I wanted a professional-grade camera, and this fit the bill.
I love Pentax. I've loved Pentax products since I was a kid. I just didn't know it, yet.
My first SLR was that Vivitar V2000 that I still use - it's a Pentax K1000 clone, and has a standard K-mount body.
My first DSLR is a Pentax K10D.
Since then, I've collected numerous lenses which are compatible back-and-forth with the two cameras, which is (let me tell you) hugely helpful. Most of the lenses are Pentax branded, and the lenses I prefer using are all Pentax-branded.
So when it came time to buy a medium-format camera, it was an easy choice. I wanted a Pentax.
I did my homework, and narrowed it down to the 645 series - there is a 645, a 645N and a 645NII. A bit more homework found me a chart comparing the three. The feature I most wanted was the setting print on the negatives, so that eliminated the 645 right away.
I know. It's a weird feature to be important, but ... well ... you've seen what I shoot, right?
Looking at the N and NII models, the differences were minor enough that I didn't feel like paying the extra $200 or so for the NII. So I ordered a (used) 645N from Glazer's in Seattle. They even included batteries, which I thought was going the extra miles.
Then I ordered a lens from KEH. It arrived faster than expected, and I loaded the film and went to town.
I ... I really like this camera. Pushing the shutter gives a beefyish *chunkwhirrr* It feels like I'm taking an important picture.
I shot two rolls before sending them in for processing - In all honest, I should have sent the first roll in right away so I could tell if something was wrong somewhere. But I was excited.
I'm very glad everything turned out.
I'll share more pics from this camera in coming weeks and months. I clearly have a long ways to go with it, but I'm really liking some of my early results.
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