Second Generation Pentax Medium Format Digital

You can draw your own conclusions about buying photo equipment that is in a line of development - whether it is better to buy the first new thing or wait until the second model comes out.

This has been the case for medium-format digital cameras for some time now. One manufacturer brings of model A then model B and model C and so on. Where you climb aboard the trolley is your choice - sometimes that choice is dictated by performance and sometimes by money.

Up until now, Pentax medium format users have been working with the very good Pentax 645D. Performance reminiscent of the Pentax 645 but with the convenience and performance of a large digital sensor. The users of this camera have remarked on the similarities to the other Pentax range in the convenience and ease of use.

Well, we've swung into the second generation - the Pentax people have just announced that the new Pentax 645Z is ready for release.

That convenience and ease of use has been preserved, and to some extent improved upon with a tilting 3.2" LCD screen at the rear. Think waist-level finder in the studio. No more aching-back shoots!

The specs are good - 51.4 effective megapixels in the sensor - 3 FPS - full HD and 4K interval shooting. USB 3.0 connectivity.

The sensor is 43.8mm x 32.8mm so you are getting a great deal of information into your files - this is coupled with a new light metering system for success even in difficult exposure conditions.

And final joy - it is a weather-esealed body. Go into the field with confidence.

Boring Photo...Don't Look...

Here is a very boring photograph taken out the front of our shop five minutes ago. Dull day, nothing happening in the street, muted colours.

Nothing to see in the picture. No distortion, no chromatic aberration, no out-of-focus area, no electronic noise. Just a picture taken at 35mm on a full frame sensor.

Might as well have taken it on a medium format camera, I suppose.

Didn't. Just took the Sony RX1r out the front, put it on Auto and pushed the button.

I suppose you could do the same -if that is the sort of performance you want.

Still On The Square - Hasselblad

After all these years we can still proudly take one of the Hasselblad 500 C/M cameras out into the winter sunshine and do something that we can't do with the digital camera - see the damn screen. Note that the waist-level finder has been erected and has shaded the image of Stirling Street. Did I want it, I could have popped up the magnifier lens and put my eye down for a closer, brighter view - essentially a built-in loupe.

So simple - yet even with all the swivelling screens that proliferate on DSLRs or enthusiast compacts, none of them have thought to give us a folding hood. Hoodman do make the HD Camcorder hoods which may do the trick - they come in different sizes from 200 to 450, so it is worth the effort to come in and test them out. Not quite as quick to flick as the Hasselblad, but then you never do get quite as much convenience from the digital as the film cameras...

You'll also note that the Hasselblad is easier to charge when you are overseas - you need not take a bag of plug adapters and cords when you go to foreign hotels. The recording medium is 120 film and this is not dependant upon electricity. Those of you who enjoy a cocktail will appreciate this - you end up with more time for drinking with a film camera.

Of course there are always trade-offs. Carrying a secondhand Hasselblad for the next twenty years will deprive you of the kewl points that you get when you come out with the latest digital a half-hour after it is announced on DP Review. You will no longer be the focus of envious glances at the camera club when you pull it out and brag. Everyone will be bored with the old film camera - this will leave you more time to go out and shoot photographs. If that is the sort of thing you want to do.

Worse yet - as it is a Hasselblad you will inevitably have to put up with the conspiracy theorist who knows that NASA used Hasselblads but is going to buttonhole you at a party to prove that they never landed on the moon. Take it in good part - wait until their attention is distracted and hit them with the camera - it is stainless steel and will come to no harm.