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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
01-05-2019, 03:50 PM
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Focusing screens must be calibrated for correct and precise focus at 3 points in the centre. I would be very, very surprised if Eric H. did not do this. Assuming dioptric correction, if installed, is correct, then imprecise screen calibration is just about the limit of finger pointing.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
12-18-2018, 09:35 PM
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That's the correct advice (from Pentax) and conventional wisdom would strongly suggest following that path (service centre).
You can do it yourself, but you will need patience to establish correct and accurate focus at 3 points in the centre (near and far, using a magnifier/loupe) and make adjustments with the screws and shims. Each tiny shim is matched to a specific position and sometimes a change is required when focus cannot be accurately achieved.
I am hunting for a grid / microprism screen. I have never wavered from that type of exceptionally useful screen during my very long use of 35mm (Canon EOS 1N and 1V). The lack of quick viewfinder horizontal and vertical reference is a constant threat of ending up with off-level horizons, what with the spirit levels of my Manfrotto Mg head being in front, which I makes it mightily irksome to see them in certain situations (such as a recent shoot when prickly lakeside reeds just below the lens threatened to impale my fingers and face!).
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
12-01-2018, 04:41 PM
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That is my recommendation too for all early model Asahi Pentax / Pentax 6x7 cameras, not necessarily so for the later 1989-era Pentax 67, but depending on history.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
11-21-2018, 05:04 PM
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Meanwhile, this local eBay listing, in Australian dollars, shows just how extravagant the going price is for the 75AL. For that price, I would very much expect MINT/BNIB/WP, not used-'excellent' by any stretch of the imagination. It is true the relative rarity of this lens may influence used market prices (supply/demand), as there are very few of the lenses in active ownership that I am aware of here -- I can only think of three off the top of my head.
The 'hipster's nirvana' 105 2.4 (looks quite the dainty piece propped up on the bamboo board with light toasted rye on 'mashed avo with kale slurp for brunch...) isn't too far off the OMG$ stakes at a close second. ;)
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
11-21-2018, 02:41 PM
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Go hell for leather for the 75AL! :lol:
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
11-21-2018, 02:14 PM
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Yes, equipment aside, the 6x7 format is exceptionally versatile, but I also like the 6x6 format, as so very many do -- it works extremely well for simple compositions. Having said that, I couldn't see myself using and staying with just one somewhat inflexible format -- the 6x6 -- for everything. There is too much variety out there. I default my ZeroImage 69 pinhole camera to the 6x6 format (among 4 available for the camera), and more than once I have cringed that I chose the square over 6x7 or 6x9! ;)
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
11-21-2018, 12:50 AM
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I consider the very early Asahi Pentax and later Pentax 6x7 cameras, from the late 1960s to early 1970s, to be the least best or wisest choice in terms of long term serviceability/reliability. Angling for a 1989-era Pentax 67 is a vast improvement, but a lot will depend on how the camera has been used, either professionally (common to see beat-up versions operable for a period, before one of the common age-related problems spring up) or amateur use (neglect, careless use and long periods of no use at all, which is not particularly good for any of the Pentax MF cameras). Review what you see available out there with care and get a camera in your hands to examine.
The Achilles Heel with the Pentax 6x7 / 67 cameras is of course the meter coupling chain. Clue up on the correct method of removing and replacing the TTL meter prism (and only that prism) to avoid this. Other problems include off-cal TTL meter (under-, mostly, but sometimes over-exposure), derangement of shutter speeds, shutter drag/uneven spacing, wind-on gear pawl failure, sticky/slow mirror counter roller failure, mirror solenoid sticking (requiring either service or replacement with another, likely old or more recent specimen, plus reassembly and calibration of the lens mount for focus accuracy). The list may seem to go on and on, but 20 years back I had much, much more problems with a 500C/M Hassie's body (not precisely square), the flaky shutter and the lens lock. It just did not go well with me. So I made do here and there with a Mamiya C330. I will put it very blungly: I would never recommend one of the old Hasselblad cameras for a first-time user.
Light seals are an absolute pain if you are replacing them on the prism; they will need replacing one day. Body seals (there are not many of them at all due to clever channels that do a great job of sealing out light) hold up very, very well unless the camera has been exposed to very high temperatures that causes the material to literally melt, with one consequence being that molten goo finding its way onto the shutter curtain!
Chimney (with its own adjustable focus!), waist-level, right-angle finder (with a wide range of adjustable dioptric correction on it), central-area eyepiece magnifier and even no prism at all-focusing provide plenty of options!
Link to Sticky: Pentax 6x7 / 67 (all variants) meter coupling chain - PentaxForums.com |
