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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
03-23-2016, 08:59 PM
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If the 645z is good enough for your needs why worry about what the next model will bring? That kind of thinking causes paralysis, there will always be another newer model.
Get what works for you now and worry about a different model later.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
03-25-2016, 02:49 PM
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if you just bought it, why are you asking if it's ok?
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
02-01-2016, 08:50 AM
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From Google:
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
01-11-2016, 10:30 PM
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No wonder he visited the US :lol:
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
12-06-2015, 12:15 PM
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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
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
07-20-2015, 05:45 AM
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(I didn't know if I should post this in SLR lens discussion or not)
I have been searching high and low for these, and I was beginning to think that they didn't exist outside of a filing cabinet in a Tokyo patent office. But somehow I stumbled upon them, and here they are without further ado!
SMC Pentax 645 A Teleconverter 2x
SMC Pentax 645 A Teleconverter 1.4x
SMC Pentax 645 A 35 f/3.5
SMC Pentax 645 A 45-85 f/4.5
SMC Pentax 645 A 45 f/2.8
SMC Pentax 645 A 55 f/2.8
SMC Pentax 645 A 75 f/2.8
SMC Pentax 645 A 75 f/2.8 Leaf Shutter
SMC Pentax 645 A 80-160 f/4.5
SMC Pentax 645 A 120 f/4 Macro
SMC Pentax 645 A 135 f/4 Leaf Shutter
SMC Pentax 645 A 150 f/3.5
SMC Pentax 645 A 200 f/4 [IF]
SMC Pentax 645 A* 300mm f/4 ED [IF]
SMC Pentax 645 A* 600mm f/5.6 ED [IF]
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
07-10-2015, 11:39 AM
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Hey rfkiii, interesting about your own sharpening workflow. It's definitely all about what works for each individual's goals and preferences. Yes, my default LR5 sharpening for 645Z & D files that were shot near base ISO is Amount 45, Radius 0.8, Detail 100, and masking 10. But from there I fine-tune for each image as needed. My goal is maximum fine details and textural nuances with no visible artifacts. Toggling those sharpening settings on & off is quite dramatic!
I come from a 4x5 large format traditional landscape background and have a love for fine detail rendered in very large prints, so I'm motivated to squeeze all I can out of the camera files, while also avoiding any worries about diffraction at small apertures since the software workflow is able to recover sharpness enough to keep me very satisfied. My favorite print sizes are 40x30 and 50x40, and small changes in processing workflow do show up at those sizes, to my eye. The average customer is far less critical and demanding then me, but that does not affect my pursuit - I seek to satisfy my own aesthetic first and foremost. I will always love taking in the entire composition of a big print on a wall at a distance, and then moving in closer and closer so I can examine the sharp details of the little scenes within the scene. That's part of the joy of the craft for me.
There is one particular well-known tester with seemingly a lot of influence on photographers who makes a big deal about lenses losing their sharpness and contrast when stopped down into diffraction territory, and he'll frequently recommend not going beyond f/8 on most hi-res cameras. Largely why I wrote this post is to give an example of a 645Z image that, when processed with deconvolution, shows quite spectacular detail, sharpness, and contrast at f/22 - an aperture that would have this particular tester scoffing :-)
That sounds a little sad to me if you are not able to hang some of your images in your home!
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
07-15-2015, 02:25 PM
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Maybe ask DCShooter (user on the forums) or this place...
(click home - it's a pentax repair site run by Eric)
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
07-09-2015, 11:38 AM
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Much is made on the internet about the problem of sharpness-robbing diffraction which increases as a lens is stopped down to small apertures. From what you read by some testers you are virtually wasting your money buying a 645Z if you stop down much beyond f/8. This becomes very concerning for landscape photographers especially, where your composition in the field may dictate f/11, f/16, and even f/22 to realize your vision.
Yes, diffraction is real. But it is not the big boogeyman many believe it to be when considering the entire photographic chain from camera to lens to aperture setting to processing software to printing. For me, processing workflow can make diffraction a non-issue on the 645Z. The main element is proper sharpening, along with global and micro contrast settings.
What I've found most helpful is deconvolution sharpening (not typical edge sharpening) for the capture sharpening step. This is available in various software (Iridient Raw Developer is one I'm aware of), but I am especially fond of using it in Lightroom since that is my preferred workflow. In the sharpening panel, when you move the Detail slider all the way to the right (+100) it turns the algorithm into essentially all deconvolution (according to Jeff Schewe who helped design this part of LR). Start with amount between 40 to 50, radius 0.8, and masking at 0 (and raise the masking amount depending on the image content, such as if there is sky or smooth tones you don't want sharpened). The 645D, and even more the Z, will take large amounts of sharpening extremely well without visible artifacts. In addition to losing sharpness to diffraction, it also robs your image of micro and global contrast, but adding a few points of Contrast and Clarity in Lightroom nicely restores that.
Processing in this way allows my 645D and 645Z files to look truly excellent even at 100% pixel view, and a recent 54" wide print for a customer from the 645D showed how well this works for real-world saleable photographic art. The 645Z is even more diffraction-resistant when using this workflow, and I have not ceased to be amazed at the excellent sharp nuanced detail and contrast it's rendering when shot at f/16 and even f/22.
Below is a link to a full resolution 38MB test image I recently did showing the beautiful file quality obtainable at f/22 with the Pentax 67 55mm f/4 lens after Lightroom processing. I saved the jpeg in sRGB at 100% so it should come close to showing you the massive amount of extremely fine textural details while retaining a very natural look. I encourage you to check it out at 100% view.
Hope this is helpful info for someone, and that it gives landscapers the confidence to enjoy the 645D/Z fully at whatever aperture you need for a given scene, knowing you can largely restore your diffraction-affected files and make gallery quality prints of enormous size!
Here is the file:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p2ixj1mkosv46wc/_IMG1021.jpg?dl=0
Cheers,
Ross
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
05-07-2015, 07:31 PM
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Camera Electronic in Perth, Western Australia, is a bricks and mortar store that supports Pentax, including stocking the 645Z and lenses.
They have a regular blog and the latest post is with regards a product info night on the 645Z supported by the Australian Pentax distributor.
I did not attend the event, but thought it was great to see some good local exposure for Pentax in general and also demonstrating the 645Z as a professional option for weddings.
Camera Electronic: Part Two Of Part One - The Pentax 645Z Night
Cheers
Dean
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
04-28-2015, 08:21 PM
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Found this yesterday by accident. I don't know if this has been discussed in some thread already:
You Tube
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src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/D_VDosb-scA?controls=1" allowfullscreen>
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
03-16-2015, 03:24 PM
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Did you hold down the menu button when you turned it back on? You need to do that.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
03-19-2015, 12:24 AM
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I shot several 30 sec. exposures just yesterday evening, no hiccups.
note* I had long exposure NR turned off.
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