Originally posted by tonyzoc
I don't know why someone would think Pentax lacks for flash photography. I saw allot of wedding photographers using 645s back then.
It surprises me if people are having trouble focusing for a wedding. Perhaps they mean for the dancing afterwards rather than the wedding itself. My father did weddings as a "Saturday professional" in the 1960s. His studio provided him with an old-fashioned 620 film camera, with bellows focusing on a scale; he must have judged the distance. For my own wedding the photog used a Rollei TLR.
But in those days (not now?) there was a set photo routine outside the church of Bride & Groom, Bride & Groom & Parents, Bride & Groom & Bridesmaids, Bride & Groom & Parents & Bridesmaids, etc etc with a final big picture of everybody there. All were posed with "
Keep still, say cheese and watch the birdie!". Perhaps people were more inclined to do what they were asked back then. I have been writing my family history lately, illustrated with old photos, and those formal shots are very useful - who was there and who was not. I'd have no use for pictures of people dancing afterwards.
At one wedding the camera shutter failed. He continued, stopping down to minumum aperture, setting the shutter to to Bulb (that still worked) and exposed by removing the lens cap momentarily. No-one seemed to notice the problem and the studio was able to salvage the shots in the darkroom.
Here is one (not with the failed shutter) from around 1960 when he was working idependently. If he used flash it would have been a bulb.