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Forum: Pentax Medium Format 08-17-2021, 11:40 PM  
Is Pentax done in Medium Format?
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 321
Views: 16,271
Samples of FA 150 on GFX 100s wide open and at good aperture. 100% screeshots.

The head shot is "good aperture", all the rest is wide open

I forgot: E-Shutter and IBIS allows the best quality I every achieved with any of the mentioned lenses! Shutter Shock and Mirror Slap had a tremendous influence on image quality! I never got such results on a 645Z (regardless the MP).
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 08-17-2021, 10:49 PM  
Is Pentax done in Medium Format?
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 321
Views: 16,271
I am testing my A, FA, DA, DFA 645 lenses on the Fuji GFX 100s. To make a short summary: None of A or FA lenses can be used wide open without (huge) hesitation, at least if you are a demanding photographer. At their best aperture they are mostly as good as gold. The D are much better and can be used wide open as well. I will publish sample pictures in the future.

A crop 645 100MP sensor needs a full new range of lenses, only the focal lengths of the new lenses work.

I doubt that a non crop 100MP sensor will give a much better result, but that is just a guess.

lenses tested: A 120 Macro, A 35, FA 75, FA 150, FA 200, FA 400, FA 45-85, DFA 55, DA 28-45
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 05-27-2019, 08:06 AM  
Come on Pentax where’s next 645 !?
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 142
Views: 16,133
I guess pentax is facing many design decisions, which have not only consequences on a body, but on lenses as well. One of it is of course full 6x45 format, but also, IBIS yes or no, which AF technology should be integrated in the lenses, electronic shutter technology and so on. And all are interdependent!

I am fine for the moment, as my 645Z got its shutter replaced at 100,300 frames and it is good enough for the next two-three years, otherwise I would have to decided what to do...
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 05-26-2019, 12:19 AM  
Come on Pentax where’s next 645 !?
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 142
Views: 16,133
this was posted here already, but check out this interview!

Ricoh interview at Nippon Camera*magazine (recap) - Pentax Rumors
Forum: Giveaway Archives 02-26-2018, 03:56 AM  
2018 Pentax Survey
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 156
Views: 4,980
Hi Adam,
please consider the 645 users as well! the Survey covers only APS-C and FF
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 07-21-2016, 02:32 AM  
645Z User Thoughts and Impressions
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 16
Views: 2,808
I own the 645 Z since it came out. I use it only outdoors and it has seen constant use from -25 C to +40C and rain and snow. I think I have around 40K shutter actuations.

The only problem I encountered is a freeze of the system which happens from time to time. A pull of the battery solves this problem.

I cannot comment on the service, as I am based in Germany.
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 06-20-2016, 02:48 AM  
28-45 with var. ND filters
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 6
Views: 1,056
I checked it with my lens. I do not use Helipan but haida, and lightcraft

The hood fits over the filter, but to screw it on the lens and rotate the filter you have to have long and thin fingers...... definitly tricky

I do not recommend it. I bought a cheap filter with the right filter thread and I am happy that way.

martin

---------- Post added 06-20-16 at 11:49 AM ----------

I forgot,
I use it regularly and it works fine, you just have to know when the x shapes are start to appear. But thats is happening with all lenses.
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 06-16-2016, 05:35 AM  
28-45 with var. ND filters
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 6
Views: 1,056
Hi there,
most variable ND filters have a front element, which is a few mm larger than the diameter of the lens. This avoids any vignetting. Therefore you cannot use the hood anyway.

For all other filters (protection, grey, polarizer etc) I never have problems using the hood. However it is a pity that the hood does not have the opening to rotate the polarizer, a handy feature of the older FA lenses.

martin
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 12-06-2015, 12:15 PM  
FA 645 300mm f5.6 alternative
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 35
Views: 5,000
Hi there,
I own the FA 400 and had similar problems to decide, whether the lens is good or not. Long lenses on the Z are VERY difficult to handle due to shutter vibrations. I recommend two tests:

use live view for focussing and be extremely!! precise
use as a test an object, which is close, about 5 m, the effects of small vibrations are much less visible when the lens is focussed quite close
use about 1/2000 as a shutter speed and differtent apertures
use tripod, MLU etc.
place tripod on concrete or similar
shoot

do the same with slower speeds


second setup

use a minus 10 stop grey filter to achieve very long exposures (20-30 sec), which will reduce the effect of shutter vibrations to zero
tripod etc as above
object distance can be far
make several shots
get rid of the grey filter and shoot with "normal speeds"

After comparing the shots, you will know everything

I doubted the quality of the FA 400 but after the tests I know now, whats feasable

Martin
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 06-27-2015, 06:56 AM  
Pentax 200 F4 FA on film?
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 13
Views: 1,560
I own the 200 FA and the 150 FA and used it with the 645D and now with the 645 Z

My 200 FA is a really great lens and worth much more than it has cost. I would not hesitate to recommend it. Whenever somebody is complaining about the 200 FA it is either a bad copy or the calibration is just wrong or the shutter speed is to slow. You can use this lens without tripod, but to achieve best results you shoud have at least 1/500 shutter speed.

If this lens works on a Z it will work on film at least as well.

Compared to my 150FA it is a bit less sharp and a bit more "flat", the 150 FA is definitly a bit sharper has a better three deminsional feeling, but it is also 50 mil shorter

Color fringing is an issue with both lenses, you have to stop down a bit.

Best results with the 150FA start at 6.3 or 7.1. The 200FA gets better unitl you reach about f-stop 11

Used on tripods both lenses show signs of shutter vibrations (even when you use MLU) in the usual critical ranges. You either use a grey filter or increase the iso (not with film of course), This is true even if you have a very solid tripod/head coimbination. It is much worse with the D as with the Z. I used both lenses with longer exposures for night shots and the results are very, very, very sharp.

I discuss the 200 and the 150 a bit in these two blogs:

NATURBILDPORTAL: Falkland Islands, Austral Summer 2015 (go to examples pentax)
NATURBILDPORTAL: Summer and Autumn 2014 (go to marmots)

I hope this helps
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 05-25-2015, 10:37 PM  
645Z - Strange behaviour in Photoshop
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 13
Views: 1,719
Hi there,
I can not help you with the seperation issue itself.

However I can help you with Prophoto. It is not recommended to use prophoto colorspace in 8 bit only. The color space is so large that it needs 16 bit. using 8 bit is asking for problems

good luck with your problem

Martin
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 03-29-2015, 11:10 PM  
Shake Reduction (SR) Effectiveness
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 9
Views: 1,745
Hi there,
it all depends on how and for what you want to use your system.

I intended use the 28-45 foremost for landscape photography, that was my initial plan. For that usage SR is useless! Over the time however, I learned to love the SR especially in combination with the high iso quality.

Night/dawn scenes in cities (not cityscapes) can be done easily without tripod. ISO 1600 to 3200, lens wide open with SR. Perfect combination. You can go down to 1/15 with amazing results.
Same if you want/have to shoot in museums or indoors where no tripods are allowed.

the size and weight of the 28-45 is crazy. It is more difficult to handle than my 100-400 full frame Canon wildlife lens. Strange design decision. Therefore I keep my 35A for shoots where I have to be carefull with weight and size.

Martin
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 03-03-2015, 01:13 AM  
How to Update 28-45mm Lens Profile in ACR/PS CS6
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 5
Views: 1,267
In LR 5.7.1 the profile for the lens is there and works fine.

The reason why LR is not using it automatically is not a missing profile file. LR does not recognize the lens name or another similar tag. Probably it is the same with ACR. If you select the brand name, it finds the profile at once and applies it.

I would like to report the problem to either LR or Ricoh/PENTAX, but I have not found any bug report form. It is a typical finger pointing problem. Either Pentax has changed the file tags in the raw file, or LR (and probably ACR) is trying to use a wrong tag.

Has anybody an idea where to report the problem?

Martin
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 02-22-2015, 01:37 PM  
645Z - wildlife on the Falkland Islands
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 2
Views: 1,427
Hello to everybody,
I just finished my blog including some thoughts about the 645Z for wildlife locations like the Falkland Islands. It might be interesting for people who are working in similar locations.

The equipment section is in the middle of the blog, you can skip the rest, if you want.

Have fun

NATURBILDPORTAL: Falkland Islands, Austral Summer 2015

right now I am in the iclandic winter and use the DA 28-45 constantly, again in very hard conditions. My blog with more thoughts about this lens will be published end of March, when I will be back

Martin
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 12-19-2014, 10:26 PM  
645Z Lenses.
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 7
Views: 1,906
Jeff,
I agree with Gareth, that even the 200 is very often to short for african wildlife. You should factor in the crop factor you have to apply to the system/lenses you used so far. check the lens review section, it will tell you also the crop factor. I used the FA200 for giraffes and elephants, but most of the times I had to use my full format Canon. (I have not owned the FA 400 when I was in Africa). As usual the lens selection depends on your style of shooting, the location and the type of animals you want to take pictures of. It is hard to recommend anything without having this information.

For wildlife I use the FA200, sometimes the FA150, but most often the FA400. Price/performance of the FA200 is really good and it is a very light, easy to carry lens. In Europe it sells for very little money on the used market. The FA400 is a rare lens on the used market, at least in europe. You can get it easily from Japan.

in following post

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/48-pentax-medium-format/280282-questions-...ographers.html

we discussed some lenses for wildlife.
Forum: Pentax Forums Giveaways 12-13-2014, 11:18 PM  
3 Million Post Giveaway: Confirm your entry!
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 2,853
Views: 133,241
merry christmas
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 12-12-2014, 11:56 PM  
Need Help In Buying SD Card for 645D
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 5
Views: 1,744
I just want to add that it is not only about write speed. The 645D has its limitations in write speed. But if you shoot a lot, check the cards you want to buy for read speed. Downloading 32GB with a read speed of 20-40 MB/sec is very time consuming adn boring. The more you shoot per day the more important the read speed will be.

Martin
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 11-27-2014, 09:45 AM  
Questions for bird and wildlife photographers
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 17
Views: 3,847
you are welcome!
Please tell us about your experience after your trip. The FA400 is quite a rare lens and it would be great, if you could share a bit of information.

have fun!
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 11-27-2014, 06:37 AM  
Questions for bird and wildlife photographers
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 17
Views: 3,847
Hi,
some more results from my tests including some I already noted, I hope it helps in Mexico

shutter speed with FA400 on a big tripod: results get better up 1600/sec sometimes 2000/sec, faster did not have any significant result. That was very surprising, I did not expect to need such fast shutter speeds! I used no MLU and the animals where not moving

tradeoff sharpness through shutter speed versus noise: thats is something you have to decide,however guessing you work in raw, you can treat noise easily in postprocessing, but you cannot treat blur introduced by camera shake or vibrations. My choice is now to keep shutter speed at at least 1600/sec until I reach 3200 iso.

best aperture with FA400: sharpness is good, not excellent wide open, but microcontrast is definitly missing. Microcontrast for detailed feather patterns starts to be good at 7.1 even better at 8.0

have fun in Mexico

Martin
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 11-26-2014, 09:56 AM  
Questions for bird and wildlife photographers
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 17
Views: 3,847
Hi,
sometimes I crop, but if I need more reach I reach for my Canon....

Why do you use MF not AF? Any reasons, I would be interested to understand it.

If the lenses are adjusted to the body, AF is quite reliable and much, much quicker. I use MF for landscape work and to get it right with my FA 200 I need about 5 sec. The animal will have moved....

For the 400 the dof is measured in few mm not cm. I slight movement of the animal (or of you) and it will be not perfectly sharp and you loose the high MP advantage compared to a Canon FF or APSC

If you cannot take both systems, go with the 645 and crop, you may try a TC, but I am not convinced.

In which setting you will do the bird photography? Hides?

Martin
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 11-26-2014, 08:47 AM  
Questions for bird and wildlife photographers
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 17
Views: 3,847
I tested the FA 150, FA 200 and FA 400 on a 645Z for wildlife photography at a marmots den ( I go on a long trip to the Falklands, therefore I wanted to understand the capabilities). I do not own a 300. But I own lots of Canon gear dedicated for my wildlife work.

The 645 Z worked quite well, in fact better as expected especially with the 150 and 200 all handheld.

The 400 is a bit more tricky, even on a heavy tripod you see differences between 1000/sec, 1500/sec and 2000/sec. Using MLU is no option, it is to slow for wildlife, live view is an option, but the AF is very slow and I think not as accurate.

With a TC you will obviously loose AF. Unless you have very static situations it will, I guess, not work.

My own conclusion for my wildlife trips is not very surprising.

645 Z with FA 150, FA 200 excellent results for animals you can approach, hand held is no problem, just rise the shutter speed (high degree of color fringing wide open, hard to correct as it is also visible in blurred picture areas)
645 Z with FA 400 can give very good results, but with tripod and very fast shuttespeeds. the lens starts to get quite good at 7,1.

(some of the shots can be seen in my blog: NATURBILDPORTAL: Summer and Autumn 2014)

For real dynamic sitatuation and longer reach, I will use my canon gear, you will losse to many pictures with the 645Z
I would never use a TC unless you have really a frozen animal.

I hope this helps

Martin
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 09-22-2014, 07:59 AM  
Something in the 645D viewfinder
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 15
Views: 2,116
Hi there,
Ihad exactly the same effect.
As the body was still under warrenty I sent it to the service. they said:

Extreme heat caused a kind of "glue" of the prism to "melt".

I was in africa and there was some direct sunlight going into the viewfinder, but it was no real extreme heat. The service repaired it, but with much hesitation. they said it was a mishandling of the body. Finally they surrendered and they did it free of cost.

There is definitly no effect on the IQ. I insisted as I wanted to sell the body as good as possible.

Martin
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 09-12-2014, 12:03 AM  
"Professional Service" - 645z users can use free Service in GER
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 3
Views: 1,552
This piece of information may be of great importance to all German or Swiss users of the new 645Z.

I received my 645Z (after a long waiting period) last week. To my great surprise a cover letter in german was included (see attached picture). It says that for the first two years after purchase one service is free for german owners having a valid "Besitzurkunde". As the contact adresses includes one adress in switzerland, this is probably valid for switzerland as well.

There is no word of a loaner serivice or defined service level for returning the body.

At least a good step in the right direction!

mazwick
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 05-23-2014, 09:25 PM  
SMC Pentax-FA 645 35mm F3.5 AL [IF]
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 21
Views: 3,967
roadmap

13 Pentax 645 medium format FA lenses coming to the US | Photo Rumors

wideangle zoom showcased, no release or announcement date given, as usual you never know when it will happen

New Pentax 645D medium format camera: pictures and some rumors | Photo Rumors

Martin
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 05-23-2014, 04:39 AM  
SMC Pentax-FA 645 35mm F3.5 AL [IF]
Posted By mazwick
Replies: 21
Views: 3,967
Hi there,
I try to explain this a bit.

Assumption: main focus is landscape photography

Lets start with non IQ differences

weight: the 35a (470g) is leighter than the 35FA (560g), not much but you feel it
size: the 35a is quite a bit smaller in size than the 35 FA
diameter: 35a 77mm 35FA 82mm. 82 is a bit unusual and it adds to the cost, a 82 highend polarizer with grey filters and so on will cost you 300-400 EUR, it is vey likely that you already have 77mm equipment

now the real important things

focusing: 35FA is AF, switched off manual focusing is not bad, the focus ring has nearly no play (quite good to be honest), but it moves very easily without feeling any resistance. It happens very often, that defocussing can happen just by chance, now the field curvature starts to play a major role. A slight movement away from the optimal focussing will have drastic impacts. The 35A is much much more tolerant. The focus ring is beautifully dampened, it has a natural resistance and the depth of field engarvings are much more accurate. Basically what I mean: focussing is much easier and much quicker. If you are used to high end focussing rings (Zeiss, Leica) you will like the 35A.

IQ related things:

Field curvature: I personally think that if you focus at infinity or "normal" hyperfocal distances the field curvature is hardly acceptable and very difficult to manage. You must know exactly where to focus using a certain aperture. At closer distance it is not as strong or not visible

Smaller apertures: this point goes to the 35FA. The 35A is very good up to 14, still good at 16 but deteriorates very quickly from 16 onwards. The 35FA is better at 16 and keeps a better quality from there on

Wide open: difficult to say, I do landscape and do not have to use the lenses wide open often. What I think is as following: the 35FA is a bit better wide open, but you cannot use this adavantage due to the field curvature

Sample variation: the 35FA shows a very high variation in quality, if you buy it, buy it at a good dealer! Take shots focussed at infinity, close to infinity, mid range and so on, always with objects in the pic from very close to infinity. Thats what I did to get an acceptable copy.

thinking into the future:
Pentax has two new wideangle zooms with new coating, probably image stabilization etc on the roadmap, one was shown as a mockup already. Why invest in a 35FA with all the mentioned attributes?
Far away mybe there will be a body with a even bigger sensor, all A, FA and DFA lenses are a true 645 lenses, not cropped versions. If the 35FA is alread very difficult to handle with a cropped sensor, what will be with a bigger sensor?

I hope this explains my opinion and helps everybody who has to make a similar decision

The best discussion of 645 FA lenses can be found here:

Comprehensive Testing: Results & Observations with Pentax 645 Lenses used on the 645D - The GetDPI Photography Forums

I own 5 lenses and this guy is always spot on!

By the way, I jumped from Canon to Pentax 645D two years ago, I never regretted it. The 645D is the best body I every used regarding HANDLING, not only IQ.
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