Pentax 645D first impressions

I was acquainted with Pentax cameras in Melbourne by an ex-housemate who was really into them. He had a K 10 and a nice selection of Pentax limited edition lenses. I used to take his K10 out and do photowalks with his sublime 50mm / 1.4 and 77/1.7 limited prime lenses. Unfortunately after I returned to Malaysia, I didn't really have the chance to play with  other Pentax cameras. But opportunities arise when you least expect it. Recently I had the chance to try out Pentax's first digital medium format camera -  the Pentax 645D.

This beast incorporates a 40 MP Kodak CCD sensor which is approximately 1.7 times larger than a 35mm sensor. The Prime II image sensor ensures high speed data processing capabilities for the super high quality images produced by the camera's sensor.

For starters, this camera is big and weighs as much as two bricks, so you better have strong hands to support it (with a battery and two CF cards inserted, it weighs a bone-crushing 1.48 kilos sans lens). It's also very well crafted and has the weather sealing capability of its siblings, the K-5 and K-10.

The lens which is attatched to the camera is the Pentax-D 55mm F2.8 SDM AW prime lens which is equivalent to a 43mm lens on a full frame camera. There are numerous used pentax 645D lenses which can be had for bargain prices if you look hard enough on the internet.

There's a hot shoe to mount regular flashes, but I reckon only Pentax flash guns will give you TTL capabilities.

From this angle, you can see that the 645D has two tripod mounts; one on the side and one from the bottom. its very useful I must say, especially if you're mounting your camera portrait-wise on a tripod. To the right is the compartment for dual SD cards (essential for the insanely large 50mb DNG files) and a HDMI port.

From the rear, the controls of this camera are quite intuitive, much like an SLR. Each button performs one function, and you can also customize it through the camera's menu. There's also a top LCD panel which contains all the essential information of your shooting settings.

Speaking of the camera's menu, I was dumbfounded by its sheer complexity. Perhaps I've been too accustomed to the controls on my Nikon and Olympus cameras.

Another issue for me was the relatively microscopic viewfinder compared the the camera's mass. Because of that it was challenging for me to ascertain if my images were truly sharp, or if I focused at the right area. I was informed there was a viewfinder magnifier to solve the issue.

The deep hand grip conceals the rechargable lithium ion D-LI90 battery, which is the same little battery used by the K-7. With the larger sized sensor and faster data transfer, this camera will only be able to shoot a few hundred frames. Better pack a spare battery just in case ;)

In aesthetics, the 645D isn't the most sexy looking camera, but its functional (form follows function - robert venturi).

So how does the 645D perform in real life, you might ask?

This is a typical high contrast scene in front of my shop on a good sunny day in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. If you used a camera with a smaller sensor (eg. handphone or compact camera) all the details would've disappeared. The shadows would be clipped and the highlights would have been completely washed out.

But this is not the case with the 645D. The higher quality pixels produce plenty of micro detail in the highlights and shadows. Better colour rendition can be observed because there are more gradation of each colour and more shades of grey.

You have the blow up the image on your computer screen at 1:1 to appreciate the full details. Even from this small crop, you can easily see the handphone number on the electric pole for a 'lori sewa'.

I shot this candid portrait of a friend indoors. Due to the lower light levels, I boosted the ISO of this camera to 1000. The image of course suffers some degradation, but it was not as bad as I expected. Of course if you afford this camera, you would use it for studio or landscape purposes at low ISOs for maximum image quality.

Some might ask, whats the difference of a 40 MP medium format camera when you can easily obtain  36 MP on a D800 full camera. Well, the difference is in the micro details and the ease of photo shopping the jpeg files from the 645D as compared to a 21 MP 5D Mark II, for example.

I touch up client's faces everyday due to the nature of my work. So I ran a quick test by shooting a passport photo of my colleague and attempting to touch up the jpeg file in Photoshop CS 4. To my surprise, I found that I could clone stamp the 645D's jpeg much easier than the 5D Mark II's, and the results are more natural. The detail and gradation 5D mk II jpegs are quite harsh, making it a little more challenging to photoshop.

This is another sample image shot in shady conditions. The resultant image looks more 'life like' due to the abundance of micro detail, tonal gradation, and dynamic range. Frankly, you could produce life sized prints of your subjects with this much of detail if you had a printer that large !

One gripe that I have about this camera is its autofocus. It will not be on par with your basic entry level DSLR. And with the extremely limited depth of field, you have to be really careful with what you're intending to focus on. I had several blur images more than I'd like to when I was using the 645D (which I could only observe properly when I viewed the images on my computer). And with the high megapixels , you'd better be using a higher shutter speed (at least 1/160s) for sharp images if you're hand holding the 645D !

At present, you may purchase the 645D with the 55 mm lens for RM 37,888. They'll even throw in a bag, 32 gb SD card and an extra battery for free. Its one of the cheapest entries into medium format territory. In contrast , a top-of-the-range Hasselblad medium format camera costs at least RM 100,000 sans lens!

Some may ask if this camera is a good buy. Unfortunately the answer is not that simple. If you're doing heaps of commercial work which requires high megapixels and micro detail, this camera might be for you. But if your clients aren't paying that much for your services, a cheaper alternative such as an APS-C camera will suffice, and will make much more economic sense.

I hope you've enjoyed this short first impressions review. If you're reading this and you're a sales person from Pentax Malaysia, I hope I can have another opportunity to review this spectacular camera =)

Cheers~

Photographers and lenses

I was chatting to some photography enthusiasts quite a while ago, and we came upon the topic of lenses. This fellow who owned a full frame 5D couldn't even name me the current offering of wide angle lenses from Canon, namely the 16-35 f/2.8 and 17-40 f/4. I was flabbergasted / appalled / dismayed / horror-stricken, etc. In my opinion, it's a serious insult to your own brand if you don't know whats available on the market, and how to use them. And here I am, an Olympus user telling a Canon user about Canon lenses! Aside from being material for small talk between photography enthusiasts, there are some advantages about knowing offerings from other manufacturers, one of which is a certain amount of respect if you can talk about Sony lenses to a Sony user, for example.

I've featured several websites on the right hand column of my blog which feature lens reviews. This is not going to be an exhaustive list, but mainly just a platform for you to read up and venture on your own and expand your knowledge about DSLR lenses in general.

Photozone.de offers a very comprehensive review of lenses on the market for main manufacturers, eg. CaNikon, Sony, Pentax and Olympus.There's a even a small section on micro 43rds lenses and rare lenses (eg. Voigtlander, Cosina. The diagrams and charts are large and logically organised for you to find your way through the website. Admirably, they have separate lens tests for full format and APS-C bodies, and even for different resolutions (eg. the 15MP EOS 50D vs. the 8MP EOS 350D). The conclusions are quite blunt, and occasionally they place a "highly recommended" icon for lenses which have a good performance to price tag ratio.

Canon fans have much to rejoice so far at the-digital-picture.com for its detailed reviews of Canon lenses on the latest EOS bodies such as the 1D mk4. Oh yes, there's even a 800mm f/5.6 L IS USM lens which only costs $10,900. Its one of the most comprehensive review websites I've seen so far - various views of the lens mounted on different bodies, comparison tables, size comparisons, 100 percent crops, bokeh examples, basically the whole lot. With some technical assistance from Chuck Westfall, Assistant Director/Technical Information Dept for Camera Division/Canon U.S.A, I don't think you can ever go wrong with this site ;)

Slrgear.com which is a sister website to the imaging-resource.com hosts a variety of lens reviews which are quite educated in their own right. They cover common aspects such as sharpness, chromatic aberration, vignetting, build quality and autofocus with alternative lenses to consider at the end of the review. Other than the interactive graphs, I like the fact that common users are able to give their own take of the lens on the same page of the review.

Based in Queenstown, New Zealand, Gordon Laing has placed a small number of consumer oriented lens reviews on cameralabs.com. Just don't expect too much premium glass over there but mostly kit / moderately priced lenses. I especially enjoy their video reviews which are quite easy to understand. In the verdict section, Gordon lists out the good / bad points and a simple score system, eg. 70/100.

For Fourthirds enthusiasts, biofos and wrotniak are MUST READS (note the capitalised letters in bold, trust me, it's for a good reason) for lens reviews and fourthirds material, albeit having a more traditional layout compared to current websites. They feature plenty of image samples, They're personally managed for no financial gain as I can see it, which is admirable indeed. If you're looking for more exotic reviews such as a ZD 300/2.8 or a 90-250/2.8, you'd be better off looking here.

Most large stores nowadays feature lens reviews to entice customers to purchase their products in the form of articles such as Adorama or video reviews on B & H Photo Video. Though not as detailed and fanciful as the websites I've featured above [you can't be too blunt to increase chances of sales, can you? ;) ], its still interesting to read what they have to say. Fancy a $10,000 Leica 50mm f/0.95 Noctilux-M ASPH or some cheaper Voigtlander lenses? It's all here for you to read up.

Of course, we should always bear in mind the venerable pixel-peeping folks who use dpreview as their bread and butter for lens reviews. I don't mind their camera reviews, but I personally know some folks who aren't fond of them.

Do bear in mind that after reading all these reviews, better lenses won't make you a better photographer. Aside from bragging rights, they're merely a tool for you to expand your potential, and they're very expensive investments. Unfortunately, there will always be folks with a huge trophy of lenses, but after viewing their photos, you'll start to feel that they don't have much substance. Treat these reviews with a grain of salt before you read them, and you'll be fine.

cheers.

A wise friend told me once:


"Gear heads? They are all over and probably make up as high as 90% in the photography world. For manufacturers, they thank them cause that's where they get the money for R & D. Since I picked up photography as a teenager, I have since found out that real artists spend time creating masterpieces more than hanging out in forums or camera shops buying stuff. They usually use just 1-3 lenses for a long long time. I always remind myself, Thank God for gearheads, cause without them, photographic technology will not improve and we won't get as many second-hand bargains!"


That's pretty neat! ;)