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(If you don't like specifics, just know that this is a 3.5 star review and jump to the conclusion!)
After having spent a few days with this camera, I though it was time to come and share some of my thoughts on it. I am a wedding photographer, and decided to give this thing a rent (Lensrentals is a wonderful company btw) to see if at some point would be inclined to invest in the Medium Format digital system. A little more background I have worked with several Mamiya 645's (film), but shoot mainly with Canon's 1Ds-MkII for weddings. Allow me to start with a pro/con list, and then progress to discussing some of the bigger points:
PROS
Has that nice, medium format feel
Not too heavy (coming from a 1Ds MkII with a giant battery)
4:3 Aspect Ratio is nice to shoot on digital!
40MP is a LOT to work with
Sensor is 27% larger than full frame (1)
RAW and JPEG Modes
Compatible with old Pentax 645
Viewfinder is bright and has 98% coverage (this I enjoyed!)
Two SD card slots for backup
ISO range from 100-1600 (2)
Changeable focus (matte) screens
NEUTRAL
No Image Stabilization. This is neutral because people have managed without it for a LONG time.
CONS
Not a true medium format sensor
According to DATA sheet, shutter is rated for (only) 50,000 actuations (3)
Flash only syncs to 1/125
1.1FPS I know at 40MP, slower shutter speeds are to be expected, but with SD as the storage, are you surprised?
Less than intuitive menu system, tons of useless buttons
Uses SD cards, which are miles slowed than CF. (4)
Useless features like HDR mode, excessive metering (5)
Smaller choice of lenses (2 AF as of this writing)
Now to the specifics:
1) It is definitely nice to have a solid "medium format" camera in the hand again with the convenience of digital, HOWEVER the biggest gaping flaw is the sensor. It measures at 33x44mm, which as you can tell is NOT the same as true medium format which is of course, 41x56mm. Now, while this is still a big increase from even full frame DSLRs, according to Ken Rockwell "it takes about 50 100% (linear) increases to make real progress." Now personally I enjoyed the size increase, and I really liked the 4:3 dimensions, but if you are looking for a true medium format digital, this won't be the camera for you!
2) The camera's ISO ranges from 100-1600. I was a tiny bit disappointed that there were no options for an even lower ISO 25 would be asking a bit much but 50 doesn't seem out of the question. This may be a technological limitation, but I know that it IS possible and other cameras offer it. On the positive side, Pentax doesn't seem to have gone in for this whole "let's make the highest ISO possible) thing, which frankly I think is rather stupid. At 1600 ISO, noise was noticeable but not unbearable, and I was pretty happy with the results.
3) Another glaring problem with the camera is the shutter being only rated for 50,000 actuations. Now I know that this was intended for the hobbyist, but we are still talking about ten thousand big ones being laid down here. Seeing as I only rented this camera for four days (putting 1,500 clicks on it) I wasn't too worried, but it did factor in to my feelings about investing in this system in the future.
4) Why Pentax chose SD cards for this camera is absolutely beyond me. Benchmarks and real-life testing consistently show CF cards as superior in speed, and I think it was rather stupid of them to be quite honest. Again, I believe this was done for the "hobbyist" market, but in my opinion anyone willing to spend 10,000 bucks would be willing to invest in some decent CF cards too.
5) The stupid, useless modes on this camera were the final nail in the coffin for me. I mean seriously, who uses an HDR mode? This would be something that I would expect from a $200 point and shoot, not a 10K photographic investment. Along with the unnecessarily "advanced" metering system and the fact that necessary functions were mostly in the menus rather than the accessible buttons, this was the biggest disappointment for me.
OVERALL
As I mentioned, this is more of a 3.5 star review. I did enjoy the extra resolution and the 4:3 ratio very much, but the rest of the camera left much to be desired. With clumsy controls and the choice of slow storage, this just doesn't cut it for pro use. I would expect a hobbyist/enthusiast to be much happier with the camera, so if you fall into that category by all means go and rent the camera and see if it is worth a purchase.
I was hoping to avoid the other hugely expensive digital medium format cameras and maybe get away with this instead, but I was underwhelmed and overall I was quite glad that I only spent what I did to rent it. Is it a good camera? Yes. Is it a $10,000 camera? Not in my opinion, although you may try it and fall in love.
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