Pentax Surprise Show

Very cool.

Call me crazy, but for my own personal style of shooting it would be more practical for me to own one of the new "mirror-less rangefinder/SLR" cameras out now, i.e. the E-P1 (although I'm waiting for canon to release there own version), for everyday use and something like this, i.e. the 645D, for professional use.

But at $10K, it's still out of budget. But then again, it's probably not marketed to me.

I am still a Phase One fanboy. But Id love to shoot one. To see how it compaires.

I think the actual potential of these cameras may never be realized. Being a photog of the 1980's wedding scene and using a Bronica. I know that the beauty of this camera is never having to rotate your camera for the shot. Think about it, flash always on the top. No need to compose and think should I rotate. Always having more crop options then the 35mm. Now that its digital and close to the cost of high end DSLRs, its time may be coming.

Thanks for making these images available!

Phase 1 isn't cheap and I wish the LCD were larger. If Pentax delivers a clean product they will no doubt sell a good portion of these to folks who are priced out of Phase 1 and Leica, like me for instance. If I thought my photography was worthy of this product or even the product I use now I might consider making the switch. As it stands I may sell off everything.

The Phase one 645 is only around $5000. + what back you want. So it can be very competitive to this one. The only benefit to the Phase One, is the interchangeable backs. This Pentax is not. Not that it is a big problem. But if you only need to buy a new back to upgrade, it is a lot cheaper in the long run.

Interesting. Do you know who makes their lenses? I was thinking backs are expensive. The P65 is $40k so my guess is the P45 is less than that but still over $25k. I'm sure it's a great camera system. The other item of interest is format. I'm not sure I like 3:4 though I did have a Mamiya 645 once and didn't seem to be bothered by the format. Some of my best film images were from that camera and nothing less than spectacular in terms of contrast, color, and detail.

thanks for the pics! would be an awesome landscape camera imo, I will probably get one!

jetcode wrote in post #9789480
Interesting. Do you know who makes their lenses? I was thinking backs are expensive. The P65 is $40k so my guess is the P45 is less than that but still over $25k. I'm sure it's a great camera system. The other item of interest is format. I'm not sure I like 3:4 though I did have a Mamiya 645 once and didn't seem to be bothered by the format. Some of my best film images were from that camera and nothing less than spectacular in terms of contrast, color, and detail.

Pretty sure Pentax makes their own glass. http://www.pentaximagi​ng.com/camera-lenses/

I was asking about Phase One lenses

Pentax does make their own glass. It has been the one constant with the company - that they make exceptional optics. Being a smaller player with a small R&D budget they have fallen behind on the wiz-bang stuff but I continue to prefer images from my Pentax bodies and glass over my 1D3 and my L glass. The only problems with Pentax have been poor autofocus and low FPS - and a lack of a FF body... all of which I sometimes find a hindrance.

Gotta laugh at Leica...really sucks to be them right now. This cam will kill the S2 imho. Half the price or less, and MUCH MUCH cheaper glass. Unless Leica can drastically reduce the price of the S2 I don't see hardly anyone buying it.