First couple of shots with my Pentax 645n

Hi all,

As some of you are aware I recently purchased a Pentax 645n with a 45mm f2.8 FA lens and a 80-160mm f4.5 FA lens. What's impressed me the most with a Pentax system is the metering. Every negative come back with almost perfect exposure. I currently shoot with a Nikon D7000 but I'm very tempted to switch to Pentax completely after my experience of using the 645n. Maybe sell all my Nikon D7000 and lenses and purchase a k5 or k5ii

Here are the first couple of negatives scanned using an Epson V600. The film is Kodak Ektar.

Looks nice. Bear in mind that getting a good exposure on film is easier than with digital. My K200D has terrible AE, but my film cameras, despite being much older, behave much better.

Great images and you are obviously impressed.

Try reversal film and you will appreciate it even more.

Best regards

Beautiful images there Howie. Have you tried the Fuji chromes ? You may already know that using Chromes (slides/reversal films) give you exceptional results but the negative had more latitude. If I may pick a nit, there seems to be a slight glare from the foliage, I was wondering if you used a polariser ? . Normally I employ a polariser for most situations that involves leaves. If you do plan to buy a polariser, consider the ones that are colour compensated (as you may know polarisers tend to make the picture blue). Of course you have the option of changing the tint once it is imported onto the computer, but viewing the slides themselves on a backlit lightbox is an experience second to none Enjoy. on another note ... The V600 is a superb scanner, you may also want to try VueScan from here http://www.hamrick.com/ which is known to give exceptional results with most scanners.

Excellent what really stands out are the highlights. I doubt if
you could match them on digital and medium format (and bigger)
beats even 35mm by about a stop in terms of highlight detail.

Great shots! I too have a 645n with several lenses; all of mine are manual focus. I couldn't afford the autofocus, alas!

Keep a watch out for a 35mm. It is a fabulous lens, about like a 20mm on 35mm format, with minimal distortion. BTW as noted here and on the US Pentax forum, the 220 inserts are easily converted to 120, and typically they are much cheaper with the declining availability of 220 film.

Howie,

Sorry we won't be seeing any new 645n shots from you any more, but congradulations on selling your camera.

Looking on the bright side: maybe you can now treat yourself to the K-5 - maybe the II or even IIs!

Ronnie,
(future custodian of your lovely camera & lens)