatic improvement in the general response.

Best regard,
Radu

Radu:

Very interesting.  I would assume a "quantum leap" to be near full frame, an advantage that 35mm cameras can never overcome.  High ISO and live view would be nice as well, but not as significant to me and, I suspect, most users of the 645D.

Regards,

Tom
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Radu Arama

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Re: Pentax reduces the price of the 645D to 8800 USD
« Reply #9 on: September 01, 2012, 08:47:53 am »

They seem to focus on very modern zooms and new lenses build from the ground instead of adapting older designs to digital era. The new ultra wide to wide zoom will be (as far as I know) a first in a modern MF system and probably will cost less that competition's 28 mm primes.

So, first will be the new 90/2.8 this year then in the first half of 2013 the new ultra wide zoom, then late in the 2013 or a bit later the replacement of the 45-85 and of the 80-160. After that I expect a few primes to be replaced with new designs.

Best regards,
Radu

It would be nice if Pentax would bring out some New Digital A. F. Lenses instead of a New Body. We have been waiting long enough.

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Lacunapratum

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Re: Pentax reduces the price of the 645D to 8800 USD
« Reply #10 on: September 01, 2012, 02:00:06 pm »

Thanks for the updates, Radu.  All makes perfectly sense to me.  The current 645D is great, but would benefit from an update.  Hope the new 25mm DA fits the larger sensor of the new camera.  I could live without the 90mm, but the new wide angle zoom would be great. 

I am not sure about the remainder of the Pentax product line (K, Q, Ricoh, full-frame, etc.), but I am quite happy with their 645D strategy.   :)
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Radu Arama

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Re: Pentax reduces the price of the 645D to 8800 USD
« Reply #11 on: September 01, 2012, 02:56:25 pm »

Hi Tom,

The product specification for the DA 25 mm only says: "Developed specifically for the PENTAX 645 digital system" with no mention about maximum sensor size and I find very hard to believe that Pentax (if they indeed will increase the sensor area) launched a crippled lens only half a year before. On the other hand the 5K USD price could by justified easier if a possible 18K combo of 645D2 + 25 mm would provide the widest f.o.v. in MF world (using native lenses). The chatter over the 645D2 is not like Pentax wanted to improve the 645D but more on the line of "let's open up the MF world to new applications never possible before".

We will see.
Radu

Thanks for the updates, Radu.  All makes perfectly sense to me.  The current 645D is great, but would benefit from an update.  Hope the new 25mm DA fits the larger sensor of the new camera.  I could live without the 90mm, but the new wide angle zoom would be great. 

I am not sure about the remainder of the Pentax product line (K, Q, Ricoh, full-frame, etc.), but I am quite happy with their 645D strategy.   :)
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tsjanik

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Re: Pentax reduces the price of the 645D to 8800 USD
« Reply #12 on: September 01, 2012, 03:07:52 pm »

Hi Radu:

You certainly seem to have sources in Pentax!  I’m glad to hear the pixel pitch will remain the same; most of the old lenses do quite well with the existing sensor, but might be challenged by smaller pixels.  So the sensor will be about 20% larger ~ 50MP?  I am happy with the existing electronics, maybe because I was primarily using film before the 645D and had no basis for expectations.  Heck, auto focus is a novelty to me! 

Looking forward to the wide angle zoom; like Lacunapratum, I don’t understand the urgent need for a 90mm.

Regards,

Tom
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Radu Arama

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Re: Pentax reduces the price of the 645D to 8800 USD
« Reply #13 on: September 01, 2012, 04:01:22 pm »

Hi Tom,

I am a Pentax user for a lot of time and I like to think I know some patterns about how they think and act. Some things I know to be facts, others are just my speculations, Pentax was a very secretive (even too secretive for their own good) company during the Hoya ownership and seem even more so in the Ricoh era. But they (Ricoh) made no secret at all that they want to challenge the "big boys" pretty much the same they did in the copier business. And also they are ready to spend money to make money. Now about the 90 mm I fully agree that is a strange focal, neither here, nor there but beside the fact that Pentax was historically very good at making strange focal length lenses (some say they are just the honest ones in a world were every 47-53 mm design is billed as a "50 mm normal"). Remember the 77 mm Limited (for 135 format) where 77 was "the magical number for a portrait lens" and another big time mythical Pentax lens the 31/1.8 Limited.

So, that being said I have the feeling that Pentax wants to kill two birds with a stone with the 90 mm and make a very advanced design (in terms of elements/groups) which won't be extremely expensive nor big/heavy simply because  it is not a fast 120 mm or a 135 mm to start with. I think, as in speculate that they want to make a lens which is very well corrected for any kind of aberration, with beautiful bokeh and with minimum focusing distance lower than classical 5 elements / 4 groups and 6 elements / 5 groups "old school" designs and versatile enough so it is not a portraiture only item.

About the 6 micron pitch I believe it is the very best for them to stick with it not only for the very important think you mentioned (puts less pressure on the lenses) but also because it is one of the most mature cell processes at Sony (my personal belief from more than a year a go was that Pentax will look for a Japanese supplier and a CMOS sensor for the next MF camera and I stick to that). Since Sony is the supplier for every single other sensor Pentax uses right now but the one in 645D I think it is safe to say they (Pentax) will go the same way. MF cameras as long as they have a prism and a mirror that moves will never be speed demons but a modern CMOS MF camera could make a 135 system obsolete for other kind of work very easy. Regardless of what other MF company chose to do I have a very deep feeling that Pentax will chose a very fast pace of evolution.

Best regards,
Radu

 

Hi Radu:

You certainly seem to have sources in Pentax!  I’m glad to hear the pixel pitch will remain the same; most of the old lenses do quite well with the existing sensor, but might be challenged by smaller pixels.  So the sensor will be about 20% larger ~ 50MP?  I am happy with the existing electronics, maybe because I was primarily using film before the 645D and had no basis for expectations.  Heck, auto focus is a novelty to me! 

Looking forward to the wide angle zoom; like Lacunapratum, I don’t understand the urgent need for a 90mm.

Regards,

Tom

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DanielStone

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Re: Pentax reduces the price of the 645D to 8800 USD
« Reply #14 on: September 01, 2012, 11:46:01 pm »

Radu,

any knowledge of a Pentax 67D in the works ;)?

Man, a 50MP 6x7 sized chip that uses the same P67 lens mount, that'd be superb!!!

-Dan
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Radu Arama

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Re: Pentax reduces the price of the 645D to 8800 USD
« Reply #15 on: September 02, 2012, 04:20:10 pm »

Hi Dan,

None whatsoever now and I can bet not in this decade at least! ;)

Radu

Radu,

any knowledge of a Pentax 67D in the works ;)?

Man, a 50MP 6x7 sized chip that uses the same P67 lens mount, that'd be superb!!!

-Dan
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LKaven

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Re: Pentax reduces the price of the 645D to 8800 USD
« Reply #16 on: September 03, 2012, 05:41:42 pm »

The camera is rumored to be the first (or in the first row of a new class) to make real use of a 16bit RAW.

Never with a CCD.  Even if Pentax is able to acquire a CMOS design to use, I don't see any way they can possibly make use of 16 bits in raw.  This does not stop MFD manufacturers from trying to float such claims, coyly or otherwise.

Print DR of course goes higher, but this of course has nothing to do with raw.

Radu Arama

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Re: Pentax reduces the price of the 645D to 8800 USD
« Reply #17 on: September 03, 2012, 06:49:44 pm »

Hello,

Indeed your hands on experience mirrors a lot of other's but like I said above it is clear that Pentax used as much as possible of the shelf components in order to reduce the price. When 645D was announced the current dslr of Pentax was the K-7 with 14,6 Mp and from that size to 40 Mp there is a considerable distance.

About the second part I believe that Pentax forbid for some time the online sell of the 645D on the basis that such an investment should be well balanced beforehand and one should go and try such a camera from the three authorized dealers then make a hard decision. Such a buy and return policy is available in Europe only when you shop online and it is regulated very harsh against abuse from the part of consumers. There is no way you can buy something in a brick and mortar store and return it in most (in not all) of the E.U. We also have a mandatory 2 years warranty for most electronics.

Thank you for your input and best regards,
Radu

I have been using the 645D for at least a year. I shoot it very hard. My only digital camera. I use it for personal work and for jobs. It is a fine camera. Lenses can be purchased dirt cheap.

Viewfinder is incredible; build quality is great. Color fidelity maybe not as good as my old Nikon, but still quite good in Lightroom4.

My only comment of concern is that the internal processing engine seems vastly unpowered. The buffer; the write times to card seem quite long. When shooting people, can really be an issue if shooting a lot of frames quickly. The buffer will just lock up on you, and it makes you wait a long time. It is certainly no D3x, in terms of speed. Hopefully, if there was a revision model to this original body, they'd put in a V8 engine, instead of a little Briggs and Stratton lawn mower engine. But maybe it was designed for landscape guys, where speed is not an issue. But my point is: test it with your own shooting style.

But for ten grand, it's an amazingly enjoyable camera to work with, even with its small underpowered engine.

The other weird thing I found: there was only a return policy option at B&H. Not at Adorama or Samys. Very bizarre to just write a check for ten grand on blind faith alone. Bizarre business practice by Pentax. B&H offered standard 30 days, but luckily I did not return it.

Very solid camera. Beautiful large viewfinder.

That is my contribution to this thread.
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Radu Arama

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Re: Pentax reduces the price of the 645D to 8800 USD
« Reply #18 on: September 03, 2012, 06:56:01 pm »

Hi Luke!

I am not an expert but I think any major Japanese semiconductor giants could make a state of the art CCD of this size that would have significantly better performance than current American chips on the market. The problem would be cost rather than technical problems. I said (and attracted some animosity) from at least one year a go that Pentax should go CMOS in the next 645D simply because they have a great relation with Sony and could harness that in their own advantage.

Best regards,
Radu

Never with a CCD.  Even if Pentax is able to acquire a CMOS design to use, I don't see any way they can possibly make use of 16 bits in raw.  This does not stop MFD manufacturers from trying to float such claims, coyly or otherwise.

Print DR of course goes higher, but this of course has nothing to do with raw.
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FredBGG

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Re: Pentax reduces the price of the 645D to 8800 USD
« Reply #19 on: September 04, 2012, 12:31:38 am »

Never with a CCD.  Even if Pentax is able to acquire a CMOS design to use, I don't see any way they can possibly make use of 16 bits in raw.  This does not stop MFD manufacturers from trying to float such claims, coyly or otherwise.

Print DR of course goes higher, but this of course has nothing to do with raw.

What makes you think a CMOS can't go to a 16 bit file.

Nikon d800 sensor gets more dynamic range than and CCD......

Also can any sensor really fill all the possible values of a 16 bit file?
« Last Edit: September 04, 2012, 07:04:04 pm by FredBGG »
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