[67camera]

I've been looking at a lot of Pentax 6x7 listings online. I have seen some cameras with white painted text and some with black text on the back right side of the body. This is the text that says "Asahi Opt. CO., Japan". Both are Mirror Lock-Up models. Anyone know the reason for this discrepancy? Have the solid black ones been painted over? Thanks y'all.

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[desertscape]

My older body (non-MLU) is white while my two newer MLU bodies are black.

[Elroy Jetson]

Both of my bodies are black but the Operating Manual (06271) shows white text. Not much of a cost saving in manufacturing. A few seconds per body, perhaps?

[barondla]

I've been looking at a lot of Pentax 6x7 listings online. I have seen some cameras with white painted text and some with black text on the back right side of the body. This is the text that says "Asahi Opt. CO., Japan". Both are Mirror Lock-Up models. Anyone know the reason for this discrepancy? Have the solid black ones been painted over? Thanks y'all.

Interesting. I have 2 6x7 mlu and have no idea which they are. Will look when I get home.
Thanks,
barondla

[gofour3]

I have a MLU 6x7 circa 1976-79 and it has white lettering.

Phil.

[Silent Street]

DIY white paint in-fill. A very common cosmetic alteration by owners, not Pentax. Generally a 15sec job for anybody with a can of Humbrol model paint: a tiny dab smeared on finger, then in turn across the stamp, finished again with metho dabbed on finger, smeared once more over the stamp to clean up edges and over-fill. Did it on my 67 in 2012, but removed it not long after, as it didn't appeal to me having this very minor body detail painted. Have seen it on so many cameras, in many, many colours; back in 1984 I filled in the stamp on my OM4 (OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.) in blue -- 'cause it matched the uber-pretty blue viewfinder exposure scale...

Anyways, whatever is there should have no effect on the quality of the image...

[67camera]

Great information, thank you. I do wonder how many of these cameras in Japanese ebay listings have been repainted.

[Silent Street]

Great information, thank you. I do wonder how many of these cameras in Japanese ebay listings have been repainted.

How long is a piece of string...? The chances are the eBay listings have changed hands many times over and the current seller may or may not have knowledge of what the body, prism, hood, finder etc. stamps look like by default, and for all intents and purposes, they don't care.

The Japanese love detailing things like this, and they value it highly, which may explain the knock-on popularity around the globe. In Japan, outrageously decorated cameras in any shape or form occasionally spring up and grab the world's attention: some of us can remember the gaudy, bright bright and gold Pentax 6x7 (red is a symbol of good luck and posterity in eastern culture); a black 67 that has had the default black paint removed then repainted in gold, and polished to a eye-blinding lustre. Still others that have been clad in snakeskin and solid gold for enthusiasts in the UAE, keen to use such things as eye-catching desk ornaments. And we're concerning ourselves with the stamps on the body? Tell you what, the more you look out there, the more oddities and extravagances you are going to uncover.

The stamp that is the subject of this thread is but one example that can be in-filled. On the Pentax TTL pentaprism, the serial number and ASAHI OPT. CO. stamps are often in-filled in white here, just for completeness. I thought of doing this, then after doing it with the body stamp, and disliked it, I was not going to make the same mistake twice!

[w2ck]

Hi,

My 6x7 MLU has it white. I figure it was factory. And, I also figure that at some point in time they quit performing that step.

Stan

[gofour3]

Hi,

My 6x7 MLU has it white. I figure it was factory. And, I also figure that at some point in time they quit performing that step.

Stan

Yeah I can trace the history of my 6x7 and it was purchased in Saskatchewan in the late 1970's. I bought the 6x7 locally through Craigslist from the second owner and he knew the original couple who bought the 6x7.

Everything (6x7 and 90/2.8LS) were still in their original boxes and I guarantee no one painted the white lettering on the body. The 6x7 body went through many changes over its 20 year run and it looks like this was one of them.

Phil.