What a frustrating process. I want to know full details as much as anyone. But it's not even slated to ship until May (assuming it's one of the few MFD products to ship exactly on time) and then only in Japan for some undetermined time.
Unreleased systems always have such unanswered questions, so it's not a negative comment on Pentax or anything.
Just one that came up in that interview:
- the body sounds like it's very very weather sealed and should do well in extreme environment. But as the LL experience in Antartica shows some systems claim a high level of weather sealing but do not hold up well in extreme environments. Companies like Phase have a proven history holding up extremely well in bad environments even thought they don't claim much at all when it comes to weather sealing. So the first question is how will the real world results come out. The second question is what lenses will have weather sealing built in at the mount? I don't know the Pentax lens line (can anyone fill us in here) - if they aren't weather sealed at the bayonet then using the camera in rain is a bad idea period. With Canon for instance the L series lenses are weather sealed but the consumer grade and older professional lenses are not. Still a nice thing that they have recognized a demand for it and I look forward to seeing how it holds up in the real world.
Also from that interview I find it really annoying to use "first sensor anti-dust vibration in medium format" as a selling point. I would much much rather have a sensor that is wicked easy to clean because it's completely and easily accessible than a sensor which is inside a mirror box and requires dedicated cleaning solutions (like the very good Artic Butterfly solution) any day. Not even a hard choice. The fact that they have included anti-dust vibration is great because if you can't access the sensor you need that technology to stay sane. But no dust-shaker I've seen on the market in any camera is 100% effective at removing dust, and can do next to nothing if, god forbid, something other than light dust works it's way onto your sensor (e.g. mist depositing something there while changing lenses) and you'll be stuck using the Artic Butterfly like a spelunker rather than a quick wipe with a Digiclean of an exposed medium format sensor. Of course I'm very biased in that all the medium format products my company sells are separate body/back combos rather than a ZD-Camera or Pentax 645D all-in-one SLR like solution.
Also for landscapers the idea that you can't use the sensor on a technical camera is disappointing. Of course for the very low entry price it's not a deal breaker, but since there is no upgrade path other than strait-selling your equipment used and since there is no track record on what the market will value a used Pentax 645D at it will be a hard investment for landscape photographers who think they might eventually transition to a technical camera or view camera. MANY of the photographers who have purchased Phase backs in the last two years for the purpose of landscape have later upgraded to a technical camera with large format Schneider/Rodenstock lenses, and for them they could keep 100% of their initial investment and simply add a tech body and lens.
Surely someone else cringed when they read "we already have 15 concrete orders at one retail location". Buying a system that not only you have used, but that no one has used is scary to me. Very very scary. Trust me I am all about loving and getting excited about gear - just - ya know - wait until you can put it in your hands (or in the very least until someone you trust has put it in theirs) before you put actual money on it.
Another question that comes up is how they are getting a base ISO 200 out of the same sensor technology that Hassy is only rating at 100. And how does their ISO of 1000 compare to the H4D's higher ISOs? One big caveat here of course is that the H4D-40 is shipping - a very big caveat in medium format known for delays/cancelations/spec-changes or vaporware.
Surely as Pentax comes closer to actually shipping the announced system we will get more details, and especially some raw files to play with. That will answer a lot of the questions.
As I conclude all the above writing it comes off more negative than I mean it to be. I guess probably because the question marks are all in potentially negative categories. The HUGE positive (and it is huge) is not in question: low price. So the questions that I bring up above are many and likely won't be answered until there is a shipping system, but the really big plus is written right with the announcement (though what US price would be is still in the air along with when "sometime" will be in regard to US availability). As far as announcements go it is very exciting - a lot of details need to be filled in and real world vs. announcement needs to be seen, but it is a very exciting announcement.
Doug Peterson (e-mail Me)
__________________
Head of Technical Services, Capture Integration
Phase One, Leaf, Cambo, Canon, Apple, Profoto, Eizo & More
National: 877.217.9870 *| *Cell: 740.707.2183
Newsletter: Read Latest or Sign Up
RSS Feed: Subscribe
Buy Capture One at 10% off
Personal Work