Some Pentax 645D info at PIE2009 Tokyo

<p>Hi there,<br>

This is my first post. Firstly, I want to say thank you for your useful info. I read most of posts and bought 645 and a few lenses. I am enjoying it so much. <br>

Today, I went to PIE 2009 Tokyo (Photo trade show) and attended Pentax 645D talk session. One of Japanese professional photographer asked several question about 645D to Pentax guys. (Sorry I am not sure they are R&D guy or marketing guy.)<br>

Here are questions and answers:<br>

1. When will it be on the market?<br>

-- Some time next year. They have target date but it's not possible to reveal now. <br>

2. Pricing? <br>

-- Pentax wants it to be under 1,000,000 yen (roughly, $10,000) <br>

3. Shake reduction?<br>

-- It's unlikely. The MF sensor can be "move" but hard to stop. <br>

4. What is the exact sensor size? <br>

-- They can not answer at this point. <br>

5. Which medium to store the photo data? <br>

-- SD (No CF) and they say it's going to be double slots.<br>

6. Any specific data of Super Wide lens? <br>

-- They can not answer.<br>

After the talk show, I personally asked about DFA 55mm lens. A Pentax guy said that <br>

it can be used with film camera body but there is some "limitation" in operation.<br>

He could not tell me what that means. It might be SDM?<br>

I hope it will help a bit and if someone can follow or correct me, please do. <br>

Thank you,<br>

Yoshi</p>

<p> </p>

<p>It would be foolish to have the 645D not be compatible with the existing 645 lenses. Then again, anyone spending $10k USD on a camera isn't going to sweat another couple thousand on lenses, I guess. Still, it seemed only natural that the 645D would be backward compatible, and I even thought I had read that it would be (way back before it got cancelled the first time).</p>

<p><em>The 645D is compatible with all exsisting 645 optics, even the AF. The new D-FA 55/2.8 is usable with some limitation with the analog 645.</em></p>

<p>Oh, sorry, I misread that. He was talking about using a new lens on old film bodies.</p>

<p>Yoshi:<br>

Thank you for your report; encouraging news. Perhaps I won't sell my 645 lenses just yet.</p>

<p>Tom</p>

<p>I'd love to know what the bit depth is and the MP count.</p>

<p>Good work, Yoshi!</p>

<p>$10K is very reasonable for an MF digital SLR. <br>

I'll continue to hold out hope. ;-)</p>

<p>Godfrey</p>

<p>Great news !!!</p>

<p>Fastastic News ! Thanks for sharing ! any Idea where all will it be sold ? US / EU / JP ?</p>

<p>Thanks again Yoshi</p>

<p>Interesting how many people feel this is fantastic news without knowing anything about the sensor or the real cost.</p>

<p>More discussion can be found at:<br>

http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=33336<br>

Ken</p>

<p>Dave - I imagine it wouldn't be any less than 14bit. Most high end 35mm digital SLR's are 14bit, and the majority of digital backs/camera's in the medium format range seem to be either 14bit or 16bit (the Phase One P65+ is a 16bit output).</p>