… but are not willing to spend about 10.000 EUR for a new body? Well, I didn’t do that, too – although the 645D is a really seductive camera. But the issue is not only about the price which is at the outer limits for an amateur/semi professional like me. It’s about image quality and the possibilites medium format cameras offer – by the way the 645D sensor is not 6 by 4.5 cm as it’s name suggests, it just refers to this camera’s history beginning with the 645, the 645N and the 645NII…
Me and three of my cameras for size comparison (from left to right: Sony R1, Pentax 645N, Canon A-1)
As a photographer for more than 40 years now (yes, I began at my tender age of 6) using 35mm (from Zenith to Canon, from Olympus to Contax) and digital cameras (from Minolta to Sony and Nikon) there was a certain class of cameras I could never afford all these years: medium format cameras like the Hasselblads, the Mamiyas and Bronicas, as well as the Rollei’s and Pentax‘. Looking at used camera stores or auctioneers like eBay nowadays the situation completely changed: while in the digital camera category a bunch of state-of-the-art (good, but also not so good) cameras are offered for – well, state-of-the-art prices, the category for analog photography for me appears to be incredible and sometimes hard to believe. Technical marvels as for example Leicas and Contax’s for the 35mm sector and Pentax, Fuji, Bronica and Mamiya cameras for the medium format are sold off for a fraction of it’s original price… just because they are analog and – so a wide spread opinion – not up to date. Or to say it more provocative: useless.
Besides the fact that this brakes my photographer’s heart there are times I would like to take photos with a camera, not a computer (again: a provocation, but let me axplain this point later). Please understand me right: I use and like digital cameras since the first wave hit the market a few years ago (yes, it’s only a few years…), but using such an analog masterpiece is different: analog photography is different. To cut a long story short: interested in a Pentax 645D? Take the 645N (or NII) which is a really great camera with great lenses, and spend not more than usually 400 to 600 EUR für the body and a few hundreds for a good lens – there you are! While a new 645NII body in 2002 cost about 2.000 EUR and an exquisite lens like the FA 1:4.5/45-85mm is (still) available for not less than 2.500 EUR new, I got my combination for 700 EUR.
Here it is: my Pentax 645N
The Pentax 645N is heayy (as you could imagine looking at the comparison photo to the right) but not as heavy as for example a Contax 645 (a wonderful machine, too). Well, it’s heavier than my other medium format camera, the Zenza Bronica ETRS; but it’s another caliber of medium format: the 645N was the first autofocus medium format camera with interchangable lenses ever, and it’s housing is rock solid! Back to my point regarding „camera versa computer“: Ken Rockwell found the right words when discussing the 645N: „The Pentax 645N is a real camera. Everything just works. Pick it up and you’re shooting. Forget reading the instruction manual; it’s awful. There are no menus; everything has its own knob, as it should.“ Even Leica later copied the knob positions for their M7 since they are that well designed.
The Pentax 645N is easy to use: it’s not only the AF – which you can easily and intuitively switch off by pulling the outer rim of my zoom lens – but it’s the way to set shutter speed and aperture: if you want shutter priority dial the shutter knob; if you want aperture priority turn the aperture ring on the lens. If you want both automatical: leave both in the green A setting. That’s it: no menu and submenus, no programs, no gimmicks. Just set and take the photo with a satisfiying and huge mirror sound. The photo is banned on the film – no erasing, no control, no worrying „could I have made a better shot“ till you get your negatives back from your local or internet photo laboratory. You know what comes now: this way of taking photos is indeed satisfiying and slowing down the whole „find a motive, setup your camera & take the picture“-process; just try it, too (just a hint, it’s not a must 🙂
You will find more information about the Pentax 645N and my experiences with this kind of medium format photography here; but for now I don’t want to go into greater detail since many others already did. Please find more & comprehensive information about the Pentax 645N and where to get it:
Pentax 645NII: One of the best gets a bit better
Pentax 645N instruction manual
Photography Rambling. Look at the 645N
Film Advance: Favourite Cameras
Used gear at Adorama.com
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