Pentax's 645D camera at Photokina (photos)

COLOGNE, Germany--Pentax is bringing its 645D medium-format camera to Europe, first showing it here at the Photokina Imaging show and in December beginning to sell it as well. Previously the high-end camera was available only in Japan.

The 645D, like medium-format cameras from rivals such as Hasselblad, Phase One, and Phase One's Mamiya subsidiary, is bulkier than even high-end SLR cameras from the likes of Nikon and Canon.

The Pentax 645D has an integrated design that builds the sensor and screen into the camera body, as with conventional SLRs and Hasselblad's H4D models. Phase One, which builds sensor-screen modules called digital backs, prefers Hasselblad's older V-series designs that accepted the digital backs.

An underside view of the 645D. It's not an easy camera for shooting one-handed.

Pentax is refreshing its medium-format lens line along with the 645D. Attached here is a 55mm model.

This view of the side of the 645D shows its second tripod mount for attaching the camera in a vertical orientation. Closer to the back of the camera is an SD memory card slot.