Pentax 645: Medium Format Quality with the Handling of a 35 mm SLR

While I would never be without a Holga sometimes I need a little more precision and focus. When that happens I turn to my Pentax 645, a medium format camera with the handling of a 35 mm SLR.

If you love photography as I do, I'm sure you have looked from time to time at professional grade cameras. Even the most hardcore Lomographer can find some pleasure in high-end analogue cameras. I love all sorts of photography including many alternative processes. Yet I can still drool over the latest high tech photo equipment. When I started scouting out potential medium format cameras I was flabbergasted at the prices. Most of the new autofocus 6 x4.5, 6 x 7, and 6 x 9 film cameras cost thousands of dollars.

Many are hard to handle and do not have eye-level viewfinders, or built-in light meters. Adding those will set you back another thousand US or so. I looked at Mamiya, Hasselblad, Contax, and Fuji and figured I would never own a professional 120/220 camera. Eventually, however, I found the Pentax 645, first released in November 1984. This camera has been tweaked several times and has become autofocus, out-of-my--price range camera. Yet in its virginal form, it is even this Lomographer's dream.

The Pentax 645, manual focus, medium format SLR comes equipped with an eye-level viewfinder (with adjustable diopter) and a battery-powered side grip to advance your film and offer meter readings. It is chunkier than your average 35 mm SLR but it is still manageable in weight and fits nicely in my hands. The standard lens is an SMC Pentax-A 75 mm f/2.8 lens. In medium format, 75 mm is roughly the same as a 50 mm lens in a 35 mm film camera. It is basically the equivalent of what our eyes see. This lens is fast and bright.

The camera has several auto exposure options including a Program mode, aperture priority, shutter priority, a flash sync mode, bulb exposure, and, of course, an all manual mode. There are only a few buttons to worry about that set the mode, ISO, and exposure compensation. There is also a button near these functions to light up your LED readout for night time shooting. A dial near the viewfinder lets you switch between Single shots and multi-shots firing at about 1.5 frames per second. There is also an easy depth-of-field lever that allows you to see what will and will not be in focus in your shot.

There are four backs for this camera that allows you to shoot 120 film, 220 film, 70 mm film, and Polaroid. I only own a 120 back which gets me 15 shots on a roll of film. The 220 back gets 30 frames, and the 70 mm back allows for 90 frames. I don't need to explain Polaroids to this group. When you depress the shutter button halfway you can see the shutter speed and f/stop clearly displayed in red inside the viewfinder.

ISO can be manually set for ISOs ranging from 25 to 3200 with virtually every increment in between, including many film speeds I have never seen. This is handy for the pros who know that, for example, Kodak 125 film shoots more like ISO 64 and so on. The 645 has a hot shoe that uses five different Pentax flashes and a host of aftermarket brands.

One of the features that Lomo people like is the ability to make multiple exposures. However, it is a slightly cumbersome task since you have to set a multiple exposure button, fire your first shot and then set the button again repeating as many times as you desire. It is not as simple as the Holga in that respect and you will not get any "happy accidents."

The Pentax 645 is easy to use — intuitive really. It is a bit bulky but it is a fully functionally camera with all the necessary tools, and it won't break the bank. A used model of this manual focus beauty complete with a 120 back, viewfinder, prism, side handle, and lens should cost less than $300US. It's not cheap but those others will run you thousands, even the used ones. It's a great camera although some of the screens can be a little hard to set your focus.

It is well worth the money and other lenses can be had fairly inexpensively including both wide angle and telephoto. Zoom lenses are still costly but unnecessary luxuries. A 45 mm, 75 mm, and either a 120 or 150 mm should do the trick. I still only have my 75 mm and couldn't be happier. It also has a cable release button and two tripod mounts (one of the bottom and one on the side).

This article is by Community Member @altprocess.

written by altprocess on 2009-03-20 #gear #medium-format #120 #review #220 #multiple-exposures #manual-focus #70mm #pentax-645 #hot-shoe