How are the Pentax Z645 owners feeling?

[eronald]

Quite, and the general consensus of opinion was that the pictures would indeed be enhanced by the presence of such things but when volunteers were called for to go and explain this to the girls in the office, some of whom may be a little more mature than we are usually treated to here on LL,  and suggest they might wish to fill the void there came an eerie silence except for the shuffling of feet as tumbleweed rolled gently across the foreground.

I see; they are afraid of a dermatological image

Edmund

[jduncan]

How about portrait photography with Pentax Z645?

The camera has some limitations in terms of people photography from a very low 1/125 sync speed  to the clustering of the focus points.
Here is a good review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yGhKDwfD1Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30TWJ8bWGmA

The issue of the slow software, if is still there, will not affect most of the Landscape people but could cost a lot on processing time for people.
It will be good to know what software the actual owners are using.

Best regards,

[tsjanik]

Hi Nick:

Some lovely photos you've posted; seems a Z is inevitable for you.

You mentioned that the shutter seems a bit better in the Z and that you've seen problems with long lenses.  I've had the D since 2010 and in my experience, any lens that has a tripod mount (300, 400 and 600) has shake issues at speeds under 1/125s.   Sometimes you're lucky, more often not.  The 600mm is an amazing lens, but without extraordinary efforts to stabilize the camera, it's not very useful at slow shutter speeds.  In your experience, what ISO of the Z is equivalent to 400 in the D?  The ability to use high ISO seems to me to be the major attraction of the Z.

Tom

[BernardLanguillier]

Hi Nick:

Some lovely photos you've posted; seems a Z is inevitable for you.

You mentioned that the shutter seems a bit better in the Z and that you've seen problems with long lenses.  I've had the D since 2010 and in my experience, any lens that has a tripod mount (300, 400 and 600) has shake issues at speeds under 1/125s.   Sometimes you're lucky, more often not.  The 600mm is an amazing lens, but without extraordinary efforts to stabilize the camera, it's not very useful at slow shutter speeds.  In your experience, what ISO of the Z is equivalent to 400 in the D?  The ability to use high ISO seems to me to be the major attraction of the Z.

For what it is worth, and I am focusing here on the photographic result ignoring brands/format discussions, I have now hundreds of frames shot with a 400mm f2.8 E FL on the D810 at various slow shutter speeds. Thanks to EFC, those are tack sharp with zero impact of vibration, and that is mounted to a panoramic head (RRS PG-02). For some of them I realized after capture that the RRS rail I mounted the lens on was not 100% tightly screwed to the lens, but images were still sharp nonetheless.

When considering body+lens, the weight and cost are within the same ballpark but image quality is much more consistent on the D810 with a much faster AF too, a very effective stabilization making handheld shooting possible and 2 stops extra light when required. I believe that the Nikon 400mm f2.8 E FL is also superior optically.



I am frankly unclear as to why anyone would want to use the 645Z with the 600mm f5.6 considering the lack of EFC.

This does of course take nothing away from the qualities of the 645Z as a whole, but it just doesn't seem like the right option if long lenses shooting represents an important part of what you do.

Cheers,
Bernard

[tsjanik]

.....I am frankly unclear as to why anyone would want to use the 645Z with the 600mm f5.6 considering the lack of EFC. ............

Hi Bernard:

The simple answer is because I have a 600mm lens and it's really good and the files from the Pentax are terrific.    Would  an 810 and modern AF 600mm be better for some uses?  Certainly, but I have limited resources and I already have too much gear.  If the Z allows higher shutter speeds, it solves the vibration problem in most of my cases.

...... but it just doesn't seem like the right option if long lenses shooting represents an important part of what you do.

Cheers,
Bernard

Long lenses are important , but I use the 35mm and 120mm more often.  The Z appeals to me because it allows shots like the following at lower light levels; both with the 600mm, the herons (1/100s) would be sharper at a higher shutter speed:

Regards,

Tom

_IGP1779 copy by tsjanik47, on Flickr

_IGP1004 by tsjanik47, on Flickr

[BernardLanguillier]

Hi Bernard:

The simple answer is because I have a 600mm lens and it's really good and the files from the Pentax are terrific.    Would  an 810 and modern AF 600mm be better for some uses?  Certainly, but I have limited resources and I already have too much gear.  If the Z allows higher shutter speeds, it solves the vibration problem in most of my cases.

Long lenses are important , but I use the 35mm and 120mm more often.  The Z appeals to me because it allows shots like the following at lower light levels; both with the 600mm and the herons (1/100s) would be sharper at a higher shutter speed:

Nice images Tom.

Great if you can make it work for you! The story is of course different if you already own these pieces of equipment.

Cheers,
Bernard

[tsjanik]

...... The story is of course different if you already own these pieces of equipment.

Cheers,
Bernard

Thanks.  Bernard, I could open a Pentax museum.

[BernardLanguillier]

Thanks.  Bernard, I could open a Pentax museum.

Ha ha ha, please invite for the opening cocktail party! The very first lenses I used more than 30 years ago were Asahi Pentax screw type lenses, I owe everything to the brand!

Cheers,
Bernard

[torger]

Smaller sensors have the advantage that they're faster to fill, and you get deeper DoF with larger aperture. It's very common that wildlife photographers have an APS-C camera as an extra for more reach. Canon made a great move with the 7DII to make it with "pro" body and features, small sensors have its place also in pro photography.

Back to the Pentax 645Z I would think that for really low light photography like astro a D810 would still get better image quality despite lower resolution as you can have wider aperture and thus lower ISO and thus less noise. But I'm not sure.

But that's not too important, the thing with the Pentax 645Z is that for the first time there's an MF camera that is so all-around that you may not need a 135 camera system at all. Additionally, it's so low cost that it actually seems like expensive to have a 135 system on the side (with traditional MF the cost is so high than a 135 system on the side is just like buying a couple of extra lens caps). If your focus is at maximizing image quality in normal focal lengths in normal light I guess one can sacrifice a little reach and light sensitivity at the extreme ends.

[rcdurston]

Here is a copy and paste of my notes from Sept 19th.
I have just past the 10,000 frame mark on my 645z, its at 10823 and sleeping for the weekend.
I got it a couple of months ago and have been using it almost exclusively for my advertising work. I'm very happy with it so far, for the most part.
Here are my top TEN lists for it

Some thing that do bother me though are,
1. AF zone is too small (center 25% of the frame only)
2. inconsistent AF accuracy
3. wait time to use the aperture and ss wheels after firing off a frame
4. the grip, too small
5. SD slots too close to strap point, relocate the strap mounts please
6. missing cap for PC connection
7. wait time to turn on LV after firing off a few frames
8. cable release option besides FluCard
9. FA collar AF/MF switch, PITA
10. tunnel like viewfinder, your eye needs to be lined up perfectly to see 100% of the frame

things I love, beyond the resolution, decent lenses (for the money), ISO sensitivity
1. rear monitor, huge
2. dual SD slots, my Mobi wifi card works wonderfully at speed with the camera
3. weight, nice balance
4. solid lens mount
5. side tripod mount
6. comprehensive menu
7. Live View magnification, the only true way I have found to get accurate focus
8. Matrix metering is usually spot on
9. Long battery life, one battery lasts almost all day, around 1000-1300 frames even with the wifi card transmitting
10. Three WB preset favourites, great to swing back and forth through while testing a scenario

I don't use the camera everyday. I now have three systems from 3 separate brands that I use on shoots; Pentax 645z, Nikon D800 (lightweight back up to the 645z) and the Canon 5D mk3 for lighter file size work.
Saying that, I'm working on a 25 day project, shooting 50 locations with 50 hero shots and over 450 extra scenarios. I'm half way right now and the Pentax is shining. Most of the time I don't bother using the other cameras for the smaller or lighter work because I'm enjoying the the Pentax especially with the 45-85 and the 35 prime. The Nikon has been consistently jamming when needed the most and the Canon now feels like a Fisher Price toy.
When I'm done this project I willing be thinking about sending the camera in to have all the lenses calibrated with the body, specifically checking the focus.
Overall I give it an 8.5/10

Rob

[hexx]

...
But that's not too important, the thing with the Pentax 645Z is that for the first time there's an MF camera that is so all-around that you may not need a 135 camera system at all. Additionally, it's so low cost that it actually seems like expensive to have a 135 system on the side (with traditional MF the cost is so high than a 135 system on the side is just like buying a couple of extra lens caps). If your focus is at maximizing image quality in normal focal lengths in normal light I guess one can sacrifice a little reach and light sensitivity at the extreme ends.

This is very important point, I can see myself selling Aptus and Hassy V system, replace it with 645Z and then have my trusty good old X-Pro1 (APS-C) for all those situations when I don't need extra resolution or want to be more discrete.
Before I bought (and for very reasonable amount of money) Aptus 75S I already had Hassy V system and was looking hard and long at D800E. I did compare them and D800E couldn't match output (at base ISO, Aptus is old man now) of Aptus. Also building Nikon system would cost me more than Aptus + existing Hassy V system - choice was clear, but now with 645Z on the market I'm thinking really hard.

[ACH DIGITAL]

Has anyone in this forum tested the Pentax 645Z against the Pentax 645D in terms of cool accuracy, tonality and Dynamic Range over the same subject?
I'm asking because I'm very interested in these cameras and would like to know they compare.
I'm not asking about resolution here just color and tonality results.
Thank you!
ACH

[powerslave12r]

Has anyone in this forum tested the Pentax 645Z against the Pentax 645D in terms of cool accuracy, tonality and Dynamic Range over the same subject?
I'm asking because I'm very interested in these cameras and would like to know they compare.
I'm not asking about resolution here just color and tonality results.
Thank you!
ACH

EDIT: The link compares only OOC Jpegs for whatever reason.

There are many comparisons if you google for it, but here's one I shared earlier in the thread http://alcarlayblog.com/acarlayphoto/2014/08/15/difference-between-pentax-645d-and-645z/

[alatreille]

The real world version of http://kmp.bdimitrov.de/index.html

I'll come visit for sure!

[ndevlin]

Has anyone in this forum tested the Pentax 645Z against the Pentax 645D in terms of cool accuracy, tonality and Dynamic Range over the same subject?
I'm asking because I'm very interested in these cameras and would like to know they compare.
I'm not asking about resolution here just color and tonality results.
Thank you!
ACH

Not head-to-head, but I've shot a lot with both, and the "z" is better in all respects in my view. Colour accuracy looked excellent when Michael and I shot the colour/ISO ramp for the original review.  Really solid reproduction.  The original LR profile kind of sucked - they've updated it at our suggestion.  

The "z" is also way faster and more responsive.  It's just the evolution as a camera that you'd expect it to be.  It isis more button-heavy than the "D", which I dislike, but you get used to it quickly.

@tsjanik:  re: what ISO on the "z" is equal to 400 on the "D"? Tough one.  My guess is somewhere between 1600 and 4000.  Seriously.  And the resolution mostly keeps up too.

- N.

[synn]

In a previous post, I had mentioned how the Z has a very DSLR look to color rendition and the D has that MF look to it. To my eyes, this is because in a typical DSLR file has similar colors sort of bleeding into each other (maybe because of the CFA or whatnot), while the older gen MF backs render them as distinct colors. This was my observation when comparing the credo 40 and the D800 side by side. Here's an example where the greens and yellows melt into each other on the D800 file, but not on the Credo. Both processed in C1P

D800

http://flic.kr/p/iGE486

Credo

http://flic.kr/p/iGEftH

This can be rectified to an extent by massaging individual color channels and whatnot, but not a 100%.

Now I can't say for sure if this would be the same case on the Z vs the D, but judging by the samples powerslave's article had and because the Z's sensor is similar to that of the D800, I have a feeling it would be the case.

Edit: of course, Nick has real life experience with both cams and I dont, so I might very well be wrong.

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

The "powerslave" files are out of the camera jpegs.

Best regards
Erik

In a previous post, I had mentioned how the Z has a very DSLR look to color rendition and the D has that MF look to it. To my eyes, this is because in a typical DSLR file has similar colors sort of bleeding into each other (maybe because of the CFA or whatnot), while the older gen MF backs render them as distinct colors. This was my observation when comparing the credo 40 and the D800 side by side. Here's an example where the greens and yellows melt into each other on the D800 file, but not on the Credo. Both processed in C1P

D800

http://flic.kr/p/iGE486

Credo

http://flic.kr/p/iGEftH

This can be rectified to an extent by massaging individual color channels and whatnot, but not a 100%.

Now I can't say for sure if this would be the same case on the Z vs the D, but judging by the samples powerslave's article had and because the Z's sensor is similar to that of the D800, I have a feeling it would be the case.

Edit: of course, Nick has real life experience with both cams and I dont, so I might very well be wrong.

[powerslave12r]

Hi,

The "powerslave" files are out of the camera jpegs.

Best regards
Erik

Thanks for pointing that out Erik. Sorry for sharing the link without confirming the facts. I blindly assumed a comparison of a large sensor camera would be based primarily, if not partially on RAW files and not JPEGs.

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

I would also made that assumption.

Best regards
Erik

Thanks for pointing that out Erik. Sorry for sharing the link without confirming the facts. I blindly assumed a comparison of a large sensor camera would be based primarily, if not partially on RAW files and not JPEGs.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... Here's an example where the greens and yellows melt into each other on the D800 file, but not on the Credo. Both processed in C1P...

Hmmm... exif shows Nikon file was processed in LR5. No?