Pentax 67 - snap-happy MF
Written: Mar 20 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: image quality, ease of use, speed
Cons: not widely available, non-removable back
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| dsheehy's Full Review: Pentax 67II Medium Format Film Camera |
This is a controversial Medium Format camera. Some love it, some absolutely hate it. I'm one of the former.
It's amazing having that huge 6x7cm negative in a body I can pick up and use like a 35mm SLR (albeit a rather huge one, that is!). I used one of these for doing skiing and snowboarding photography. It is actually possible to capture fast action on MF film without being Weegee!
You have to give this camera a thorough test-run before committing. If it is not 'your style', in terms of ergonomics and usage, you will hate it. If you decide to buy, make sure you get the ground-glass with the grid etched into it. This makes lining up shots much quicker, because you may not have much time if you are on location. the Pentax 67 encourages a much less 'contemplative' and more 'from the hip' style than traditional MF cameras.
I t does have it's problems, though. the biggest of these is the lack of a removable back. This makes changing film a pain without an assistant and a second camera. The camera is not well suited to studio use for this reason. It means one has to rotate the whole camera, not just the back to change orientation.
The removable back issue is compensated for by the fact that the camera accepts both 120 and 220 film. This allows shooting more in between film changes if you can find 220 film.
A Mamiya, Fuji or Hasselblad is a much better choice if the studio is your main work area. The other problem is the scarce availability oif second-hand parts. Medium format cameras are the perfect products to buy second hand. They generally have been treated well by professional users, and MF photography has not been advanced by electronics in the way 35mm has (possibly with the exception of the Pentax 645 to a degree). This means a 20-year-old camera is likely to perform as well as a new one. The cost of making new MF cameras is also getting higher and higher, for manufacturers who would rather be building digital and video cameras. So I can't really recommend that you buy a new MF camera. There is a much wider availability of parts for Mamiya and Hasselblad cameras.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
dsheehy
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Member: David Sheehy
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 2 members
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