[Mistral75]

I see the smiley, but would it be possible at all (with mirror locked up of course) to mount the K-mount lenses properly? How would one do that? Move the sensor forwards? Doesn't sound very good.

You need to insert the K-mount lens within the Pentax 645D's mirror box, the mirror being locked up.

All thinks being equal, this is what you have to do when mounting the Voigtländer SL 12mm f/5.6 or 15mm f/4.5, which are basically rangefinder lenses converted to Nikon F mount, on a Nikon SLR.



"In August 2003 Cosina Voigtländer introduced the SL series 12/5.6 and 15/4.5 in Nikon F mount for mirror lockup. Shown above is the 12 mounted on a Nikon SP rangefinder, and the 15 mounted on a Nikon F2. These are deeply recessed NON-retrofocus lenses which require mirror lockup. The SL 12/5.6 is the widest non-fisheye lens ever made in Nikon F mount. The SL 15/4.5 is by far the least expensive and smallest 15mm lens ever made in Nikon F mount. They will ONLY fit Nikon SLRs with full mirror lock up"

Source : Stephen Gandy's CameraQuest Voigtlander SL 12/5.6 15/4.5

[RonHendriks1966]

Well it is a big system:

[thibs]

Look at the mode dial, there is a space (something has been erased) between U1 and P:

http://news.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/rim_info/1_645D_2014_2.jpg

Yeah, that's the green mode they don't want to brag about

More seriously, the K-3 does NOT have a video mode on the dial

[Na Horuk]

Maybe there is a video button under the tilt screen? :X

[bossa]

If the 645D 2014 were to be a mirrorless design it would, IMO, revolutionize MF and probably replace the need for a Pentax 35mm FF. The Leica S2 is smaller than a D800 and Pentax may well have missed a major opportunity here if they go the route pictured, as much as I'd still love to own one.

[ElJamoquio]

If the 645D 2014 were to be a mirrorless design it would, IMO, revolutionize MF and probably replace the need for a Pentax 35mm FF. The Leica S is smaller than a D800 and Pentax may well have missed a major opportunity here if they go the route pictured, as much as I'd still love to own one.

They could certainly put a mirrorless flange with a 44x33 that could be adapted to both K and 645.

I doubt that is the plan. But it would be neat.

[Uluru]

If the 645D 2014 were to be a mirrorless design it would, IMO, revolutionize MF and probably replace the need for a Pentax 35mm FF. The Leica S2 is smaller than a D800 and Pentax may well have missed a major opportunity here if they go the route pictured, as much as I'd still love to own one.

There is one peculiar thing about Pentax: they are devoted to their users, and their mounts, and won't curb them away to make room for some glorious new tech for tech's sake. Will that lack of mirror in a new 645D indeed make your life ecstatic?

I think that we are again deeply into imaginations, and in uneasiness of the digital photography world. Photography has changed since digital, and not at all for the better.

Again and again I read in online forums desires for Pentax to do just that: bring something totally new, presumably incompatible with past and, in effect, curb their users and history away.

The proposition is paradoxical — to many, Pentax's history should be used to promote the old good name that develops its new success in a world of digital uneasiness by totally erasing its past and history and replacing it with something all new. Thus history is no more, value no more, but only a blind marketing ploy to a blurry end, that is even from the beginning doomed to fail.

Because however you turn it, every player in the digital imaging world will lose. They are all losing right now. The end goals set by their new anxious users who never held a real, heart-warming photograph in their hand and short term balance sheets are skewing it. Anything we desire in such terms will fail because digital uneasiness will always win — all because we have forgotten what really matters in image making.

Uprooted from own past and pointless in terms of future, nothing is ever good to us anymore.

---

Last edited by Uluru; 02-11-2014 at 07:57 PM.

[bossa]

The mirrorless option would take users away from Canikon FF systems and Pentax would "own" the MF arena (if the price was right and it was done well) for a few years. Being ahead of the game can be dangerous but it's more dangerous to be late.

Compare camera dimensions side by side
http://camerasize.com/compare/#391,211

http://camerasize.com/compare/#391,291

[ElJamoquio]

To me, the paradox is... the 645D has the best sub-$10k viewfinder on the market.

Just a thought provoker... no responses necessary... but do we want to get rid of that? MF could lose a lot of size/weight with mirrorless but it would also lose one of the biggest advantages of MF.

[Uluru]

The mirrorless option would take users away from Canikon FF systems and Pentax would "own" the MF arena (if the price was right and it was done well) for a few years. Being ahead of the game can be dangerous but it's more dangerous to be late.

People are always anxious. They don't crave for things they know well; most people crave for things because they have not tasted anything better.

EVF is the current fling because how many have tried really glorious OVFs? I can bet none of EVF ambassadors ever tried them.

Whoever tried to look through the OVF of the 645D will find everything else pale in comparison.
What's even funnier, there is no FF camera on the market today that compares even to an old ME Super's OVF.

We are not given the real choice today, and forcing all the same solution because of lack of real quality choice, is nothing short of crime.

It is something like this:

You Tube

You Tube

— And what are you staring at?; Have you never seen a woman before?
— I thought I had …

Same with viewfinders. Who’s never seen a 645D OVF, or a good film camera OVF, does not really know what an OVF really is.

[ogl]

Green dot button - maybe this button could be used for video?

[Cynog Ap Brychan]

EVF is the current fling because how many have tried really glorious OVFs?

It seems to me that people who hanker after the "retro" style in cameras are missing the one great advantage the old film SLRs had over modern cameras. That huge, bright viewfinder. Sure, you can have all the twiddly dials you like, but when I look through my classic cameras, I'm constantly surprised by how big and clear the viewfinders are. That said, I've never tried one of the new EVFs in, say, the Olympus OM-D or the Fujifil XT-1, so I would have to defer to others as to how they compare with even the modern crop of DSLRs. All I know is that even my D800's viewfinder does not come close to that of the MX, for example. In fact, I don't find the D800 to be any better than the K3 in this respect. Fine for framing shots, but not great for manual focus.

[Uluru]

It seems to me that people who hanker after the "retro" style in cameras are missing the one great advantage the old film SLRs had over modern cameras. That huge, bright viewfinder. Sure, you can have all the twiddly dials you like, but when I look through my classic cameras, I'm constantly surprised by how big and clear the viewfinders are. That said, I've never tried one of the new EVFs in, say, the Olympus OM-D or the Fujifil XT-1, so I would have to defer to others as to how they compare with even the modern crop of DSLRs. All I know is that even my D800's viewfinder does not come close to that of the MX, for example. In fact, I don't find the D800 to be any better than the K3 in this respect. Fine for framing shots, but not great for manual focus.

I can boast I have tried them almost all.
Tried E-M1, E-P5, all Fuji's X100s and X-pros, (not the T1 yet), all Sony NEXes, tried D800, D600, D3, Canon 1Ds, etc.

Nothing, just nothing comes close to the brightness and pure joy of use of the simple but gorgeous OVF in the ME Super.
And even that one cannot compare to the OVF in 645D — which I'm shooting as well.

[Zygonyx]

It seems to me that people who hanker after the "retro" style in cameras are missing the one great advantage the old film SLRs had over modern cameras. That huge, bright viewfinder. Sure, you can have all the twiddly dials you like, but when I look through my classic cameras, I'm constantly surprised by how big and clear the viewfinders are. That said, I've never tried one of the new EVFs in, say, the Olympus OM-D or the Fujifil XT-1, so I would have to defer to others as to how they compare with even the modern crop of DSLRs. All I know is that even my D800's viewfinder does not come close to that of the MX, for example. In fact, I don't find the D800 to be any better than the K3 in this respect. Fine for framing shots, but not great for manual focus.

I looked through Olympus OM-D EM1's EVF the other day : don't move framing / try to shoot moving subject... everything you see goes blurred...

Secondly, what happens once power is over : you can't even look through your lenses... Very sad for wildlife's long shooting and observation sessions...

Two good reasons to prefer the good old comfortable OVF !

[Digitalis]

Recent images have revealed that the 645D might have video/ live view - if this is the case than be prepared for a frenzy of cinematographers. Especially when one takes into account that there is no similarly priced alternative for MF video from either RED or black magic.