I've recently completed a project with my newly aquired Pentax 67 with the aim to explore the potential of night photography within the Cornish landscape where I live. The negatives have been scanned in and there is no digital manipulation apart from cleaning up dust and dirt.

I'm very new to the world of the 67, having used a Mamiya RB67 and RZ67 I felt this was a very nice format to work with, further research into 67 formats lead me to the Pentax 67 and 67ii, the supposed 'more hand-holdable' variety of 67 cameras. It was soon after that I bought my own 67.

I would love to get some feedback on the following images, please leave your thoughts and comments, i'm very keen to know how my images stand within the 67 community.

[Ron Boggs]

I like your ability to see and capture mood in your images. Metering on the fence in the mist shot is nice--very easy to blow out the highlights on that. Color film at night makes for nice surreal colors esp. in the cart shot. It appears that you will be having a very good time with 67 format!

[Andres]

The second is just amazing! the light is quite rare but perfect!
What lenses are you using?

Thanks for the comments, i'm using a Super Takumar 75mm f/4.5, I find that it gives me very sharp results and also very contrasted results, especially with black and white. My cash flow isn't exactly great at the moment so i can't really afford to spend out loads on gear, but I find that the 75mm is a nice lens to use, very good for landscapes and also portraiture too.

Matt.

[nightfly]

Very nice. Interesting color effects with the streetlighting. If you don't mind, what film are you using? Exposure times?

I'm using Fujifilm Fujicolor Pro 400H Color Negative Film, ISO 400. Exposure times varied between 2 minutes to 5 minutes depending on the intensity of the light.

[Substitute]

Very interesting!!
Thanks for sharing



http://a2hs.blogspot.com/

[Nesster]

Those are awesome, atmospheric photographs... well done indeed.

How do you find the camera, handling & weight & bulk wise? How's the viewfinder - must look huge!

[K-9]

Low light and night photography is one of the reasons I won't give up my medium format gear and go totally digital. Just try getting any of these shots not to look noisy on digital! I like these shots, especially the first. Such a vast appearing scene to look at and the fence leads you in and takes your eye right through the shot.

I also use 800 speed film for night shots with good results.

[Simon S]

Great shots. I am thinking of dipping my toe into medium format for long exposure shots. From what I understand you would need to use bulb for 2min exposures, is this right for your gear? How do you calculate your exposure with these long times and do you stand by with a watch? Just wondering how very long exposures are done.

[edl]

Very nice photos, thanks for sharing.

I'm curious as well, how do you find the handling on the 67II? Have you tried it hand-held? I've heard that's a good reason to use one, but I can't imagine it would honestly be possible with the huge mirror and shutter. Not to mention that it's absolutely huge...

[Ash]

Nice to see some MF results here.
Good results - the lighting is very fitting to the style of images, and I like the perspectives given. Well done.

Sorry for the late reply.. i've been without the internet for a bit

I'm a strapping 6"5 that enjoys working out.. so the weight isn't really an issue hehe, the size of the thing is something to get used to, I used a waist-level viewfinder for this project, I find that it helps when focusing and helps the image appear brighter on the finder.
Wack it on bulb using a cable release (I use one that holds in place when pressed in), and then time the exposure using my watch.. again judging each exposure on the intensity of the light. I used to play with 100 year old plate cameras so judging exposure times sometimes comes naturally.
The 67 is a delight to use hand-held, I feel slightly empowered when holding it the mirror-clack is legendary, and the camera has a lovely tendancy to produce very contrasted images especially in daylight.
I was tempted to use 800 speed film at one point, my film supplier suggested it to me and quoted that it gave even more impressive colour saturations than the 400.

[Jonson PL]

I’m just a 35 mm and DSLR user, but I find these to be great shots

This is an example of an image I took while hand holding the camera in daylight.
400 ASA, 1/200, F8.