PENTAX 645D II

[GrahamWelland]

I would even accept the absence of someone knowledgeable to chat to. What I struggle with is "your 10k camera will vanish for months on end without any alternative cover and you will just have to wait and see what happens".

That's the Leica experience too btw. It's not unique to Pentax.

 

[Ed Hurst]

It kinda sucks... They need either to have full local facilities so work can be done quickly or have loaners. Ideally both.

 

[Plateau Light]

Got to play with this today at WPPI.
Confirmed the $9,995 price and a new WA Zoom for the 645 !
Excellent screen too!
Looks tempting.

 

[bensonga]

Do you know what the focal length range on the new wide angle zoom is? I haven't been able to find that anywhere. Price on the zoom?

Gary

 

[WildRover]

Does anybody know or can speculate on the new WA zoom. In particular, how close on the wide end will it be to the 25mm. Does anybody think that the 25mm will see a price reduction when the new zoom comes out?

Rick

 

[tsjanik]

Got to play with this today at WPPI.
Confirmed the $9,995 price and a new WA Zoom for the 645 !
Excellent screen too!
Looks tempting.

You were able to handle the camera? My understanding of CP+ is the camera was under glass. Like everyone else I'm curious about the focal lengths of the zoom.

 

[hsteeves]

So, what was the focal length of the WA zoom?

 

[Uaiomex]

Real LV on camera screen?

Got to play with this today at WPPI.
Confirmed the $9,995 price and a new WA Zoom for the 645 !
Excellent screen too!
Looks tempting.

 

[baudolino]

As a proud and very happy 645D user, I have to underline the importance of the above points about support. I live in Australia and was unfortunate enough to have had a problem with the body a little while ago that required repairs. Pentax (Ricoh) themselves have no relevant facility in Australia - just a relationship with a company called C R Kennedy who can do some things themselves - so anything complex or subtle or requiring spare parts means the camera has to be shipped to Japan and back. My camera disappeared into a black hole for over 3 months without a loaner or even any concrete idea of when I would get it back. Language barriers between C R Kennedy and Japan did not help either. Calls from me (to C R Kennedy) were either not returned at all or, when I eventually got impatient enough to escalate things, were simply met by assurances that it would come back as soon as possible. This is clearly not good enough for a pro spec camera. They need decent local support, the ability to resolve things themselves in country (for anything other than major major things), loaners and people here who truly understand what is going on. In short, professional standards of support.

The 645D is a brilliant piece of kit and very reliable. I have every confidence that the 645Dii will be excellent as well. But they really need proper, global (i.e. local) support if they are going to succeed in this segment.

Just to contrast your experience with the support provided by Leica for the S2. I had a problem with the sensor on my ex-demo S2 (red line running through some images). Brought the camera to my dealer (Leicashop Vienna) and had it back in my hands, with new sensor, in exactly one week. On a second occasion, one or two images in a series were half-scrambled. I sent them to the dealer by email, had a response the next day that new firmware had to be installed by Leica in Solms. Once again, the camera was back in one week, no problems. Two years have passed since then and, touch wood, no further problems have occurred. Accepting that things may go wrong with any piece of equipment, I was impressed by Leica's response.

 

[D&A]

It sounds like you received exceptional service...what one would hope and expect from Leica. Yet on this very website (Getdpi), Aboud has recently described a vastly different experience regarding multiple issues with his Leica S body. With that said, my experience and from those I converse with, is that Leica service has been vastly superior to Pentax's in the medium format arena.

Dave (D&A)

 

[GrahamWelland]

When it comes to service I think it makes a HUGE difference when you're geographically close to the manufacturer! IMHO distance and timezones are never your friend.

 

[hsteeves]

sent my 645D in for some work here in Canada. I think it went down east 2000 km. Had it back in 2 weeks. And that time included me shipping it north 600km extra to my dealer and them shipping it back. Vienna to Solm? We call that going for coffee.

 

[tsjanik]

sent my 645D in for some work here in Canada. I think it went down east 2000 km. Had it back in 2 weeks. And that time included me shipping it north 600km extra to my dealer and them shipping it back. Vienna to Solm? We call that going for coffee.

Well that's Pentax Canada, who as far as I can tell, is largely unchanged from the old (pre-Hoya) Pentax; for those of us to the south, Pentax USA is not what it was. Perhaps Ricoh will change that.

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

Ed, we have to have our DF sent back to Denmark for each repair. 3 weeks at minimum. Hasselbad are no better.