Hi,
I posted this in the Welcome Forum, but maybe I ought to post it into the MF forum as well, since MF is my interest in Pentax.
Wow. Where to begin? I just picked up a really nice Pentax 645D plus (all 645 lenses of course) an FA 45-85 and an FA 80-160 and an A 300/4 plus both the 1.4x and 2x TCs.
I was invited over here by a friend on another board once I decided to jump into the Pentax 645 world. Actually, invited twice. The last time he put it well: Don't Not Do This. OK! So, now I didn't not do it!
This follows a bit of history with mixing medium format with 135 format in both the film and digital eras. Last medium format was a Contax 645 with a Kodak Pro Back Plus. 16 MP in a 36x36mm format using the large variant of the M6 CCD. The other cameras were all Kodak as well. APS-H 6MP 760c, APS-H 660m and APS-C 2 MP 720x.
EDIT: Oh, and I forgot. I also have a Kodak DCS 520c, aka a Canon D2000, which is the other series Kodak did back in The Day: Canon EOS 1N bodies with digital backs. I use the 520c on a Leica microscope as it has a Canon EOS mount adapter. This, for my professional electronics R&D work documenting failures on circuit boards. I also use that DCS 760c, with its Nikon F5 body and a chimney finder, on a copy stand with a macro lens for a 'wide angle microscope' when I need a larger view of a circuit board.
Yeah. Mr Kodak here, I suppose. Anyway the 645D is going for low cost these days and has a Kodak CCD. So, still Kodak.
What brought this about was picking up, finally, a Nikon Df in the fall of 2018. That 16 MP works better than the Pro Back, and also far better at hi ISO than the 720x, so both went to collectors. I still use the 760c as it offers swappable viewfinders and focusing screens. Not to mention the Kodachrome color. The 660m is a keeper as it is a true monrochrome unit. And, it is also Nikon F5 based with the swappable viewfinders (4 of them) and focusing screen (12 of them). Anyway, now specialty cameras.
Now I find myself with a need for more MP than 16, but since most of my Nikon lenses are antiquated (go back to 1970), I don't think I would want to go past 24 MP with most of them. And, I don't want to buy several new lenses to go with 36 MP or greater, which I feel I need to do a new project where I have to crop quite a bit to get the aspect ratio I want on a specialized printer.
I looked hard at the FujiFilm GFX 50s and 50r, but the total cost of that is a bit much before I see how the end result of the project sells. The 50r was on sale, but the lenses are up there in price. It doesn't make sense at this point in time.
But, the Pentax 645D does make sense. I like CCDs just fine, and I have had so much experience with Kodak CCDs that this is icing on the cake. And, the A and FA lenses for the 645 are all low cost to the point of being, the way Crazy Eddie used to put it: Insane!
So, here I am.
Howdy
Stan
Last edited by w2ck; 05-01-2020 at 05:58 AM.