On Wednesday, October 24, 2001, at 03:08 AM, David A. Mann wrote: > > 2) It's a real pain trying to compose a portrait-orientation shot with > the waist- > level finder, especially when you need to do it _quickly_ to shoot that > waterfall > before your cruise boat moves away, just after they gave you a total > soaking > by piloting to within a couple of metres of it :) I come from the > Mamiya RB67 > where shooting vertical means a quick twist of the film back and you > just use > the vertical composing lines in the viewfinder. I might pick up a prism > someday although I'm not too happy about the 85% coverage despite the > weight saving this would give over 100% (the RB's prism weighs a ton).
Get the prism. You won't regret it. I haven't yet had a problem with unwanted stuff creeping into the frame. Sure, I'd like a prism with a larger percentage of the neg area visible, but I'd rather have this 85% prism for most shooting than the waist level finder. > 3) Shooting verticals on a tripod isn't too great either, but thats the > RB67 > speaking again. Luckily enough the Pentax 6x7 is light enough that it > doesn't > significantly unbalance the tripod when tilted over... See? Take that, naysayers, the Pentax 67 is LIGHT. :) Verticals, again, are really helped by the prism. > 4) I really don't like changing the film. I find it hard to get enough > grip on the > exposed film spool to remove it. I'm scared I'll get it out just far > enough to lose > my grip and drop the roll before sealing it. I'll need to get some > more practice > but I am seriously thinking of going to 220 so I won't have to do it as > often :) You get better and faster at it with practice. At least, I did. I have no trouble unloading the film. The only slow part of my loading process is getting the sprockets to catch on the left hand spool...sometimes it takes a bit of jiggling. Maybe my technique is poor...anyone got any suggestions? > 5) I still don't know how the body "knows" exactly how far to wind the > film on to > get to the first frame after you've advanced to the "start" index > before closing > the back. I've wondered this myself, but I've decided that it doesn't bother me, since I've never lost a frame due to improper winding. I have, however, gotten into the habit of winding a bit past the arrows, for two reasons: 1) there's lots of space left at the end of the film (usually about 3/4 of a frame) 2) when I go to labs that aren't me, sometimes people running daylight loaders put the 120 film in backwards (because nobody has told them they need to roll the film back the opposite way in the darkbox before putting it into the cassette), causing the edge of the first frame to be fogged. > 6) Battery dependence on the mirror lockup. I wish there was at least > a way > to release the mirror without taking a picture, otherwise it either > costs you a > frame of film or a drained battery. I'd like this, too. What's nice, though, is that the Pentax 67 is a camera with so few shortcomings. :) -Aaron - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
