Originally posted by plooksta What "half-depth 645z"? what review?
I don't remember which review it was exactly, but I remember that picture.
Basically the author photoshopped an image of the 645Z to be much shorter than it is now, based in the fact that the 645Z actually has a whole lot of empty space inside.
If you look at the top of the 645Z there is a Ф symbol on top which displays where the sensor plane is located inside of the camera - from that symbol to the hinge of the LCD display is mostly dead space that houses the electronics. The actual electronics are even stacked across multiple PCBs with risers and mezzanine connectors because it's cheaper to do so than design compact circuits because of all the room available, and even then they don't take up half the available space.
This is really strange because this camera body is far from having film roots, but is still big enough in the rear to theoretically stuff a roll of film inside.
The same goes for the mirror box - while the flange distance can't be reduced for lens compatibility reasons, everything else could have been reduced where appropriate. It's like Pentax is intentionally keeping these proportions to prevent themselves having to retool their assembly lines should they ever decide to utilize a full 645 sensor. Although even if they do eventually pull it off, it still doesn't justify the fact that the back of the camera is mostly empty, they can either compress the front of the camera further into the body for better balance, or push the LCD display further into the camera for nose room.