From in the sky with Pentax 645Z

[thereyougo!]

I sold one of my D800s today along with my Pentax 645D and 2 Canon L Macro lenses I no longer use. got around £4400 for them. And got me one of only 3 Pentax 645Z's in the UK. Am really happy with it so far - 51.4 mp 3 fps and 204k ISO not to be sneezed at on medium format, plus it has focus peaking and Highlight warnings on live view.


Here are some shots with it from my flight to Marrakech. had a 90 minute delay leaving LGW due to Ground handling issues, so missed twilight in the city which would have been stunning I think. Immigration was busy too...


All with Pentax 645Z and Pentax FA 35 f/3.5


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Strawberries and cream plus a drop of Taittenger Brut Rosé in First Class Lounge

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Above Portsmouth

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Above Swanage:

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On Approach over the South western Mediterranean

 

[pixmedic]

holy ^#&@%^$ detail batman!
that is why medium format is, was, and always will be king.
gratz on a fine azz piece of equipment.
post some pics of it for us?

 

[Ilovemycam]

Nice Flickr OP!

 

[DarkShadow]

I never new Pentax had such a beast.Wow that thing is crazy looking and really expensive.Very Nice,the pictures to.

 

[thereyougo!]

Nice Flickr OP!

Thank you!

 

[thereyougo!]

holy ^#&@%^$ detail batman!
that is why medium format is, was, and always will be king.
gratz on a fine azz piece of equipment.
post some pics of it for us?

I'll have a go tomorrow.

The incredible thing is how little noise there is at 3200 and 6400 ISO. At 204k it's pretty horrid, but with Noise reduction and downsampling - After all With 51 megapickles to play with you can downscale quite a bit, if you expose correctly you could still have useable shots.

It's a bit of a beast, but like the 645D before it, the camera is actually pretty easy to hand hold as the grip is nice and deep and the camera sits nicely in the hand.

 

[thereyougo!]

I never new Pentax had such a beast.Wow that thing is crazy looking and really expensive.Very Nice,the pictures to.

Funnily enough, it's about 30% cheaper than the model it replaces (UK prices of course). It's 15% cheaper than the previous model in the US. Pentax have really marketed this competitively. The only trouble is that demand outstrips supply and the first batch has been sent out on a thin spread. Apparently it's even oversubscribed in Japan, and that's where most of the first run has been distributed.

I was originally going to wait until I am in Tokyo in a few months time, as it's £1000 cheaper there,but two things made me pull the trigger now - Supply may not be recoered then, plus with new models 645Z and D810 out for a few months by then, the second hand value for my gear (I still have D800E) would have reduced a fair bit, and probably more than the £1k I would save. So decided a bird in the hand....

i don't see the price on this coming down any time soon. The D only came down in price once the announcement of the Z was about to be made, so while there might be a minor adjustment, I think it will hold around £6.5k in UK and $8k in US.