This is an alternate perspective as well as a review of a fabulous camera. I'll explain. In the Fall of 2001 I put together aPentax 67 IIsystem for rugged location shooting in situations where myRollei 6008system had weakness, such as its dependence on proprietary rechargeable batteries and its sensitivity to wet conditions.

After some initially satisfying andsuccessful field use, and after putting together a kit with one 67 body and 5 lenses, it was clear that it really couldn't serve as a complete system until I had a second body. This is vital in any camera system. Equipment fails in the field, and because I frequently shoot on hiking trips, when river rafting or otherwise a long way from home, a second body was a must to complete the system. My only concern was that another67 IIbody is a big and bulky thing. It turns out though that there's a different and unique solution.

Pentax has two medium format camera lines, thePentax 67and thePentax 645. Unique among camera make...