[Elton]

I'm a photographer, and I would really like to see the 645D released.

But rumours are making everybody crazy, some say it's no longer a priority and so on. Yet no official statement has been made.

But I wan't to know who would consider buying one if it were to be released. I would personally very much like to, especially if it was priced to compete with the most expensive Canon. Personally Canon and Nikon will never be an option since I need to be shooting MF. Currently I'm not very tempted to do digital MF because I think the Hasselblads doesn't really look that great. And I've not heard anything comforting about the ZD either.

One good option would be a 645NII with a digital back, but there is currently no digital backs for the 645NII around.

So, since i'm very found of Pentax equipment a 645D would be really interesting for me. And alot of friends of mine who also are photographers are also very interested in the camera. Generally there seems to be a great deal of very interested people.

What do you think? Does Pentax know how great the expectations are?

[Elton]

And off course, the Hasselblad/Mamiya alternatives are also way to expensive.

Not to speak of the prices on digital backs...

[Duplo]

Personally i agree with you.

My primary application is landscape and MF is the way to go...

Now it all depends on price and quality of the sensor in it.

But yeah i think there would be a fairly resonable market for a 645D.

[shutterdrone]

As I already have a 645, I would kill for a 645D. However, I disagree that it would be much cheaper than the $9k Mamiya, esp. considering that the talk before was around $8k for the 645D. (You could go even less with the Mamiya, I believe the back is around $6k, and you can get a used Mamiya body that they will modify for free if you buy the back.)

That being said, I'd still buy the Hassie if I had that kinda money lying around. (In addition to a 645D, of course =)

!c

[Elton]

Well, from my limited use of the digital hassys they doesn't look tempting to me, for instance the screen is very terrible. And I don't like the layout/design of the camera. I don't see how it would be a better alternative.

And as far as I know the lens compatibilty does only include newer lenses?

Judging by the size of Pentax 645's the 645D would also be much smaller and compact?

Offcourse the exchanging viewfinder on the Hassys are neat. But when it comes to waistlevel finders I'd rather stick to a Mamiya RZ.

[shutterdrone]

Well, from my limited use of the digital hassys they doesn't look tempting to me, for instance the screen is very terrible. And I don't like the layout/design of the camera. I don't see how it would be a better alternative.

And as far as I know the lens compatibilty does only include newer lenses?

Judging by the size of Pentax 645's the 645D would also be much smaller and compact?

Offcourse the exchanging viewfinder on the Hassys are neat. But when it comes to waistlevel finders I'd rather stick to a Mamiya RZ.

The Hassie's have _excellent_ lenses. Ergonomics and LCDs aside (I find them nearly useless for anything but seeing histograms) - it's a great camera. Is it that much better than all the others? Dunno, but it's darn good - and I have a feeling some would say the 645 series of lenses from Pentax probably a notch below Hassie's.

The 645D, if it came out, would most likely accept all 645 lenses, manual and AF. (And 67 lenses, with adapter.)

Much smaller and compact than the Hassie? I doubt that. My 645 is HUGE and weighs a TON (body alone weighs more than my K10D/Sigma 17-70 combination - which is no light-weight.)

I'd still get a H3D-II if I could afford it, just like I'd get an M8 or RD-1 if I could afford them =)

!c

[Elton]

The Hassie's have _excellent_ lenses. Ergonomics and LCDs aside (I find them nearly useless for anything but seeing histograms) - it's a great camera. Is it that much better than all the others? Dunno, but it's darn good - and I have a feeling some would say the 645 series of lenses from Pentax probably a notch below Hassie's.

The 645D, if it came out, would most likely accept all 645 lenses, manual and AF. (And 67 lenses, with adapter.)

Much smaller and compact than the Hassie? I doubt that. My 645 is HUGE and weighs a TON (body alone weighs more than my K10D/Sigma 17-70 combination - which is no light-weight.)

I'd still get a H3D-II if I could afford it, just like I'd get an M8 or RD-1 if I could afford them =)

!c

Yes, I know that it has excellent lenses, I was more thinking about that - as far as I know the hassies only taking the newest lenses, as in that not all Hasselblad lenses are compatible with it. One of the key features on a 645D would be the availability of cheap lenses on the used marked. And yes, they may very well be under Hasselblad lenses in terms of technical quality, but they well buildt and fast. I'm not that interested in graphs and labtesting as long as the images look great.

About the LCD, personally I need to have a screen that lets me see if for instance the image is sharp or not, or more importantly expressions, I actually seldom use the histograms since I'd rather meter the light with a lightmeter. But that's obviously different from person to person.

From what I've seen the 645NII must be the smallest in the class? For instance compared to the Mamiya 645AF it's tiny and elegant. The pictures of the 645D looks alot alike to me.

[philmorley]

Hi, I would love one, if I could afford it

the problems that I see is pricing, it will be expensive and so not a huge seller (in relation to dslrs), serious professional market. So you have convince them that the 21mp 1ds is not good enough (and as we see the k10 is good enough for quite a number of pros, not to mention d300/d3/5d/1d series etc) different class of camera, but does the job for many of those people in the target market.

So for those that must have mf, you have to convince them that, the pentax is better than the other mf offerings (easy to convince some people ), and that pentax is committed to the system etc etc

Also you can use old glass, but that doesn't help pentax make money so to my thinking they would want to release it with 2-4 new lenses, which would also show commitment to the system but when they cant keep up with dslr lens supply do you reduce production on the lenses you know will fly off the shelves.

Like I said, I would love one, I just cant see it happening when they are struggling to keep up with the dslr system. (but maybe I am wrong and I will have to start saving some serious dollars soon )

phil

[Ole]

I'd buy it if it was 40+ MP, and priced below five grand.

[SCGushue]

I have to agree with Ole. There is no doubt that, should the camera be in the 5-6K range it would be an instant buy. But, quite frankly, you would think that Hoya/Pentax were preparing to invade another country.... because you can't pry a word out of them... ABOUT ANYTHING!

Stephen

[roentarre]

I have already given up the funds for this camera in favour of something else ...

Very keen to see what 645D could do. I do have a few 645 Fa lenses collecting dust ...

[Confused]

Hi everyone

In reply to Ole's wishful thinking about the 645D:

I'd buy it if it was 40+ MP, and priced below five grand.

To which I would say: "Dream on sunshine, it ain't NEVER GONNA HAPPEN".......Period !
At least not until either "hell freezes over" or the Koreans start invading Tokyo.....LOL !!! I'd venture to bet that Pentoya has 'more-than-enough' on it's plate trying to keep it's commercial head successfully above the water-line whilst simultaneously absorbing Pentax and planning for the future, without drifting into the realms of fantasy ! Remember what happened to Minolta not so long ago ??? You have to understand that Pentax was a small fish in a VERY big ocean and eventually got swallowed whole by an extremely well-heeled basking-shark ! It simply didn't have the financial resources to repel the oncoming invader.
Bear in mind that the potential sales forecast for new digital medium format cameras is absolutely TINY in comparison to the world-wide demand for point & shoot compacts and recently affordable DSLR's. Many professional photographers around the globe currently baulk at the prohibitive cost of stepping into the bottomless moneypit that awaits them where medium-format digital equipment is concerned. Why on earth do you think it is that C****n successfully sell so many of their 1DS MkII's to this particular market-sector ? I genuinely hope that the 645D sees the light of day at some time in the future, but the realist inside me says "don't hold your breath" !

Best regards
Richard