Pentax countdown..........

[bensonga]

Camera looks great. Not many Pentax 645 AF lenses still available for sale new and unless I'm mistaken, the only new lens they have announced is the 55mm. I suppose they will either resume production of the previous line-up of 645 AF lenses or come out with a newly designed lineup of "digital" lenses. Well, on the off chance that I may pick up one of these someday, I just bought a LN condition Pentax 67 to 645 lens adapter (very hard to find). Might be able to put my nice collection of Pentax 67 lenses to good use again.

I'm really glad to see that Pentax finally delivered the goods on this long awaited camera. I hope it's a technical and commercial success for them.

Gary

 

[Steve Hendrix]

I'm really glad to see that Pentax finally delivered the goods on this long awaited camera. I hope it's a technical and commercial success for them.

Gary

I agree. With the (sort of) contraction in medium format of the past year or so, it would be nice to reverse that with Leaf becoming healthy again, Leica entering, Pentax emerging, and ..... who knows who else?

It's a challenge being a small player in a small market, but I love the idea of having those small players, rather than just a couple dominators. 35mm has evolved this way. In addition to Canon/Nikon - there's Sony (not small, but a small player in comparison to market share), Olympus,Panasonic, Leica, etc, providing the segment with a lot of options. While the larger players tend to get a lot right, the smaller players often have numerous unique features of value to end users.

If niche companies can survive - or even thrive and grow - in the medium format marketplace, that boosts the segment as a whole.


Steve Hendrix

 

[Sharokin]

This is the first digital MF camera (on paper) that doesn't look like a one trick pony like the rest.
It's also the first MF camera makers that seems to have listened to what so many working professional have been asking for for years.

I'm really excited to see what this camera delivers.

 

[tetsrfun]

If niche companies can survive - or even thrive and grow - in the medium format marketplace, that boosts the segment as a whole.
********
The opposite could also occur. The "small" player who is backed with big corp. dollars, offers a product with competitive/better features at significantly less cost could "harm" an small market.

Steve

 

[fotografz]

This is the first digital MF camera (on paper) that doesn't look like a one trick pony like the rest.
It's also the first MF camera makers that seems to have listened to what so many working professional have been asking for for years.

I'm really excited to see what this camera delivers.

What other tricks does this pony do?

 

[tjv]

The Pentax 645D is now teaching at Yale University with Tod Papageorge and Gregory Crewdson and really pushing the art of photography in new, exciting directions. Meanwhile, the Dusseldorf school has banned the use of 8x10" cameras and only allows the use of vintage, half frame Pen F cameras and the Apple iPhone.

 

[Sharokin]

Multiple AF points, High Res LCD, dust shaker, dual SD cards etc....and all for under $10K.
I would imagine it will equal the Hassy and P40 at asa 800, and has as good as glass as the Hassy and Mamiya.

 

[Steve Hendrix]

If niche companies can survive - or even thrive and grow - in the medium format marketplace, that boosts the segment as a whole.
********
The opposite could also occur. The "small" player who is backed with big corp. dollars, offers a product with competitive/better features at significantly less cost could "harm" an small market.

Steve

I suppose that scenario could produce an advantage over smaller companies (in terms of backing). That's a tough call - advance the market with features, but reduce the players, or have more players with fewer end user benefits.

I don't know that anyone in the medium format segment is backed by big corporate dollars. In the 35mm segment, yes, this sounds like Sony, although Canon would certainly also fall into that category.

The specs on the Pentax sound great. I'm interested to see how they translate into real world use. If they do so successfully, my hope is that this drives Hasselblad/Phase One/Leaf/Sinar to up their game in the ways the Pentax promises to.


Steve Hendrix


Steve Hendrix

 

[tetsrfun]

The specs on the Pentax sound great. I'm interested to see how they translate into real world use. If they do so successfully, my hope is that this drives Hasselblad/Phase One/Leaf/Sinar to up their game in the ways the Pentax promises to.
*********
That would be the best result. I have been only mildly interested in the Pentax story until I saw the video clip. The new Pentax looks like a very serious camera that wasn't rushed to market and offered (limited distribution) at a "low" price.

I haven't compared corporate revenues but I would think that Hoya/Pentax is a much bigger corporate player ($3 billion revenues) than any other MF manufacturer and seeing their product, looks as if they intent to stick around.

Steve

 

[David K]

The specs on the Pentax sound great. I'm interested to see how they translate into real world use. If they do so successfully, my hope is that this drives Hasselblad/Phase One/Leaf/Sinar to up their game in the ways the Pentax promises to.


Steve Hendrix


Steve Hendrix

Well said, Steve. These are my thoughts as well.

 

[Mark Gowin]

I liked the video because is gave perspective on the camera size and handling. The camera looks better to me now that I have seen it in someones hands.

 

[Sharokin]

It's a nice looking camera with good specs. I wished they had gone a step further and used a CMOS sensor to gain better high asa.
With the file quality of high end DSLR's being so close to MFDB's right now the only reason I'm still interested in MF cameras is the larger sensor.

 

[Oren Grad]

Not many Pentax 645 AF lenses still available for sale new and unless I'm mistaken, the only new lens they have announced is the 55mm. I suppose they will either resume production of the previous line-up of 645 AF lenses or come out with a newly designed lineup of "digital" lenses.

In Japan, pretty much the entire Pentax 645 system remains on sale new. The camera (645NII) has had its last production run and is being sold from remaining stock, but the press release last March that announced the phase-out of the 645 and 67 cameras also said that the 645 lenses would remain in production.

 

[tetsrfun]

used a CMOS sensor to gain better high asa.
*********
Does Kodak or Dalsa have a consumer grade MF size CMOS sensor? If they do what is the down-side to a "large" CMOS sensor?

Steve

 

[fotografz]

It's a nice looking camera with good specs. I wished they had gone a step further and used a CMOS sensor to gain better high asa.
With the file quality of high end DSLR's being so close to MFDB's right now the only reason I'm still interested in MF cameras is the larger sensor.

Not sure I'd agree that the file quality of the high end DSLRs is all that close to MFD cameras, especially the newer 40 meg and on up. I sometimes start thinking that myself, until I look at the results to bring me back to reality.

I've owned and shot extensively with all three major Pro DSLRs ... Canon 1DsMKIII, Nikon D3X and now the Sony A900: using top optics on all three. In the same sort of conditions, I've also shot with a number of MFDs: Hassey/Kodak and Leaf/Dalsa backs: 203FE/H3D-II, Mamiya, and Contax 645 bodies.

As I sit here going through thousands of wedding shots preparing images for my new website, it became very apparent that even at the same sizes the MFD shots stand out from any of the others. More subtile renderings, greater sense of realism, finer detail, much better elasticity when working the images in post. The few exceptions to that were always Leica M9 shots ... which is a CCD camera using bank busting optics.

My take is the opposite of yours ... I would like to see a top level, higher meg DSLR with a CCD sensor. The now archaic, crop frame Leica DMR still produces file quality that barks with the big dogs from Canon and Nikon.

What is also interesting to note is that those high end DSLRs aren't the models that deliver the high ISO performance anyway. Better than MFDs, but not by much. We've even used a high ISO Canon 5D-II at weddings, and at the same, most used ISOs, the file quality is not comparable to the MFDs even to my beginner photo assistants.

That all said, it WOULD be very interesting to see a MFD CMOS camera if that is even possible.

I would also say that this Pentax could well be a serious contender for high-end wedding photographers. The price is right, and the feature set meshes with
needs better than any other MFD out there ... as most MFDs are oriented to studio applications, or have to straddle dual applications. This is especially true for the Pentax's dual card slots that can be set for mirrored capture.

-Marc

 

[Terry]

As I sit here going through thousands of wedding shots preparing images for my new website, it became very apparent that even at the same sizes the MFD shots stand out from any of the others. More subtile renderings, greater sense of realism, finer detail, much better elasticity when working the images in post.

-Marc

This was the discussion I had in the car at the Salton Sea workshop. Even in web sized jpegs it seems easy to spot which shots came from medium format. It is a look that I really like. I really do like my A900 but there is just something different and better that I like when I see it. The other thing I'm grappling with is aspect ratio. I really enjoy more of a 4:3 ratio than a 3:2 (in my pro/con list - an S2 negative for me).

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

Let us know about the new website when it's ready Marc.

I had understood that Pentax were aiming this camera squarely at the Japan wedding market actually which is in line with what you're saying. Certainly the build and features fit in with that goal.

 

[neil]

Re - The Pentax Camera price

I am in Tokyo at the moment and was visiting a camera shop this weekend. They had a poster advertising the new Pentax camera.

Price was Yen 848,000
I cannot read Japanese but I noticed the poster said the price is open. That means the shops are free to set the price they want to sell the camera at.
I noticed that for various camera equipment the price is discounted by 5 to 10% from the stated price. Also the shops give 10% in a points back system.

This could mean that after the initial rush of sales on this camera the price could be as much as 20% cheaper. ( including points) So we may get near the price point we are all wanting on this.

This shop is giving the 10% points right from the start.
http://www.yodobashi.com/ec/product/100000001001211156/index.html
I would imagine after the initial rush some shops will discount the price by 5 to 10% and give the points

One more comment is that the camera is being sold through mass market retailers. The shop above Yodobashi camera is a large chain discount camera shop. In other words its just being sold like any other commodity camera.

Phase/Hasselblad usually sell through an experienced dealer network. ( lots of support )

In other words your not getting any special support with the pentax camera. Really left to yourself to sort everything out from the instruction book. ( have to make good use of this forum and compare notes )

Regards

Neil

 

[fotografz]

Let us know about the new website when it's ready Marc.

I had understood that Pentax were aiming this camera squarely at the Japan wedding market actually which is in line with what you're saying. Certainly the build and features fit in with that goal.

Wish I could get my mits on one of these now to see how it measures up to that task Ben. Especially IQ compared to the Sony A900. ... and MOST importantly how good is the AF. Pentax should give me one to beta test for the US Market. :ROTFL:

At $9,400. even adding a wide and tele, we're way under any other MFD choice by more than 1/2.

-Marc

 

[P. Chong]

Hi Niel. Thanks for direct news from Tokyo. Perhaps I missed it, is the new camera already available at Yodobashi et al in Tokyo?

Re - The Pentax Camera price

I am in Tokyo at the moment and was visiting a camera shop this weekend. They had a poster advertising the new Pentax camera.

Price was Yen 848,000
I cannot read Japanese but I noticed the poster said the price is open. That means the shops are free to set the price they want to sell the camera at.
I noticed that for various camera equipment the price is discounted by 5 to 10% from the stated price. Also the shops give 10% in a points back system.

This could mean that after the initial rush of sales on this camera the price could be as much as 20% cheaper. ( including points) So we may get near the price point we are all wanting on this.

This shop is giving the 10% points right from the start.
http://www.yodobashi.com/ec/product/100000001001211156/index.html
I would imagine after the initial rush some shops will discount the price by 5 to 10% and give the points

One more comment is that the camera is being sold through mass market retailers. The shop above Yodobashi camera is a large chain discount camera shop. In other words its just being sold like any other commodity camera.

Phase/Hasselblad usually sell through an experienced dealer network. ( lots of support )

In other words your not getting any special support with the pentax camera. Really left to yourself to sort everything out from the instruction book. ( have to make good use of this forum and compare notes )

Regards

Neil