Looks great on paper...An interesting corporate decision since the talk at the time of the Hoya acquisition of Pentax was that the camera division would be sold off. Hoya/Pentax has about $3 billion in yearly sales so I guess that they can financially sustain the release of a new product into a small market.
Thinking about using this as cheaper engine in some kind of cambo-like landscape view camera like rig along with a nice Rodenstock LF lens and do some hi-rez stitching.
Anybody know the sensor maker?Dalsa? or Kodak?
It makes total sense to share electronics with the smaller dslr brethren--much cheaper, way larger installment base, simplified engineering, etc. Saves the company a lot of $$ and hopefully gives the user a better camera. While not at all a camera I see myself buying, it will be exciting to see what comes of it.
I know that Kodak (err... whoever fabs it for Kodak) has the ccd market sewn up, but I would have liked to have seen what samsung could have done under these circumstances. Probably didn't make financial sense to do it that way.
IMO, this is the A850 of the medium format DSLR world. It has achieved a high resolution for a low price in a decent body. I can't see myself buying this camera, either, but it is definitely an advancement in for digital MF.
Good luck on finding an FA 120mm macro...they appear on KEH for milliseconds at a time... cgiff wrote:
I'm not buying the 45/2.8 and 120 macro quite yet, but it's starting to sound a lot more realistic..
Impressive stuff. Hopefully it proves itself to be as good as it could be. I'm more interested in what it means for the 1Ds Mark IV if it turns out to be good; hopefully it pushes down the prices of pro 35mm DSLRs.
wayne seltzer wrote:
Thinking about using this as cheaper engine in some kind of cambo-like landscape view camera like rig along with a nice Rodenstock LF lens and do some hi-rez stitching.
Anybody know the sensor maker?Dalsa? or Kodak?
Unfortunately, the back on the Pentax is not removable, so it's probably nearly impossible to use it with a Cambo body. I would want the same thing is a MF digital. The ability to use it in an SLR and a MF/LF view camera (in my case, my Silvestris and Horsemans) which would necessitate a removable digital back.
One can only hope that the Pentax puts downward pressure on the market, so the Phase One P45+ back comes down in price. WIth Leaf and Mamiya absorbed into Phase, however, is Phase One the only supplier of MF Digital backs that can be had for different cameras? Hassy/Imacon is a closed system and Rollei didn't survive. Is Sinar and/or Jenoptik still playing and competitive? If Phase stands alone, maybe they will be less affected by the downward pricing pressure exerted by the Pentax.
Lotusm50 wrote: One can only hope that the Pentax puts downward pressure on the market, so the Phase One P45+ back comes down in price. WIth Leaf and Mamiya absorbed into Phase, however, is Phase One the only supplier of MF Digital backs that can be had for different cameras? Hassy/Imacon is a closed system and Rollei didn't survive. Is Sinar and/or Jenoptik still playing and competitive? If Phase stands alone, maybe they will be less affected by the downward pricing pressure exerted by the Pentax.
This. Let us hope, indeed. For the actual technology contained in the MF digital backs, they are very much overpriced. And P1 is riding that profit margin for all it's worth.
It remains to be seen, however, what the actual image quality of the Pentax 645D will be like. Canon and Nikon are too invested in their lens lineup to enter the MF arena. Pentax's offering looks like a response to Leica's S2 and the P1 backs.
systemlayers wrote:
SD/SDHC and 50,000 shutter count
cmon you arnt going to shoot sports with it....its a studio/landscape camera by virtue
anyway a shutter prob in the 400-700 range anyway still cheaper than the Mamiya or hassy or S2
The only MF camera to REALLY have more than one AF point. The only MF camera to have a decent LCD screen.
Will it be long before we see live view I think this is a step in the right direction for digital medium format. I thought the 35mm FA was a fantastic lens. If Pentax can continue their tradition of great lenses and provide a reasonably priced 41x56 sensor, that would be a photographer's boon. I would love to have a FF 645 camera that doesn't cost 50K.
Makes the D3X look well, overpriced...for appropriate applications Pentax may have a winner, let's hope so and the release goes well. And I thnk we all benefit from this camera in one way or another, even though at ~1500 grams body only, not for me even if the price was acceptable.
I think this is a step in the right direction for digital medium format. I thought the 35mm FA was a fantastic lens. If Pentax can continue their tradition of great lenses and provide a reasonably priced 41x56 sensor, that would be a photographer's boon. I would love to have a FF 645 camera that doesn't cost 50K.