G'day yonder Florida,
Originally posted by nickelphoto I'm just assuming a 67 is likely going to be in better overall shape than a 6x7 due to age.
Yes and no. true and false. But I try and sway people to angle for the Pentax 67, not the earlier models. They are so very old now and frequently turn up in these forums with glitches. The definitive answer though, is how it was used early on in the piece, and how it was used subsequently. The cameras are vulnerable to niggles and faults, exacerbated by brutal handling (especially the winding mechanism), both minor and serious (sometimes requiring repairs that can defeat the purpose). Ideally, fingering a camera of your desire is better than eyeballing it on the web. I just feel, deep within me, this is the best way to do it, even though it is wholly impractical for so many.
Originally posted by nickelphoto Prism: My eyes aren't what they used to be, and I want to be able to nail focus on the 105mm wide open. I'm used to metering handheld with the Hasselblad, so I'm thinking of going with a non-TTL prism since it sounds like the TTL version often can't be trusted?
"My eyes aren't what they used to be" Tell me about that...
If you need specific dioptric correction for the Pentax 67 (the later model is implicit in this designation, as opposed to the 1969-vintage Pentax 6x7) the right angle viewing attachment is a good option (2 available, the 6x7 and 67, one with a handy correction dial which shows just how much to or fro you have adjusted it), though of course it is fiddly and must be removed for transporting the camera. It would be like looking for teeth on a on a galah in the search of dioptric correction lenses to specifically match your eyesight deficit; all manner of experiments have been tried including swapping a Nikon F100 eyepiece. The correction I have is only approximate to my deficit; it works but I use both eyes to focus.
Originally posted by nickelphoto Lens: 105mm f/2.4 SMC and likely a 45mm f/4. I'll be searching for non-yellowed versions of course.
Both are crackers and a good pairing for starting out with the 6x7 system. If you get GAS, the penalty is an ever-increasing gain in portly weight. The camera stuff, I mean.
The 45mm, (82mm filter) if it matters, has a seldom-seen filter clasp at the rear element, in the off-chance you want to tug at the forelocks of a bygone era, and play with gelatin correction filters — those slender and occasionally delightfully gooey gelatin filters. It is a very sharp and comfortable lens to use, very well suited to the landscape genre. Slap a polariser on this pup though and you are looking at a significant impediment to focusing, especially in overcast light or low light. Back to the right-angle finder to get around this annoyance.
I do not have the 105mm as the
f/ length does not work in my scheme. The
SMC Pentax 67-designated lenses will not have yellow-tint (aka Thorium, much loved as a dinner table ping-pong game discussing the perils of deadly radiation poisoning, when a poorly-cooked chicken will more likely poison you and much more quickly...). Be very careful and establish clear and unambigious lines of communication with sellers in Japan. Descriptions are often of the cut-and-paste variety shared amongst a cohort of dealers big and small, never really customised in minutiae for specific listings, so it is very much a case of 'buyer beware'. Ensure you have the option for return of the camera
and the seller carries responsibility for the costs of doing so, especially where a fault exists and that fault would have been obvious to the seller. Returning cameras from distant countries to Japan is not at all cheap or economical.