Pentax 645Z

[Vladimirovich]

and IR = http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2014/04/14/medium-format-thy-name-is-ricoh-pentax-645z-has-no-competition

[bcroslin]

Buffer is twice as large as the 645D and the preview is twice as fast. If it can tether in LR Pentax won't be able to keep up with demand.

I'm still happy with my 645D tethered via Eyefi to an iPad but the Z has got my attention.

[tsjanik]

Sample images (FWIW on an LCD):

http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/products/645z/ex/

[BernardLanguillier]

The most intriguing part is the confidence Pentax seems to have that the 645Z has the best image quality on the market.

I have met some of those guys, they are not really of the over blown ego type.

I guess we'll know as soon as DxOMark puts their hands on a 645Z.

Cheers,
Bernard

[drevil]

a bit soft for my taste, but i am not in the game for a new camera anyway 

[BernardLanguillier]

a bit soft for my taste, but i am not in the game for a new camera anyway  

Yep, probably no sharpening applied. Besides they tend to use small apertures and most of the samples must be diffraction affected.

Btw, according to DPreview, the implementation of live view is excellent!

Cheers,
Bernard

[eronald]

Pentax seems a bit cheaper than Phase.  
I do wonder how they manage that.
And 3fps, 200 000 ISO?

Edmund

[joezl]

This looks like it could be perfect for my type of work, the price is reasonable. I have two questions though. Does it have live view? Are there any tilt shift lenses that would work with it?
The Canon 45mm TS-E has a very large image circle and can be used with some medium format sensors (I think the Hartblei Hcam is one). It would be great if the Canon TS-E could be adapted for this Pentax. Anyway, I'm very impressed that Pentax has brought this "affordable" option to market. Good work!

[BernardLanguillier]

This looks like it could be perfect for my type of work, the price is reasonable. I have two questions though. Does it have live view? Are there any tilt shift lenses that would work with it?
The Canon 45mm TS-E has a very large image circle and can be used with some medium format sensors (I think the Hartblei Hcam is one). It would be great if the Canon TS-E could be adapted for this Pentax. Anyway, I'm very impressed that Pentax has brought this "affordable" option to market. Good work!

It does have live view, apparently an excellent implementation, but no pentax T/S lenses.

I doubt the Canon one could fit, there may be other MF options through adapters?

Cheers,
Bernard

[tsjanik]

This looks like it could be perfect for my type of work, the price is reasonable. I have two questions though. Does it have live view? Are there any tilt shift lenses that would work with it?
The Canon 45mm TS-E has a very large image circle and can be used with some medium format sensors (I think the Hartblei Hcam is one). It would be great if the Canon TS-E could be adapted for this Pentax. Anyway, I'm very impressed that Pentax has brought this "affordable" option to market. Good work!

You can use the Zoerk adapter with Pentax 67 lenses for tilt and shift.

http://www.zoerk.com/pages/p_pshift.htm

[Lacunapratum]

We are all excited.   

[Vladimirovich]

but no pentax T/S lenses.

3rd party = http://www.hartblei.com/lenses/lens_45mm.htm

[BernardLanguillier]

I wonder if there are any color shift issues when using these 3rd party T/S solutions on the 645Z and how they can be corrected?

I guess we'll have to wait until the camera is available in june.

Cheers,
Bernard

[Lacunapratum]

Both 45mm shift option for the P645 are o.k., but not stellar:  the Hartblei and the 45mm 67 Pentax on a Zoerk adapter. 

[eronald]

It's an interesting situation. It looks like Phase and Hasselblad have carefully prepared a market niche for Pentax to slide into

Edmund

[BernardLanguillier]

It's an interesting situation. It looks like Phase and Hasselblad have carefully prepared a market niche for Pentax to slide into

Considering the performances of those Sony sensors relative to their legacy CCDs (see the comparisions done by Doug), did they have any other choice but to use the Sony chip?

Cheers,
Bernard

[eronald]

Considering the performances of those Sony sensors relative to their legacy CCDs (see the comparisions done by Doug), did they have any other choice but to use the Sony chip?

Cheers,
Bernard

Maybe not, but Phase didn't *need* to price at 3x Pentax, when the comparison between a Pentax body and a Phase body is not necessarily in their favor

Edmund

[tjv]

Amazing value for money!
It looks as if the samples are soft due to compression, rather than lens softness. There are quite a few artefacts and I see that are in camera auto conversions from RAW.

[paul_jones]

Buffer is twice as large as the 645D and the preview is twice as fast. If it can tether in LR Pentax won't be able to keep up with demand.

I'm still happy with my 645D tethered via Eyefi to an iPad but the Z has got my attention.

is the 645d very fast to tether? can you shoot 20-30 shots at full speed and not wait that long to see the 30th shot? this is a big deal for me. at the moment i can shoot that fast with a canon and it doesn't get too far behind. even faster if i force the camera to only shoot at 3fps...

i guess the files are only a little bigger, but if everything else is twice as fast then it has potential

paul

[paul_jones]

has anyone seen a pic of the viewfinder display? keen to see if the af points are around a wide area of the display.

cheers paul