Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Pentax 645

Pentax · Pentax 645 mount · 56×41.5mm on 120 or 220 film in interchangeable inserts (a 70mm holder on the original 645); fixed back, inserts not changeable mid-roll · 1984

single source, unconfirmed via machine translation — corrections welcome

Also known as: Pentax 645N · Pentax 645 N · Pentax 645NII · Pentax 645N II · 645N · 645NII · 645N II · 645 NII · ペンタックス645 · ペンタックス645N · ペンタックス645NII

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Pentax 645 (1984) · [object Object] Pentax 645 1984–1997 — —
Pentax 645N (1997) · [object Object] Pentax 645 1997–2001 — —
Pentax 645N II (2001) · [object Object] Pentax 645 2001–2009 — —
  1. No launch price for any of the three bodies was found: Ricoh's 645N II catalogue carries no price list, kakaku.com shows no maker's price, and the Japanese shop pages give only used prices.
  2. The 645N's Camera Grand Prix 1997 rests on Japanese Wikipedia alone.
  3. Ricoh Imaging's product-history pages were unreachable (404); the 645N II catalogue's own opening line ('1984, the Pentax 645 is born; 1997, the 645N gains the world's first AF system') stands in for them. pentaxforums.com blocked every request (403), and the KEH article on the 645 system returned 403.
  4. Weights are not like for like: Pentax's 645N II figure excludes batteries, camera-wiki's 645 figure does not say.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Buttons and an LCD on top = 645; dials = 645N or N II
  • M.UP on the drive dial = 645N II; the model name is printed beside the shutter button on both N bodies
  • AF contacts in the mount throat = 645N or N II; none = 645

Pentax 645 (1984):

  • Pushbutton controls with an LCD on the top plate: no shutter-speed dial (KEH; Eric Woods, 35mmc)
  • Manual-focus Pentax 645 A bayonet with no autofocus contacts; takes the SMC Pentax-A 645 lenses (Wikipedia; camera-wiki)
  • 645 on the nameplate; fixed low-profile prism (camera-wiki)

Pentax 645N (1997):

  • Dials and knobs on the top plate instead of the 645's buttons and LCD (KEH; Eric Woods)
  • Autofocus contacts in the mount; the SMC Pentax-FA 645 lenses focus automatically, A lenses manually (Wikipedia)
  • 645N beside the shutter button; no M.UP position on the drive dial (Ishii Camera; one-scene)

Pentax 645N II (2001):

  • 645NII beside the shutter button (Ishii Camera)
  • M.UP position on the drive dial on top of the grip for mirror lock-up (one-scene; Ricoh Imaging)
  • Covers in glass-reinforced polycarbonate, a change from the 645N (Ishii Camera)

Specifications

Format
56×41.5mm on 120 or 220 film in interchangeable inserts (a 70mm holder on the original 645); fixed back, inserts not changeable mid-roll · 15 on 120 and 30 on 220 on the 645 (90 on 70mm); 15 on 120 and 32 on 220 on the 645N and 645N II, 16 and 33 selectable by a Pentax Function on the N II exposures
Finder
fixed eye-level pentaprism, interchangeable focusing screens (four types on the 645N II) · 0.76× magnification · 92% coverage
Shutter
electronically controlled vertical-travel cloth focal plane · 645: 15s–1/1000, B. 645N and N II: 1/1000–30s stepless in AE, 4s (or 6s, see variants) to 1/1000 on manual, B · flash sync X at 1/60 and slower on all three
Film advance
built-in motor: 1.5 frames a second on the 645, 2 on the 645N and N II; automatic wind-off at the end of the roll, mid-roll rewind button on the N II
Back
fixed; film loads in interchangeable 120 and 220 inserts (70mm holder on the 645), which cannot be swapped mid-roll
Meter
TTL centre-weighted, ISO 6–6400 (645); TTL 6-segment evaluative, centre-weighted and spot, EV 2–21 at ISO 100 with the 75mm f/2.8 (645N, N II)
Motor drive
Not compatible — The winder is built into the grip and runs on the six AA cells; no external drive exists
Weight
1320 g
Dimensions
147 × 109 × 117 and 1.32kg with grip and film holder, no lens (645, camera-wiki; Wikipedia 1,310g); 150 × 111 × 117 and 1,280g with film back, no batteries (645N II, Ricoh Imaging) mm
Country
Japan
Accessories
120 and 220 film inserts; 70mm film holder for the 645 (90 frames) · Rear converters A645 1.4× and 2× (no autofocus through them) · Adapter 645 for Pentax 67 lenses · Interchangeable focusing screens, four types on the 645N II · Cable release; quick-shoe adapter

Ricoh's 645N II figures: 92% vertical, 93% horizontal, 0.76×. The 645's finder has dioptre adjustment (Martin Jeffery); no coverage figure found for the 645 or 645N

Where sources disagree

Weight (grams)
  • 1.32kg with grip and film holder, no lens — camera-wiki; 1,320g — one-scene
  • 1,310g — English Wikipedia

Better supported: 1320

Speeds (slowest manual speed)
  • 6 seconds — Ricoh Imaging's 645N II specification page and catalogue
  • 4 seconds — camera-wiki, for both the 645N and 645N II

Better supported: 6 seconds for the N II

Ricoh is the maker; camera-wiki may be carrying the 645N figure across.

Number of Pentax Functions on the 645N II
  • nine (F1–F9) — camera-wiki; nine PF settings — Ricoh's spec page
  • ten — Ricoh's product page and English Wikipedia

What reviewers say

History

The Pentax 645 of 1984 is the medium-format camera that behaves like a 35mm SLR from the same maker: a fixed pentaprism, a motor winder in the grip running on six AA cells, program, aperture-priority and shutter-priority automation with a centre-weighted TTL meter, and a vertical cloth focal-plane shutter from 15 seconds to 1/1000 with flash at 1/60. Film goes in as an insert, 120 for 15 frames or 220 for 30, with a 70mm holder for 90, and the insert cannot come out mid-roll; the back is fixed. camera-wiki gives 147 × 109 × 117mm and 1.32kg with grip and film holder and no lens, and dates the introduction to the 1984 PMA show; Japanese Wikipedia has it on sale in June. It shot at 1.5 frames a second and was controlled by pushbuttons with an LCD on the top plate, which is how a 645 is told from its successors at a glance.

The 645N of December 1997 (February 1998 in the United States, per camera-wiki) is the reason the line matters. Pentax’s own catalogue calls its SAFOX IV phase-detection system the world’s first autofocus in a medium-format camera, and Japanese Wikipedia records a Camera Grand Prix for it. With autofocus came the FA 645 lenses, while the manual A lenses still fit and still meter; dials replaced the buttons; the meter gained 6-segment evaluative and spot patterns; the winder went to 2 frames a second; a self-timer appeared; and the camera began printing shooting data outside the frame on the film edge. The shutter runs to 30 seconds in AE and 4 seconds on manual, sync stays at 1/60, and the 220 count rose to 32. Sunrise Camera weighs both N bodies at 1.3kg.

The 645N II of October 2001 added the one thing reviewers of the N kept asking for, a mirror lock-up on the drive dial’s M.UP position, together with more imprinted data and a set of Pentax Functions for shutter-speed steps, timer length and frame count (16 on 120 and 33 on 220 if wanted). Ricoh’s specification gives 1,280g with film back and no batteries, 150 × 111 × 117mm, a finder showing 92% by 93% at 0.76×, and 6 seconds as the slowest manual speed where camera-wiki says 4. Ishii Camera notes the covers changed to glass-reinforced polycarbonate. It stayed in the catalogue until October 2009 and went out with the 67II.

Buying: a 645 is manual focus and an all-electronic camera of 1984, and fleetwoodler’s point that it will one day stop is fair; its shutter is loud and its finder dim by the reviewers’ account. The choice between the N and the N II is the mirror lock-up, and the N’s ML button is memory lock, not mirror lock (Eric Woods). Ishii Camera’s warning applies to all three: the AA holder in the grip corrodes if batteries are left in, so pull them. Inserts are the other check; 220 film is gone, so a body with only a 220 insert needs a 120 one, and there is no changing them mid-roll. What the sources do not give is a launch price for any of the three bodies or a production figure.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Photographs

Pentax 645
Pentax 645 with the 75mm f/2.8 — Dudhhr, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Pentax 645
Pentax 645 — Jussi You-S-See, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Pentax 645
Pentax 645N II with the FA 45mm f/2.8 — Nick4Penta, via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $420 across 50 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-19 (middle half $300–$590). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 119 more listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-09-19. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Pentax 6×7 / 67 · Pentax 67II

Lenses for this body: SMC Pentax-A 645 150mm f/3.5 · SMC Pentax-A / FA 645 35mm f/3.5 · SMC Pentax-A / FA 645 45mm f/2.8 · SMC Pentax-A / FA 645 75mm f/2.8

Sources (15)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.