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Posts Tagged ‘645Z’

DxOMark republishes Pentax 645Z results and it’s as good as we always suspected

15 Nov

In a move likely to completely silence all whispers of chicanery, DxOMark has finally published its results for Ricoh’s Pentax 645Z. The camera just misses out on being hailed as the best stills camera sensor ever (as it would have been, when data was first published for the camera back in 2015), but it still scores a very impressive 101 points.

And, as we know, points mean… Er…

Several years after its release, the 645Z still holds its own in the company of some excellent cameras built around similar sensors.

The results themselves are very similar to those of the Hasselblad X1D 50c, which itself is based around a very similar Sony CMOS sensor (albeit for at least $ 3000 more). How much of the difference can be ascribed to better readout circuitry, how much to the Hasselblad’s use of 15-bit Raw files (I mean, that extra 0.1EV of DR has to live somewhere), and how much is simply within the tests’ margin of error it’s impossible to know.

Still, we can now be certain that, while not quite the best sensor in the world, is 99% as good as the best sensor DxO has tested.

In all seriousness, though, whatever the reason for the delay, it’s a seriously impressive performance from a very aggressively-priced camera. And, since we have first-hand knowledge of how difficult it is to get a 645Z for long enough to do extensive testing on, we think it’s great to see its performance recognized.

Click here to read DxOMark’s assessment

Press Release:

Pentax 645Z: A great choice for medium-format shooters

PARIS – November 14, 2017 – DxOMark has just published the results of its in-depth analysis of the Pentax 645Z medium-format camera. With an overall DxOMark sensor score of 101 points, the Pentax 645Z has the second-highest-scoring sensor we’ve ever tested, beaten only by the 51.4Mp Sony sensor in the Hasselblad X1D-50c. The 645Z achieves extremely good sub-scores, indicating that it can capture a huge range of colors and tones in a single file.

It’s clear from our testing that the Pentax 645Z’s sensor is extremely capable, coming within a whisper of matching the performance of the Hasselblad X1D sensor. Its high dynamic range and color sensitivity make the 645Z ideally suited for capturing the types of scenes that are traditionally favored by medium-format photographers — landscapes, weddings, portraits, and other photographic genres that require capturing images with lots of detail, low noise, and smooth tonal gradations.

In addition, the Pentax 645Z controls noise well, making it suitable for use in relatively low light, and perhaps expanding the range of conditions in which medium-format cameras are traditionally used.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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This is why the Pentax 645Z DxOMark score of 101 was never published

12 Oct

If you dive into the comments on the recent news of the Nikon D850’s chart-topping DxOMark score of 100, you’ll notice a trend: people claiming that the Pentax 645Z actually scored 101 way back in 2015… before that score was unceremoniously scrubbed from the DxOMark website. So what’s going on here? Conspiracy? Foul play? Piles of money being passed around under corporate board room desks?

Not quite. The truth, as is so often the case, is a little less salacious.

A full review of the Pentax 645Z was never published, and that score of 101 only appeared online as part of a top cameras chart that showed up in DxOMark’s review of the Sony RX1R II sensor. The chart (below) showed Pentax on top with a score of 101, followed by the Sony A7R II with a score of 98. People asked about the score in the comments and were told a full review was “delayed” but “on its way,” yet that review never arrived. Later, the score was quietly removed and the chart was replaced.

Speaking to DxOMark earlier today, photography blog PetaPixel finally learned why DxOMark decided to pull that score: not for some nefarious reason, but because they never actually finished the review. Before they could publish, the company decided to pause medium format sensor reviews altogether.

“We made a pause on medium format a few years ago just because of our production bandwidth,” a DxOMark spokesperson told PetaPixel, explaining that they simply couldn’t keep up with the other tests they needed to do. “We will now soon republish this type of camera, and Pentax 645Z should be published soon […] in a matter of days.”

That last part is very exciting news. As medium format—and especially mirrorless medium format—becomes more affordable, people will be very curious indeed to see how these larger sensors stack up against the amazing full-frame sensors we’ve seen lately in cameras like the Nikon D850 and Sony a7R II.

We’ve had our own request for comment about this same issue out to DxOMark for a couple of days now, and will update this post with a full statement as soon as we hear back. But in the meantime, it sounds like the Nikon D850 might not retain its chart-topping score for long… at least not if it has to go head-to-head against medium format sensors.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Ricoh releases Pentax 645Z and K-1 firmware updates and IMAGE Transmitter 2 software v2.3

22 Apr

Ricoh Imaging has released new firmware for its Pentax 645Z medium format camera and K-1 full-format DSLR. The new firmware makes the cameras compatible with the also freshly released version 2.3 of the company’s IMAGE Transmitter 2 software package.

The latter allows the cameras to  be controlled when tethered to a PC or Mac via USB cable and after the update now offers a range of new tethered control options, including drive mode, white balance, image format, size and quality, memory card slot selection, live view magnification and focus fine adjustment in live view. 

As before, you can also adjust essential settings, such as  aperture, shutter-speed, ISO and exposure compensation, or trigger the shutter. Image Transmitter 2 version 2.3 as well as firmware version 1.41 for the K-1 and 1.23 for the 645Z are now available to download on the Ricoh Imaging website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Fujifilm GFX 50S vs Pentax 645Z vs Hasselblad X1D

10 Apr

Introduction

Digital medium format has previously been the preserve of professional photographic businesses; commercial concerns that can justify investing tens of thousands of dollars on a tool that offers resolution and image quality beyond the capabilities of consumer cameras (or, at least, those that can recoup the rental cost). These cameras have tended to have 54 x 40mm (essentially the 645 film format) or 44 x 33mm sensors: considerably larger than used in most DSLRs. They were also often based on CCD chips, since these are easier to build on large scales and small volumes and cleaner at low ISO settings (though with limited dynamic range by modern standards).

As full frame cameras have become less expensive, this has put pressure on the medium format market (particularly the smaller variant) but has also seen CMOS technology filter upwards. This has led to us starting to see the first sub-$ 10,000 medium format cameras. The first that a dedicated hobbyist might consider, as well as wider professional market. So, as we keep being asked, which of these cameras is best?

Introducing the contenders

Launched in 2014 The Pentax 645Z is the granddaddy of ‘affordable’ medium format. After the somewhat fitful development process of the original 645D, the arrival of CMOS technology brought us the 645Z. Built around a 50MP 44 x 33mm sensor, Ricoh’s flagship camera is a traditional DSLR that uses the film-era Pentax 645 mount (hence the name).

In the past year, two more companies with medium format heritage have unveiled their offerings, but both Hasselblad and Fujifilm have developed new, mirrorless systems, rather than continuing to use existing mounts. This allows the Fujifilm G and Hasselblad XCD systems to be considerably smaller with shorter flange back distances (especially in the case of the Hasselblad, which does without a focal plane shutter). As well as size, this shorter flange back distance leaves room to adapt all sorts of legacy lenses: something both Hasselblad and Fujifilm have promised.

We’ve been shooting all three cameras and look at their relative strengths in different shooting scenarios.

Landscape work – durability

One of the most obvious requirements a camera needs for landscape work is a degree of solidity and resilience. As soon as you venture into the outdoors, rain, mud and grit will all feature to a varying degrees.

All three of these cameras claim they’ve been designed with a degree of environmental sealing in mind. None of the makers go so far as to guarantee any degree of weather resistance, so it’s difficult to know whether any one of these has the edge over the others. There are plenty of stories of Pentax DSLRs surviving all sorts of mistreatment, so we’d be fairly confident of the 645Z. The Fujifilm and Hasselblad it’s harder to know about, especially since both are likely to sell in small enough quantities that it’ll always be difficult to establish a statistically useful sample size.

Landscape work – battery life

Another major factor is battery life. While it’s quite possible to carry spare batteries with you, it’s not always practical to change them in ‘the field.’ It can also be frustrating to find yourself having to worry about battery level or change batteries with any kind of frequency, especially as temperatures and battery endurance drop.

The 645Z’s DSLR design gives it a huge advantage in terms of battery life. Given you can do most of your shot setup using the optical viewfinder, the camera gains a rating of around 650 shots per charge from its relatively small battery.

The Fujifilm GFX 50S requires either the rear screen or electronic viewfinder to be active making it rather harder on batteries. Thankfully its powerpack is a lot larger, helping it to a still respectable 400 shot per charge rating. The Hasselblad does least well in this respect, despite it doing everything it can to reduce usage by constantly shutting its screen off. A smaller battery than the Fujifilm and no percentage indicators mean it’s the camera I’d most worry about staying alive, when I was working off the grid.

Operability (with gloves)

Another aspect of outdoor photography is that it can often be cold: even in summer the best light tends to come first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening, which means colder temperatures in many parts of the world.

Of the three, the Pentax is the camera I’d be happiest operating with gloves. It has rather a lot of external controls but all of them are large and distinct enough to be controlled with gloves. The Hasselblad does well in this respect, too. Most of its buttons and dials are distinct enough to be operated without error and there’s no function that necessitates touchscreen control.

This leaves Fujifilm’s buttons and dials are rather small and recessed but most of its principle controls are easily operated with gloves. That said, its AF point joystick is arguably the easiest way to control AF positioning with gloves on.

Camera stability

To get anything like the full resolution out of these cameras, you need to keep them very steady. We’ve experienced shutter shock across a range of cameras, as higher resolutions highlight the issue in ever greater detail.

Large, high-resolution sensors are especially susceptible, since the mass of the shutter and mirror mechanisms involved are so much greater and the ability to discern any shake is that much higher. The Pentax offers a mirror-up mode, which allows you to separate the lifting of the mirror and the firing of the shutter, to allow the mirror-induced shake to dissipate (which is reassuring, given the camera’s Ikea-furniture-being demolished mirror/shutter sound). It also has a mounting point to allow stable attachment to a tripod when in the portrait orientation, however, there’s no electronic first curtain mode to reduce the impact of shake from the shutter mechanism.

The other two cameras don’t even have mirrors to worry about. On top of this, the Fujifilm offers an electronic first curtain shutter mode, which means there’s minimal mechanical movement before the exposure starts, all but eliminating the risk of shock and with no delay added before the exposure. The Hasselblad takes this philosophy one step further and contains no moving parts in the camera body at all (though there’s still a little clunk and click as the leaf shutter moves).

Landscape work – Portability

Perhaps the greatest benefit for a landscape shooter, though, is any reduction in size and weight makes it easier to work with. For all the internet bravado about real men liking big cameras, most people having to lug cameras around on a regular basis will appreciate any saving in size and weight they can get.

The Hasselblad X1D has a clear edge, here. It’s significantly smaller and lighter than any of the other three cameras here (it’s lighter than most full frame DSLRs). The Fujifilm is only 200g (7oz) heavier but will demand a considerably larger bag to house it. Then there’s the Pentax 645Z, which is the size of some European cars and, at over twice the weight of the X1D, is about as easy to carry. I jest, of course, but I’d still rather not have to hike any great distance with one.

Studio shooting – Operability

In the studio, there’s more time to consider and control your shot. The Pentax’s proliferation of direct controls takes sometime to learn, but there’s a control for just about everything. The Fujifilm, meanwhile, takes after its mass market cameras: direct controls for most exposure settings, then a handful of customizable buttons and an editable Q menu for less frequently changed options.

The Hasselblad takes the most minimalist approach and consequently is the one most likely to require menu diving. It does give direct access to most core features though.

All three cameras can be shot, tethered, using proprietary software or third-party plugins for Adobe Lightroom (the 645Z was the first camera we encountered to include a USB 3.0 connection, for exactly this reason). Sadly we’ve not yet had time to try them all.

Studio shooting – AF Coverage

Even if studio work buys you a little more time, as soon as you include a human subject, that luxury is curtailed. The more complex the pose, the less time you have to shoot it (assuming you’re not a monster to your models). Similarly, that perfect facial expression that you’ve been coaxing out of your subject with increasingly fanciful invocations won’t necessarily last long enough to switch to live view, zoom in and manually focus.

What you need is the best possible AF coverage which give you high precision AF points exactly where you need them. Fujifilm does best in this respect, giving you choice of 117 or 425 very fine AF points across a large area of the image. The Hasselblad offers slightly less coverage and only 35 fairly large AF regions.

The Pentax’s phase-detection system offers a very limited coverage, but in live view allows the AF point to be moved into 2030 positions. This number of positions means it takes a fraction longer to position your AF point but does mean you can be certain of being able to put the AF point where you need it.

Outdoor fashion – Flash Sync

Outdoor fashion photography combines many of the demands we’ve already seen in landscape and studio shooting and then adds some more. Away from the controllable lighting of the studio, a battle between ambient and supplemental lighting breaks out, a battle for which the best weapon is a high flash sync speed.

Sure, there are High-speed sync options that provide lighting for a long enough duration that they can successfully light an image even though the camera’s shutter is never fully open, but these tend to require increasing amounts of power the higher your shutter speed, which is not what you need if you’re using large lights and heavy battery packs. You may even hit the limits of your strobe’s capability, which then limits your ability to separately control ambient and subject exposure. Also, the relatively slow-moving shutters implied by the low sync speeds on the Pentax and Fujifilm cameras may limit even the use of some high-speed sync systems.

The Hasselblad is the clear winner here. Its use of leaf shutters gives greater control over ambient light without having to resort to specialist lighting and keeps control of light sources decoupled. Fujifilm has built an adapter for using its own leaf-shutter Fujinon HC lenses, allowing flash sync at up to 1/800th but there are no native leaf shutter lenses on the roadmap at present. Until that time, the Fujifilm tops out at 1/125 sec, as does the Pentax, unless you can find one of the seemingly discontinued 75 or 135mm ‘LS’ leaf shutter lenses. Meanwhile the X1D can sync all the way up to 1/2000th of a second, giving it a huge advantage.

Outdoor fashion – AF Coverage and speed

For outdoor posed shooting the urgency of capturing the moment before your model gets frustrated is made more pressing by the additional risk of pneumonia and heatstroke. Or just the need to catch the light you want, if you’re shooting away from the poles or equator. This requires fairly swift AF.

Try to shoot dynamic poses, dancing or action of any sort and the need for fast autofocus becomes even greater. None of these cameras excel in this respect. The Hasselblad is currently the slowest of the three, with the Fujifilm being the fastest in CDAF mode. The Pentax is a little quicker when shot through the viewfinder using its dedicated phase-detection AF system, but this limits you to focus right near the center of the image and introduces a degree of inaccuracy and imprecision that tends to come from secondary-sensor AF. And we wouldn’t exactly recommend focus and recompose in studio setups or with the shallow depth of field and high resolutions of medium format.

Realistically, none of these cameras is great for fast-moving subjects, so the photographer’s technique for working around these limitations is likely to play just as much of a role.

The value of good JPEG/TIFFs

More so than the general consumer audience, the audience for this camera is likely to shoot Raw, with the expectation that post-processing will be a necessary part of the final image. So why would we care whether these cameras produce good JPEGs?

For a start, a good-looking JPEG can be used as a proof for a client almost as soon as you shoot the image.

Clearly this puts the Pentax and Fujifilm at an advantage, since these companies have more experience of delivering customer-friendly JPEGs. However, the GFX benefits further, not only gaining the results of Fujifilm’s well respected color response in JPEG, but also in that some of that color knowledge has been shared with Adobe, meaning that Film Simulation-simulating profiles are available in Lightroom and Camera Raw, to provide an attractive starting point for processing.

Ultimately, the nearer you can get to your preferred output at the start of the process, the less post-processing you need to do; saving time and money on every image.

Conclusion

Overall, there’s little to choose between these cameras in terms of image quality. This should be no great surprise, given they’re likely to be using sensors with similar underpinnings (even if we know some of the specifics of microlenses and ISO behavior differ).

However, that isn’t to say there’s nothing to choose between them. The Pentax 645Z is the immediate choice for anyone who wants an optical viewfinder. It also exists as part of a longer-established system (though some of the lenses significantly pre-date the demands of high-res digital).

Somewhat perversely, for all its compactness, the Hasselblad X1D’s high sync speeds and limited battery life mean it’s more comfortable in the studio whereas, despite its greater bulk, the Fujifilm’s faster focus and greater endurance makes it more tempting for shooting in further flung locations.

Some of these strengths and weaknesses aren’t set in stone: leaf shutter lenses for the Fujifilm would greatly extend its capability, as would updated firmware for the X1D (especially if it could result in faster and easier to position autofocus).

Overall, of course, these are exotic pieces of kit. Expensive and, despite the mass-market roots of the Pentax and Fujifilm’s interfaces, still more complex to shoot with than the full frame cameras that are probably the more sensible choice for most mortals, given the price, image quality and performance offered. That said, there’s something special about shooting with such daunting machines, and something that’s likely to immediately impress most would-be clients.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Lightroom plug-in for Pentax 645Z tethered shooting now available

10 Dec

Ricoh has announced a software plug-in for Adobe Lightroom supporting tethered shooting with the Pentax 645Z medium-format camera. Creative Cloud Lightroom subscribers can also take advantage of integration with Lightroom Mobile, making it possible to comment on and adjust photos remotely via the cloud. The Pentax Tethered Capture Plug-In is available now from Ricoh.


Press release:

Ricoh Imaging Delivers Tethered Capture to its Acclaimed PENTAX 645Z Camera

Highly requested software plug-in to enhance the PENTAX 645Z’s in-studio photo-shooting with Adobe® Lightroom® capabilities available today

DENVER, December 9, 2015 – Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation today announced the immediate availability of the highly anticipated PENTAX Tethered Capture Plug-In for use with Adobe® Lightroom®. The software plug-in enhances the tethered capture capabilities of the PENTAX 645Z medium-format camera by enabling files to easily be uploaded into Adobe Lightroom during a studio session, where they can readily be viewed, shared and edited.

Adobe Lightroom is the digital photo processing and editing software favored by many professional and advanced amateur photographers, making the use of the new PENTAX Tethered Capture software both cost effective and efficient as there is no additional software package to purchase and learn. In addition, with the new capabilities of Lightroom Mobile, uploaded images may be viewed and adjusted by a photographer’s colleagues or clients from any remote location, anywhere in the world.

“Since Lightroom is already the de-facto standard for many photographers to edit and develop their images, this new plug-in is especially welcome. It makes studio use of the PENTAX 645Z camera easier, more efficient and, ultimately, faster than ever,” said Chris Knight, a New York-based portrait photographer. “Using Lightroom, I am able to quickly share photos with my clients, who are even able to view and comment from remote locations.”

Since its launch in June 2014, the PENTAX 645Z camera has been embraced by a wide range of photographers. The PENTAX Tethered Capture Plug-In is being offered to further enhance the user experience, and is a free option that can be downloaded starting today at: http://www.ricohimaging.co.jp/english/support/download_digital.html

Main Features

  • The PENTAX 645Z camera supports industry-standard Adobe DNG (Digital Negative) RAW files, which ensures optimal image quality. The in-camera DNG file format effectively eliminates any RAW file incompatibility issues, thus allowing the photographer to confidently import DNG RAW files during a tethered session.
  • Adobe Lightroom Creative Cloud users can use Lightroom Mobile to connect to tethered sessions via cloud services to comment and adjust photographs and return those edits to the photographer from anywhere in the world.
  • Adobe Lightroom offers an exceptional cataloging system that allows photographers to capture and catalog tethered sessions with confidence.
  • The PENTAX Tethered Capture Plug-in for Adobe Lightroom is an easy-to-install, powerful and streamlined tethering solution that allows any photographer to manage their own workflow from capture to output.
  • Adobe Lightroom users can download and apply presets to any tethered capture session thus eliminating the need to process every raw file individually.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Pentax launches limited-circulation 645Z IR, an infrared version of its medium format camera

02 Dec

Ricoh has announced it is to offer an infrared-sensitive version of its 645Z medium format camera, the 645Z IR. Sadly, the new model is not intended for public consumption, but will be aimed at museums and scientific establishments who will have to sign a usage agreement before they can make a purchase. 

The camera will be made sensitive to infrared by removing the IR-cut filter that sits in front of the sensor. The photographer will then need to fit a filter over the lens to cut visible light according to the requirements of the occasion. With a hot mirror in place the camera will operate as a normal 645Z, but without one the sensor will be able to record wavelengths of up to 1100 nanometers. 

Ricoh says that there is no provision for auto focusing when the camera is working with infrared light as the light focuses at a different distance to visible light, and advises owners to use the magnify function of the live view display on the rear tilting-LCD screen. 

Other than the removal of the IR cut filter the 51.4MP camera will operate in exactly the same way as the normal version – including the scene modes, compatibility with Flucards, wireless control from a smartphone and the ability to shoot HD video. 

Ricoh is offering the Pentax 645Z IR to museums, libraries, government agencies and research institutions for specialist operations, often involving forensic work or recording detail in artworks concealed by layers of paint or faded with time. Shooting with infrared sometimes makes visible what can’t be seen with the human eye. 

The company hasn’t made public the price, but says the camera will be available from 15th January next year.  

For more information see the Ricoh website (Japanese)

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Ricoh announces new service and support plan for Pentax 645Z

28 Oct

Ricoh Imaging US has announced the Medium Format by PENTAX Advantage Program, a new support and service offering for the Pentax 645Z camera. Under this program, camera owners are given three years of extended service and support from the date of purchase, as well as loaner lenses and camera bodies and a toll-free support number. Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Promote Control extends support to Pentax 645Z

14 Jan

Thanks to a beta firmware version, Promote Control adds support for the Pentax 645Z. The remote shutter control connects to compatible cameras via USB and offers a variety of shooting features including HDR bracketing of up to 45 images, timelapse and long exposure shooting. Read more

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Medium well done: Two takes on the Pentax 645Z

09 Dec

The Pentax 645Z is a highly sought-after camera, offering 50MP resolution from its medium-format CMOS sensor, and a range of features closer to those of a 35mm DSLR than a traditional digital MF camera. We’ve been working with the 645Z for a little while, running it though our studio tests to see what it’s capable of. As part of this process we handed the camera off to David Wentworth, a local Seattle studio photographer, for his opinion. Our very own Sam Spencer – DPReview studio manager – provides another perspective. Click through to read more

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Pentax 645Z added to studio comparison database

17 Nov

Ricoh’s Pentax 645Z offers a level of consumer-friendliness previously unseen in its class. The 50MP CMOS medium format sensor is complemented by a number of features from the K-3 DSLR, including a 27-point AF system with 25 cross-type points. We’ve added it to our studio scene tool so you can compare its results to the likes of the Nikon D810. Read more

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