Build and handling
The body has a magnesium-alloy casing and die-cast aluminium chassis for strength. This is weather-sealed against dust and moisture, and is designed to work in temperatures as low as -10°C, reinforcing its potential to be far more than just a studio model. The camera certainly feels solid in the hand and, although fairly weighty, it is only around 150-200g heavier than a Nikon D3X or Canon EOS-1Ds DSLR with battery. The 645D body also benefits from a substantial right-hand grip, which allows you to feel fully in control of the camera, even when holding it with one hand. In addition to the regular tripod bush on the underside of the body, there is a second on the side, allowing you to mount the camera directly on the tripod in portrait orientation.
On the top of the body, the row of quick-access buttons include SD1/SD2 buttons, which allow you to quickly change the type of file being recorded to the respective card. There’s also a raw button that allows a quick swap between raw and JPEG formats, and a bracketing selection. A mirror-up dial to the right of the prism certainly comes in handy for long-exposure shots. The large shooting-mode dial is heavily rubberised for easy grip, but also has a central lock button to avoid accidental mode changes.
The 3in LCD screen takes up a large portion of the rear of the camera, but to its right sits a series of easy-access buttons, including the green button that offers a quick auto setting. Quick auto seems a little out of place on this type of camera. A four-way D-pad control is used for the main navigation, allowing menu access as well as AF point selection.Underneath the LCD screen are further quick-access buttons for flash, colour, drive and white balance. The selection dials on the front and rear are placed for easy finger and thumb access.
All the controls and buttons are chunky and positive to press, making the operation easy and instinctive, so even in gloves most features can be easily accessed. The whole layout looks and feels like Pentax’s K-7 DSLR, scaled up to fit the 645D’s larger body, which overall is no bad thing. The menu is clear and it is easy to find the required function, once again much like the recent DSLR menus. Although it is not as sleek, colourful and icon friendly as some, it is functional nonetheless.
The new D FA 645 55mm f/2.8AL SDM kit lens for the 645D, which equates to 43.5mm in 35mm terms, is weatherproofed to match the body and features a completely rounded diaphragm for better bokeh. It offers a nice big rubberised focus ring and fast, quiet autofocusing.
