Pentax 645Z vs Sony A7r II

Gareth Iwan Jones · 11-20-2015, 10:18 AM

I've recently taken hold of the new Sony A7r II and thought i'd have a go at a little side by side comparison with my Pentax 645Z. Also threw the Canon 5dIII in for fun.

Pretty interesting results. It's no double blind precision trial, but if you were wondering how the Sony compares in real world applications have a look - Sony A7r II vs Pentax 645Z vs Canon 5dmk III ? | Photographer Gareth Iwan Jones |

G

bertwert · 11-20-2015, 10:22 AM

One would hope the 645z is better than the A7r II and 5D Mark III, $2500 (Canon) vs $3200 (Sony) vs $7000 (Pentax)...
Going to go read the article now...

**Canada_Rockies** · 11-20-2015, 10:31 AM - **1 Like**

Fascinating comparisons. Thank you for doing all this work.

FantasticMrFox · 11-20-2015, 11:18 AM

Amazing - the 645Z beats the A7R II for DR and noise performance. Most people would assume that the larger MF sensor inherently implies this, but historically digital MF sensors have not exactly been great performers in the noise department, so for me these results come as a bit of a surprise.

**Canada_Rockies** · 11-20-2015, 11:32 AM

Medium format sensors were more commonly CCD rather than CMOS. CCD gives better colours at low ISO. The trade off is that they are really very noisy as the ISO goes up. I just replaced my CCD sensor K10 with the new K3 with CMOS sensor, and I'm blown away by the high ISO lack of noise.

johnhilvert · 11-20-2015, 03:58 PM - **1 Like**

Terrific series. While I can see the obvious resolution advantage of the medium format over FF, the relatively compact Sony A7r II rocks.

rrstuff · 11-20-2015, 11:42 PM - **1 Like**

645Z did a terrific job. It looks like maybe 1 full stop of improvement noise performance, compared to A7? And maybe 2-3 compared to the canon.

Kolor-Pikker · 11-21-2015, 03:48 AM

Originally posted by FantasticMrFox

Amazing - the 645Z beats the A7R II for DR and noise performance. Most people would assume that the larger MF sensor inherently implies this, but historically digital MF sensors have not exactly been great performers in the noise department, so for me these results come as a bit of a surprise.

Indeed, while both are based on the same core technology that was used for the 36MP D800 and A7R sensors, the A7RII is upgraded with BSI and should already have a stop better noise performance than the previous generation. This is why it can compete with the 5D3 at high ISO (3200/6400) despite having double the number of pixels.

Some of the things that give me mixed feeling about the A7RII is the fact that certain shooting modes throw you into 12-bit mode, and switching to the uncompressed RAW mode slows the camera down considerably. Reduction in physical size is not without loss, the bigger cameras quite simply have the capacity to dissipate a greater amount of heat from the sensor and electronics, which lets them shoot in any mode and under any amount of pressure without fail. Until mirrorless cameras solve their processing limitations, there will continue to be a place for DSLRs.

texandrews · 11-21-2015, 05:47 AM - **1 Like**

Well, to me the Z is the obvious winner in all ways here---and I'm slightly surprised in the resolution category, where the difference is more than I would have expected. Throw in the fact that the Pentax lenses aren't supposed to be as good as the Canon or the Zony....As far as the price differential is concerned, You always pay the most for the last bits of excellence---true in all things. And let's not forget the overall build quality.

But one important thing for me, and I've said it before so maybe I'm sounding like a broken record, is that to get the most out of the Canon or the Sony you've got to get the best lenses out there, and they are not cheap. But I've been able to put together a set of lenses for my Z that is amazing at a price far, far below what it would have cost me to do with Canon or Sony. So, I think for me it's probably a wash in terms of cost, or possibly even cheaper!

The A7RII is obviously a terrific camera. I have the A7R, and know it to be excellent despite its shortcomings, ones that the A7RII improved upon. The Canon fails to impress me at all.

itshimitis · 11-21-2015, 07:14 AM - **1 Like**

I have the A7RII, and I would agree that the Z is better in pretty much every way. The RII comes into its own in situations where I am now, in Scandinavia on small planes and travelling with others where it simply wasn't practical for me to bring the Z. There have been times when I wish I had it with me, such as today, when we went around and about Ulstenvik in Norway. Stunning light at times, but no time to mess about with the Z to do the camera justice. A7RII and the Loxia 35 f/2 and you have a lightweight easy to use camera and lens that you can just grab and go with. It's meant I can carry everything in a small camera bag and keep mobile. I'm picking up the 25 f/2 Batis next week.

btnapa · 11-21-2015, 07:40 AM

Originally posted by Gareth Iwan Jones

I've recently taken hold of the new Sony A7r II and thought i'd have a go at a little side by side comparison with my Pentax 645Z. Also threw the Canon 5dIII in for fun.

Pretty interesting results. It's no double blind precision trial, but if you were wondering how the Sony compares in real world applications have a look - Sony A7r II vs Pentax 645Z vs Canon 5dmk III ? | Photographer Gareth Iwan Jones |

G

Hi Gareth,

Thank you for the comparo. Sony looks very compelling indeed. I know the 645Z is superior but what about cost in weight and $$$ compared to say a Sony A7RII and a couple of Zeiss lenses vs. 645Z plus a few of the newer lenses.

I am sitting on the fence whether to let go of my DSLR outfit (K3+primes) and switch to a higher res platform. In anticipation of the 645Z, I have purchased a few legacy 645 lenses but I am still not sure if it is the right decision to go with the 645Z as opposed to the smaller Sony with much larger lens portfolio.

My focus is nature and printing big prints for presentation. I know on most of the tests, at least viewing on the monitor, 645Z is being seriously challenged. However, I have not seen any comparison large prints made from these cameras to see if the differences are as apparent on an actual print (30x40" and above).

Have you printed any large prints for presentation? Are the advantages of the 645Z as apparent there as well?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Boris

gavincato · 11-21-2015, 02:25 PM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by btnapa

Have you printed any large prints for presentation? Are the advantages of the 645Z as apparent there as well?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Boris

Hi Boris,

Whilst I haven't specifically printed sony vs 645z side by side, I have printed some monster sized 645z prints and really thats where the camera shines. Theres nothing like seeing the print on paper & the detail on some of my printed landscapes is stunning.

If you pick good lenses (i.e. the 35/3.5, 55/2.8, 120 macro) and use the camera carefully at small apertures the results are incredible.

danielduarte · 11-21-2015, 05:16 PM - **1 Like**

I'm a new Z owner... but I have to say, aside from final image performance, the two cameras aren't even close in real world scenarios. I purchased the a7rII and used it for 2 weeks before packing it up and sending her back to BH. While the camera produced strong files, the user experience down right sucks. "There is heft" if your normal camera experience is an iphone. Sure, the body is a metal alloy (magnessium?) but the thing feel cheap as hell for the price tag. It has a plasticky feel. But again, I came from 8x10 so basically anything I can hold in my hands is light.

I made some 20x24 prints with basic color correction, no uprez or sharpening, and the prints were downright ridiculous. So much so that my classmates thought I was shooting 4x5 color.

mikeSF · 11-21-2015, 05:33 PM

As expected, the 645Z is dazzling. Nice comparison

btnapa · 11-22-2015, 07:49 AM

Originally posted by gavincato

Hi Boris,

Whilst I haven't specifically printed sony vs 645z side by side, I have printed some monster sized 645z prints and really thats where the camera shines. Theres nothing like seeing the print on paper & the detail on some of my printed landscapes is stunning.

If you pick good lenses (i.e. the 35/3.5, 55/2.8, 120 macro) and use the camera carefully at small apertures the results are incredible.

Thank you for your replay.

Although I LOVE my K3, the Three Amigos along with my Tammy 70-200, I feel the outstanding images I get from the package do no stand up to mega size prints. I shoot panos a lot but even then the resolution is not enough for detailed large prints (40"x120") unless I do multi-row panos which is a lot more work and processing time.

How large have you gone with your prints?

11-20-2015, 10:18 AM	#1
Gareth Iwan Jones New Member Join Date: Aug 2014 Posts: 16	Pentax 645Z vs Sony A7r II I've recently taken hold of the new Sony A7r II and thought i'd have a go at a little side by side comparison with my Pentax 645Z. Also threw the Canon 5dIII in for fun. Pretty interesting results. It's no double blind precision trial, but if you were wondering how the Sony compares in real world applications have a look - Sony A7r II vs Pentax 645Z vs Canon 5dmk III ? \| Photographer Gareth Iwan Jones \| G

11-21-2015, 07:14 AM - 1 Like	#10
itshimitis Pentaxian Join Date: May 2011 Location: All over the place Posts: 3,535	I have the A7RII, and I would agree that the Z is better in pretty much every way. The RII comes into its own in situations where I am now, in Scandinavia on small planes and travelling with others where it simply wasn't practical for me to bring the Z. There have been times when I wish I had it with me, such as today, when we went around and about Ulstenvik in Norway. Stunning light at times, but no time to mess about with the Z to do the camera justice. A7RII and the Loxia 35 f/2 and you have a lightweight easy to use camera and lens that you can just grab and go with. It's meant I can carry everything in a small camera bag and keep mobile. I'm picking up the 25 f/2 Batis next week. Last edited by itshimitis; 11-21-2015 at 07:25 AM.

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11-20-2015, 10:22 AM	#2
bertwert Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Golden, BC Posts: 15,173	One would hope the 645z is better than the A7r II and 5D Mark III, $2500 (Canon) vs $3200 (Sony) vs $7000 (Pentax)... Going to go read the article now...

11-20-2015, 10:31 AM - 1 Like	#3
Canada_Rockies Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Sparwood, BC, Canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 12,385	Fascinating comparisons. Thank you for doing all this work.

11-20-2015, 11:18 AM	#4
FantasticMrFox Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Munich Posts: 2,339	Amazing - the 645Z beats the A7R II for DR and noise performance. Most people would assume that the larger MF sensor inherently implies this, but historically digital MF sensors have not exactly been great performers in the noise department, so for me these results come as a bit of a surprise.

11-20-2015, 11:32 AM	#5
Canada_Rockies Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Sparwood, BC, Canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 12,385	Medium format sensors were more commonly CCD rather than CMOS. CCD gives better colours at low ISO. The trade off is that they are really very noisy as the ISO goes up. I just replaced my CCD sensor K10 with the new K3 with CMOS sensor, and I'm blown away by the high ISO lack of noise.

11-20-2015, 03:58 PM - 1 Like	#6
johnhilvert Senior Member Join Date: May 2015 Location: Canberra, ACT Posts: 245	Terrific series. While I can see the obvious resolution advantage of the medium format over FF, the relatively compact Sony A7r II rocks.

11-20-2015, 11:42 PM - 1 Like	#7
rrstuff Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Pasadena, CA Photos: Albums Posts: 1,126	645Z did a terrific job. It looks like maybe 1 full stop of improvement noise performance, compared to A7? And maybe 2-3 compared to the canon.

11-21-2015, 03:48 AM	#8
Kolor-Pikker Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 343	Originally posted by FantasticMrFox Amazing - the 645Z beats the A7R II for DR and noise performance. Most people would assume that the larger MF sensor inherently implies this, but historically digital MF sensors have not exactly been great performers in the noise department, so for me these results come as a bit of a surprise. Indeed, while both are based on the same core technology that was used for the 36MP D800 and A7R sensors, the A7RII is upgraded with BSI and should already have a stop better noise performance than the previous generation. This is why it can compete with the 5D3 at high ISO (3200/6400) despite having double the number of pixels. Some of the things that give me mixed feeling about the A7RII is the fact that certain shooting modes throw you into 12-bit mode, and switching to the uncompressed RAW mode slows the camera down considerably. Reduction in physical size is not without loss, the bigger cameras quite simply have the capacity to dissipate a greater amount of heat from the sensor and electronics, which lets them shoot in any mode and under any amount of pressure without fail. Until mirrorless cameras solve their processing limitations, there will continue to be a place for DSLRs.

11-21-2015, 05:47 AM - 1 Like	#9
texandrews Moderator Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Baltimore Photos: Albums Posts: 3,390	Well, to me the Z is the obvious winner in all ways here---and I'm slightly surprised in the resolution category, where the difference is more than I would have expected. Throw in the fact that the Pentax lenses aren't supposed to be as good as the Canon or the Zony....As far as the price differential is concerned, You always pay the most for the last bits of excellence---true in all things. And let's not forget the overall build quality. But one important thing for me, and I've said it before so maybe I'm sounding like a broken record, is that to get the most out of the Canon or the Sony you've got to get the best lenses out there, and they are not cheap. But I've been able to put together a set of lenses for my Z that is amazing at a price far, far below what it would have cost me to do with Canon or Sony. So, I think for me it's probably a wash in terms of cost, or possibly even cheaper! The A7RII is obviously a terrific camera. I have the A7R, and know it to be excellent despite its shortcomings, ones that the A7RII improved upon. The Canon fails to impress me at all.

11-21-2015, 07:40 AM	#11
btnapa Pentaxian Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 1,614	Originally posted by Gareth Iwan Jones I've recently taken hold of the new Sony A7r II and thought i'd have a go at a little side by side comparison with my Pentax 645Z. Also threw the Canon 5dIII in for fun. Pretty interesting results. It's no double blind precision trial, but if you were wondering how the Sony compares in real world applications have a look - Sony A7r II vs Pentax 645Z vs Canon 5dmk III ? \| Photographer Gareth Iwan Jones \| G Hi Gareth, Thank you for the comparo. Sony looks very compelling indeed. I know the 645Z is superior but what about cost in weight and $$$ compared to say a Sony A7RII and a couple of Zeiss lenses vs. 645Z plus a few of the newer lenses. I am sitting on the fence whether to let go of my DSLR outfit (K3+primes) and switch to a higher res platform. In anticipation of the 645Z, I have purchased a few legacy 645 lenses but I am still not sure if it is the right decision to go with the 645Z as opposed to the smaller Sony with much larger lens portfolio. My focus is nature and printing big prints for presentation. I know on most of the tests, at least viewing on the monitor, 645Z is being seriously challenged. However, I have not seen any comparison large prints made from these cameras to see if the differences are as apparent on an actual print (30x40" and above). Have you printed any large prints for presentation? Are the advantages of the 645Z as apparent there as well? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks, Boris

11-21-2015, 02:25 PM - 1 Like	#12
gavincato Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: NSW, Australia Posts: 247	Originally posted by btnapa Have you printed any large prints for presentation? Are the advantages of the 645Z as apparent there as well? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks, Boris Hi Boris, Whilst I haven't specifically printed sony vs 645z side by side, I have printed some monster sized 645z prints and really thats where the camera shines. Theres nothing like seeing the print on paper & the detail on some of my printed landscapes is stunning. If you pick good lenses (i.e. the 35/3.5, 55/2.8, 120 macro) and use the camera carefully at small apertures the results are incredible.

11-21-2015, 05:16 PM - 1 Like	#13
danielduarte Inactive Account Join Date: Nov 2015 Posts: 18	I'm a new Z owner... but I have to say, aside from final image performance, the two cameras aren't even close in real world scenarios. I purchased the a7rII and used it for 2 weeks before packing it up and sending her back to BH. While the camera produced strong files, the user experience down right sucks. "There is heft" if your normal camera experience is an iphone. Sure, the body is a metal alloy (magnessium?) but the thing feel cheap as hell for the price tag. It has a plasticky feel. But again, I came from 8x10 so basically anything I can hold in my hands is light. I made some 20x24 prints with basic color correction, no uprez or sharpening, and the prints were downright ridiculous. So much so that my classmates thought I was shooting 4x5 color.

11-21-2015, 05:33 PM	#14
mikeSF Pentaxian Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: East Bay Area, CA Photos: Gallery Posts: 6,620	As expected, the 645Z is dazzling. Nice comparison

11-22-2015, 07:49 AM	#15
btnapa Pentaxian Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 1,614	Originally posted by gavincato Hi Boris, Whilst I haven't specifically printed sony vs 645z side by side, I have printed some monster sized 645z prints and really thats where the camera shines. Theres nothing like seeing the print on paper & the detail on some of my printed landscapes is stunning. If you pick good lenses (i.e. the 35/3.5, 55/2.8, 120 macro) and use the camera carefully at small apertures the results are incredible. Thank you for your replay. Although I LOVE my K3, the Three Amigos along with my Tammy 70-200, I feel the outstanding images I get from the package do no stand up to mega size prints. I shoot panos a lot but even then the resolution is not enough for detailed large prints (40"x120") unless I do multi-row panos which is a lot more work and processing time. How large have you gone with your prints?

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