Spontaneous hand-held shots with the incredibly capable 645z and SMC 645 120mm f4 Macro.

Macro photograph of damselfly

Anyone into macro will tell you that natural light, even bright sun is not always enough to stop the tiny movements of camera and subject or give enough depth of field. So I wasn’t expecting too much from these casual shots with the mighty Pentax and huge macro lens. But it is a testament to the ergonomics, fairly nippy focusing and well damped shutter, that they came out just fine.

emerald damselfly photographed in the field

The size of the original files and the sumptuous print quality, just can’t be portrayed here, but take it from me, size matters!

The 645z focuses incredibly accurately. It’s no sports camera; you will have to wait for it to make those fine adjustments, but boy is it worth it. You could set the body to give shutter priority over focus, but there aren’t many occasions when you would you do that.

It is very easy to carry around. The deep grip makes it comfortable and secure, just dangling off your fingertips. I rarely use straps and even with the huge macro lens, it’s no trouble at all to carry for hours at a time. I normally use it for wedding photography, where perfect ergonomics and quick access to important functions is essential.

Hand-held macro photograph of sniffly (downward-facing fly) utterly photographed head-on Green Damselfly

Jumping spider on the moss

I was sat eating my picnic when this little fella scampered around my feet.
This shot, required a full set of extension tubes on the 1:1 120mm Macro and a heavy crop of the final image. Remeber, 1:1 macro means that the object is the same size on the sensor as it is in real life, so this tiny zebra jumping spider was still tiny on the image at 1:1
For tiny things, medium format is no advantage, but for things the size of the sensor, the 51MB files are a thing of beauty indeed.

The 645z and SMC645 120mm f4 are a formidable field set up and much easier to carry and hand-hold than you might expect.
The new 90mm with weather sealing and image stabilisation is a combination I will have to just dream about for now.

Summary
Review Date
Reviewed Item
Pentax 645z
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