Back in 2012 Ashley and I decided that we wanted to get into the world of medium format film.  We had always loved the film photography of some of the industries best, such as Jose Villa, Jen Huang, Elizabeth Messina, and Jonathan Canlas to name a few.  We thought we would try film out and see what happens, so we bought a Mamiya 645 AF.  I know this is a Pentax 645n review, but the Mamiya was our first medium format film camera, which we shot for a couple years and it has helped us see what the Pentax 645n offers compared to it.  It was more recently that we bought two Pentax 645n bodies along with the Pentax FA 75mm 2.8 and the Pentax 67 105mm 2.4. The only other medium format camera I have shot is the Contax but it was only a couple times so I don’t feel that I have shot with it enough to make a valid comparison between the two.  So this will be mainly comparing the Mamiya 645af and the Pentax 645n.  Also, I am not a techie or a data nerd so bare with me if this is put forth in a more simplistic point of view.

THE PROS

1.  Auto-Focus.  I had always loved our Mamiya.  We actually still have it as a backup, mainly because it was my first medium format camera and I have a little sentimental attachment to it, but I haven’t shot it since we got the Pentax bodies.  I never had any problems with it, but once I took a shot with the Pentax I knew right away how much better the Pentax was.  The first thing I noticed with the AF lens on the Pentax was how vastly better the AF system was.  It snapped into focus immediately and rarely had to “search” for the point of focus.  The Pentax 645n AF system made the Mamiya’s look silly, you might as well shoot in manual focus with the Mamiya.  Don’t get me wrong I am not saying manual focusing is bad as I shoot manual with the 105mm, but having a great AF system if needed is paramount.  I can’t stress enough how good for a medium format film camera this AF system is.  In good lighting it focuses just as good as our much newer, much more expensive Nikons.

2. Comfort. The next thing I noticed was the ergonomics and how it felt in my hand.  I have no complaints about the Mamiya’s feel when holding it, it feels good.  The thing I like a little more on the Pentax is that the grip is deeper and allows you to wrap more of your fingers around it, making it seem more secure when holding it. Even though I prefer the way the Pentax feels in my hands, the Mamiya I have no complaints with.

3.  Lenses.  Now when it comes to lenses on each system I have only owned 2 for each the Mamiya and the Pentax so I can only go from what I’ve used.  I always do a lot of research before investing in any type of gear and this was no different.  The research that I found was that the Mamiya lenses are pretty good, especially for the price, but were not usually in the conversation for the best lenses for medium format systems.  I had always got good results with my 2 Mamiya lenses but nothing that ever “wowed” me.  The Pentax lenses were different, what I was finding was that users were giving them higher praise, and for the 105mm in particular some say it is one of the best lenses for medium format. The 75mm lens doesn’t disappoint either, it gives me great results and allows the superb Auto-focus system to be used.  Ashley usually has this lens on her Pentax, so I forget how good the AF is with it.  The 105mm is a 6×7 format lens so an adapter is needed to shoot it on the 6×4.5 system and will only manual focus because of this.  I have to agree with the people on the forums and what I have read online, this lens is phenomenal.  The bokeh is down right amazing and your focus point is super sharp even at 2.4.  If I could shoot this on my Nikon system I would in a heartbeat.  The manual focus would be the only thing that limits this, but the focus affirmation feature on the Pentax 645n helps out when knowing your in focus.

4. Film backs.  This was an added bonus to the Pentax system that I didn’t know at first, but you can convert the 220 film backs into the 120 film backs very easily.  The 220 backs are typically easier to find and usually cheaper as well so you could have more backs loaded, which speeds things up a bunch.

5. Batteries.  Both the Pentax and the Mamiya take AA batteries which is a good thing.  They last quite awhile and are relatively cheap.  There are some film cameras that take a special battery and I have heard not so good things about them.

THE CONS

1.  Film Back.  One thing that I love about the Mamiya system that the Pentax doesn’t have is a detachable film back.  What this allowed on the Mamiya is to change from one back to another mid-roll if needed.  So you could switch from a color film to Black and White, then back again.  I never really used this feature but was nice knowing I could if I wanted to.

2.  Shutter Speed.  This might be the biggest complaint I have against the Pentax system and it’s that the shutter speed tops out at 1/1000th compared to the Mamiya at 1/4000th.  This really annoys me sometimes because my light-meter is telling me to go above 1/1000th and instead I will have to adjust my aperture, which I don’t want to do.  This may not be a big deal for some to have to adjust their aperture to 3.5 or 4.0 but we like to shoot wide open with film to achieve that creamy bokeh, so it is frustrating to have to mess with that.

Since we have only been shooting with the Pentax systems for not even a year yet I am sure that I will be able to add both pros and cons to list as I use them more.  For right now though, I am very pleased with the Pentax 645n, and although it has it’s pitfalls, its strengths clearly outshine it weaknesses.  The image quality is by far its best strength and I have included some photos below shot with the Pentax 645n’s.  I look forward to shooting more and more with these cameras and will update this with other pros or cons that I find valuable.

This was shot with the 105mm 2.4. Love that creamy out of focus bokeh this lens gives us!