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Archive 2016 · Favorite lenses for Pentax 645Z or 645D?

  
 
petermendelson
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Favorite lenses for Pentax 645Z or 645D?


I have a 645Z and 28-45mm and 55mm DA on the way, and am wondering what people's favorite lenses are for these cameras and why?

It sounds like there is a lot of copy variation out there for lenses for this system, and some older lenses that just don't cut it for these sensors, but from a non-pixel peeping viewpoint, what lenses do you love using for these cameras? From reading various review sites I start to get the impression that there are only a few lenses that live up to these sensors, but I imagine many people happily use a variety of lenses on these cameras and find them more than good enough, especially stopped down a bit.

Are the zooms aside from the 28-45mm any good (45-80 and 80-200), or are they similar to kit lenses for other camera systems and pale in comparison to the Pentax primes? Is it worth having the 35mm A (people seem to rave about this lens) even if I have the 28-45mm?

Aside from the very expensive 90mm macro, what other lenses above 55mm are "must-have" lenses for the system? The 120mm f/4? 150mm?

Any third party lenses worth considering with an adapter such as the Hasselblad 110mm f/2 (I have seen this referred to as the "Noctilux" of medium format)...?

I plan to shoot lots of different types of work with this, from landscape to street (when practical) to buildings to my dog .

I looked at the medium format images thread but more specific advice would be very useful.

Thanks in advance!




Apr 18, 2016 at 06:42 AM
lenticular11
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Favorite lenses for Pentax 645Z or 645D?


My response is from the perspective of my P645D following on from relatively low-cost dabbling with a P645N film camera; as yet another camera system to several others already owned by this amateur. Accordingly, my lenses are all manual focus with one exception.

In my experience the FA 45-85 zoom is very impressive, particularly at the bottom 50% of the admittedly narrow range. I was extremely lucky to buy my copy as basically new-in-box from a local eBay seller, at a very reasonable price.

The other lenses that I love to use on my P645D are the A35 f3.5, A75 f2.8, the later SMC versions of the P67 55 f4.5, 200 f4 and 105 f2.4 lenses; and the Hasselblad V Makro-Planar 120 f4.

The best value performance/purchase price lenses for me have been the SMC P67 55/4.5, the A75/2.8 and the SMC P67 200/4.

Edited on Apr 18, 2016 at 08:23 AM · View previous versions



Apr 18, 2016 at 08:22 AM
lenticular11
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Favorite lenses for Pentax 645Z or 645D?


I would also point you to the Pentax Forum Medium Format section in which there are excellent summaries of opinions, reviews and price trends of the P645 and P67 system lenses.


Apr 18, 2016 at 08:23 AM
freaklikeme
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Favorite lenses for Pentax 645Z or 645D?


I used the SMCA 35 on a D and really liked it, particularly for close focusing and group portraits. I preferred the Hasselblad CF 40 for landscapes. Never used the zoom, though, so I can't say if either would be better for you.

My favorite lens on the D was the Hasselblad F Sonnar 150/2.8. Beautiful rendering, subtle focus transitions close focused, a little bit of undercorrected SA wide open, but still reasonably sharp. Personally, I'd take it over the Planar 110/2 or any of the Pentax 150's.

This was a pano with the lens, but I can't recall how many shots.

645D_Sonnar150_Fallen by Bradley Clemens, on Flickr



Apr 21, 2016 at 05:24 PM
Gyroscope
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Favorite lenses for Pentax 645Z or 645D?


I have the 28-45 and 645z (I actually did a review of these on my website). The 28-45 is AMAZING. I don't have another lens but I would consider the 55 as a light standard lens which you have done but also I hear good things about the 75mm f2.8 and it is small and easy to add to a kit. I am not so keen on getting more large zooms personally as the weight would really stack up.


Apr 25, 2016 at 06:10 AM
flash
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Favorite lenses for Pentax 645Z or 645D?


Gyroscope,

I read your review and it was a strong influence on my recent purchase of the 645Z as well. The images are fabulous. Thanks for writing it.

I'm just building my kit as well. I've been devouring everything on the net I can. The temptation for me, is to go overboard, which I'm trying to resist.

I have the camera and the 55mm. I have the 28-45 on order and should get that this week. The 90mm seems to be brilliant but I think I'll go for the 120mm instead. It gets solid reviews and is a focal length I really like.

The 45-85 seems like it's a well regarded lens with great results, if not quite up to the standards of the wide zoom. I think I could carry those two as my "light" kit.

I'm not sure about the 80-160. I've seen mixed reviews. Maybe if I can find a used FA version at a reasonable price. I'll get the 200mm but later.

I wish there was an ultra wide. The 25mm is discontinued, rare and expensive. I'd like a 21/22mm. I'd pay a large premium for a 21mm with T/S capabilities.

For now I think I'll have the 28-45 and 45-85 as my "light" kit. Then I'll add the 120mm, which will also be a portrait lens for me. The I'll carry my A7R2 and 17TSE, which can also be used to stitch larger files, until a real wide solution arrives.

The tougher decision will be the 80-160 for something longer, vs carrying the 120 and 200, or I can just add the Sony 70-400 (which is excellent) to the A7R and wait for the new tele on the Pentax road map.

First world problems. And I've only had the camera 4 days.

Gordon



Apr 25, 2016 at 05:41 PM
lenticular11
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Favorite lenses for Pentax 645Z or 645D?


Well, that makes 4 of us who took the time to respond to the OP, and not one word of response.



May 10, 2016 at 07:30 AM
petermendelson
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Favorite lenses for Pentax 645Z or 645D?


I do appreciate the replies and am still trying to figure things out - Pentax discussions are not that active here so I have been spending more time on the Pentax forums website lately. Part of it is also due to the fact that the weather has been so miserable that I haven't had much opportunity to shoot lately.

I picked up the recently released 35mm HD and LOVE IT on the 645z. So much smaller and lighter than the beastly 28-45mm and beautiful results from the limited amount of time I had to use it. I don't have anything between 55mm and 150mm (or above 150mm) and am weighing my options, but my budget is pretty much depleted right now and I am happy to use what I have since I tend to shoot on the wider end anyway.

While I'd like to try the 90mm, I am more likely to pick up the much cheaper 75mm one day as I have seen beautiful results with it even though it doesn't seem to get rave reviews compared to some of the other newer lenses. I will wait and see how much I miss the telephoto range - I could always go with the 200mm or 300mm one day if I really need it. I used the 150mm for some informal portrait and casual sports shots and it performed very well. So far, though, the 35mm to me has been the real WOW lens and I am looking forward to using it a lot more.



May 10, 2016 at 02:23 PM
flash
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Favorite lenses for Pentax 645Z or 645D?


Well, I went on a bit of a spree with some used lenses from Japan. I got a 45-85, 80-160, 120, 150, and 200, This is in addition to the 55mm and 28-45 I got new.

My primary interest is for landscape apertures so that's where I've done most of my testing. And I only have one copy of each, of course.

Firstly I had to calibrate all of them a bit and it made a big difference from being uncalibrated, even at f8/11. I only bought exc++ or better. And I bought all FA versions. So far I've been doing comparisons between these lenses and an equivalent on a Sony A7R2 at infinity. There's not much resolution difference across the frame so I figured it would be a good comparison. I still have a bit to go to get my technique down with the 645Z with regards to camera shake. I'm trying out a small nodal rail to get the weight more over the centre of the tripod, especially with the *mortar* 28-45 and 80-160.

Most of my opinions are the same as here for the lenses I got.

http://thephotofundamentalist.com/?p=2176&page=2

The 80-160 is the weakest of the ones I picked up. It's not great wide open and I see improvements in the centre all the way to f9.5. After that it's very good. At f11 it's not much different to the FE 70-200, which I consider good but not spectacular. It's not as good as the primes I got but fairly good results around f11 to the corners. It really stresses your tripod. Loads of CA at wider apertures which is a major contributor to it's lower performance wider open. In low contrast settings with no real highlights it's a nice lens even at f 5.6.

The 45-85 is a good lens. By f8 I can't really see a difference to the DA55mm or the Sony FE55mm on an A7R2. It's better than the Canon 24-70 f4LIS in the corners with the Canon at its best at f8. Not huge but heavy at a kilo.

The 120mm is really good. Glowy wide open and stupidly thin DOF close up. But at portrait distances and around 4.5 it's already good and really really good by 6.7. Life size macro too. Some CA.

The 150 and 200 I got are also nice lenses. About a half stop behind the fab 120mm. Not a huge amount of testing so far but wonderful at f11 at infinity right to the corners.

So, in all, the only "weak" lens was the 80-160. It's OK but no advantage to a 35mm system. The rest do allow the 645Z to shine, especially when stopped down. I haven't done enough testing at wider apertures yet but will do so over the weekend.

Gordon



May 10, 2016 at 03:48 PM
gdanmitchell
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Favorite lenses for Pentax 645Z or 645D?


flash wrote:
The 80-160 is the weakest of the ones I picked up. It's not great wide open and I see improvements in the centre all the way to f9.5. After that it's very good. At f11 it's not much different to the FE 70-200, which I consider good but not spectacular. It's not as good as the primes I got but fairly good results around f11 to the corners. It really stresses your tripod. Loads of CA at wider apertures which is a major contributor to it's lower performance wider open. In low contrast settings with no real highlights it's a
...Show more

I've been using an 80-160, though not on a Pentax camera. A friend who is very careful about these things got three of them and tested extensively. Two of the three were excellent and about the same, and I ended up with one of those.

I'm not really seeing a CA issue at all on mine, though I am using in on a FF (Canon) camera rather than on the larger sensor of the 645z. I agree that it is softer wide open — to be expected — but it seems to get noticeably sharper sooner than f/11. Of course, my main interest in the lens was that I can use it with a particular adapter system that provides some capabilities on FF that it would not provide on mini-MF.

That 45-85 sounds interesting...

Dan



May 10, 2016 at 05:54 PM
flash
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Favorite lenses for Pentax 645Z or 645D?


Ultimately I'll probably do the same. get a couple more samples and compare. I got two 45-85's because I heard they had some variation. Both copies are the same and very good. My choice was to keep the one with the higher serial number. I can sell the other one with confidence it's a good lens.

All the 645 FA lenses I bought show some CA. I noticed it immediately when calibrating using a Spyder Lenscal. Magenta in front. Green behind. Mostly gone by f8. The 80-160 was the worst by about a stop. My mid range focus test (20 meters) is a white lamp pole so it's a torture test all round for CA and fringing at my place...

Re the sharpness. yes it does improve from wide open. But I'm looking for something that's better than a 70-200 FE on an A7R2 and the 80-160 isn't in the same place until f11. It's usable at f7.2. But at f7.2 the FE/Sony combination is much much better, and the FA 645 120, 150mm and 200 are much much better as well, especially in the corners. At least a stop better and probably two and a half better for the FA 120mm. The 80-160 corners really don't come good until f11-16 on the big 645Z sensor.

The only new *digital* lenses i have are the 28-45 and the 55mm. They're both much better at wide apertures. especially the zoom. That has a much wider shooting envelope than the FA lenses and is really brilliant. I'm hoping for some new lenses from Pentax like this one. They've got a couple of zooms on the lens map but no details. Wouldn't mind a medium zoom (45-105) that performs like the 22-45 and that has shake reduction.

What I'm seeing so far is that with the right glass the A7R2 is very close in terms of resolution. I find it hard to see which resolves better at 1:1. With the best lenses on each camera (lets say a WATE on an A7R2 and 28-45 on the 645Z) resolution is very close (there's only 300 pixels difference horizontally). However the corners are more consistent on the 645Z. They come in quicker. And the sensor is amazing. You can just brutalise it with no regard. You can sharpen way more without artefacts and the DR is amazing in the shadows. Maybe two stops better ISO performance. The stunning A7R2 sensor looks positively fragile next to the 645Z. The Pentax lenses also are less contrasty especially the FA ones. Things look a bit flat but then you add some local contrast and bamn....

Gordon



May 10, 2016 at 07:34 PM
petermendelson
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Favorite lenses for Pentax 645Z or 645D?


Agree with your comments on the DR, contrast and sharpening of 645z files vs. the A7RII, which is my other main camera. The new K-1 using pixel shift looks pretty amazing too, although I don't see switching either the A7RII or the 645z for the K-1....


May 10, 2016 at 07:59 PM
roger1
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Favorite lenses for Pentax 645Z or 645D?


For me the most used lenses on 645 Z are the FA 300mm f4 ED and the HD FA 35mm - both latest versions
The rest 55mm, 150mm are equally impressive.
The 28-45 was clunky in handling whereas the 300 is a breeze doing handheld.



May 11, 2016 at 09:32 PM
flash
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Favorite lenses for Pentax 645Z or 645D?


I've been testing and calibrating for a week now. The medium primes are sooooo good. Here's the 150mm 2.8 @ f14 test shot with a bit of local contrast and some smart sharpening. And the 120 and 200 might even be a tiny bit better!!

Click on the flickr link for a full size file.

150mm with AF-4-Edit.jpg by Gordon Cahill, on Flickr

Gordon



May 12, 2016 at 12:50 AM





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