Originally posted by CDW 
My thoughts as a 645D and K-5 owner, and as a former 5D2 owner, FWIW.
First, in spite of being a design that is several years old, the CCD sensor in the 645D holds up extremely well against current FF 35mm designs. If you go to DPReview and compare the RAW files of the 645D against the 5D3 and the 800/800e, you'll see that up to ISO 1600 the 645D more than holds it own in terms of luminance and chroma noise. If Pentax had done so, they could have likely provided an ISO 3200 option that would have still provided excellent results. Most of the other competitive, more expensive, MF systems from Phase/Mamiya, Hasselblad, Leica, deliver files that tend to fall apart at high ISOs. Pentax engineers and designers did a superb job with the 645D. And the 645D is superior to all of the named FF 35mm designs in terms of sheer resolution, although not by much.
As others have posted on other forums, the word that best describes the 645D image files is 'malleable'. They can be massaged, corrected, manipulated, however you wish to describe them, to a degree in programs such as Light Room, with a flexibility that is hard to match with a FF CMOS sensor. And they deliver a 'look' that smaller sensor designs are hard pressed to match, especially when the files are printed 30x40 inches or larger. Upgrading the current model to a mk2 version with a 60 meg or so sensor may be a good marketing move if Pentax can hold the price close to the 10K introduction cost of the current model but it won't do a lot for actual improvement in resolution. The current crop of new and legacy 645 system lenses are pretty much up to the task of the 40 meg sensor but are a bit long in the tooth for higher resolution sensors. A $5K asking price for a 645 25mm lens is silly. For that money one could buy an 800 and an ultrawide. Pentax would be best served by introducing some new, relatively affordable state of the art optics to go along with a 645D2.
The biggest improvement for a 645D2 would be in the area of processing power and buffer size. While it was introduced as a field camera, primarily for landscape shooters, a 2-3 fps capability would make it much more desirable for wedding and fashion photographers. The ergonomics as they now exist are just about perfect, perhaps more so than just about any camera available. I believe the 645D is likely to remain a very desirable item for MF shooters who can afford it.
As a 645D and nikon system owner, I can't stress enough how accurate your assessment is. Each camera system has it's strengths and weaknesses that go far beyond mere pixel count. Having bought the 25mm lens for 6k+ in canada I must say it's over priced, hoverer the results from it are stunning. I sure hope pentax's new lenses will all have similar rendering as far as micro contrast and colour palette goes. It's very difficult to describe, but there is a more "modern" look to this and the 55mm lens that the older film lenses don't share. They are sharp and are still great performers but do have a different look. I hope the promised 90mm lens will be released at photokina.
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Post #13 by CDW
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