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Pentax 645D hands on review - PENTAX 645D Coming or not?
Tuesday 8th June 2010
Damien Demolder
It might have been a long time coming, and even as I write it might still not be coming at all, but the Pentax 645D digital medium format camera is certainly a reality. Right now the only places to get your hands on one are in Japan or at a tiny one day professional digital medium format show in Paris called Salon de la HD. It seems that all that separates us from this 40 million pixel camera is a technical support and maintenance network, and the camera's 850,000 yen price tag. Although the number sounds alarming the current Travel Ex exchange rate would make the camera yours for just £6770. In truth then it is the technical support network that presents the greatest barrier.
While I haven't been able to shoot outside with the camera, and although I wasn't allowed to inspect or keep my images, I thought that some first impressions of the camera might still be of some use. I am certain that the Pentax 645D will go on sale in the UK and in Europe, as it is inconceivable that the company could possibly hope to recover its costs by selling solely to an enthusiastic, but ultimately limited, market in Japan. A further clue perhaps is that the camera I used was loaded with menus in most European languages.
There is always a danger when developing a new system camera that what has been learnt over a lifetime will be thrown away with the bath water in a clean-sheet policy. Often completely new operating systems are invented that are simply not as good as those that went before, and which fail to recall the mistakes that taught us all lessons in the past. Despite the time gap in sales that stretches back to about 2005 (the last time the UK imported a Pentax 645 film camera) Pentax has had a 645 system before, and I am delighted to be able to report that the new digital version is very much like the old.
In size it seems being digital adds a few inches to the breadth of the pentaprism housing, but either by proportions or actuality the new camera does not seem that much bigger. It is certainly not much heavier, and is extremely well balanced in the hand – feeling far more like a 35mm style SLR than a bulking 120 roll film machine. In fact, after checking I discovered that the digital body is bigger and heavier, but only by 9mm in length, 6mm in height and 2mm in width – and it is 80g heavier.
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