Asahi Pentax 6x7, 67, 67 II

by Karen Nakamura

Overview and Personal Comments

The Pentax 6x7 is the Arnold Schwazenegger of cameras -- everything else is a "girlie-man" compared to this behemoth. When you pick it up, it seems like it is made of solid metal. It's impossible to tell from photographs the sheer scale of this camera. Let me just say this - with the standard 105mm f/2.4 lens and prism, it weighs 1760 grams. That's twice the weight of a Leica M7 with 50mm f/1.4. (A fully loaded Nikon F5 with 50mm f/1.4 comes close at 1580 grams.) If the Pentax 67 isn't man enough for you, the Mamiya RB67 at 2690 grams or the Fuji 680 is your next best choice. Pentax 6x7 cameras are now widely available on the used market for about $600 with standard lens, which makes them the easiest entry to medium format quality. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

The Pentax 6x7 was first released in 1969 and underwent some minor modifications while in production, namely the addition of a mirror-lock-up (MU), which is a useful addition for tripod photography that will improve image quality. In online ads, you'll see this described as "Pentax 6x7 with MU." Mirror-Lock-Up is also abbreviated MLU. Older cameras often went back to Pentax to have the MU feature added, so serial numbers aren't an accurate way to gauge whether or not it has this feature. Recently, parts for pre-MU cameras are becoming scarce and Pentax will not repair them, so it behooves you to buy a camera with mirror-lockup if you can.

In 1989, the Pentax 6x7 underwent some other upgrades, most significantly the shutter timing was changed from being partly mechanically to being fully electromechanically controlled. This helped improve exposure accuracy (unfortunately it also meant that the bulb-mode required batteries, which disappointed many astrophotographers; you can get Pentax to modify your camera to not require batteries in bulb). Some components of the all-metax 6x7 were replaced with polycarbonate to lighten it. The upgraded model was renamed the Pentax 67.

In 1998, the camera was completely redesigned and computerized. The most significant change was the inclusion of auto-exposure and matrix metering through the new AE Pentaprism. The right hand grip was changed to make it easier to handhold, and it used CR123A lithium batteries for better cold-weather performance. Pentax named it the Pentax 67ii. They also added a non-battery-reliant power-saving time mode (bulb), mostly for the many astrophotographers who use this camera. Regardless of the many internal changes, it's essentially the same camera DNA, unchanged for over 35 years.

Pentax 6x7 cameras have been particularly popular with astrophotographers because of the large film size, absolutely flat film plane, and easy mounting to telescopes.

The Pentax 67 is one of the best landscape medium format cameras available. Pentax has a very wide range of 67 interchangeable lenses for it ranging from 45mm super-wides to 1000mm* super-teles. No other medium-format camera system boasts as wide a range.

All of the recent lenses feature Pentax's proprietary 'smc' (super-multicoating) lens coating, which is easily one of the best in the industry, if not the best. All 67 lenses can be used with all Pentax 6x7 and 67 cameras, regardless of vintage. What's more, you can use your 67 lenses on your Pentax 645 or even Pentax K mount camera with adapters made by Pentax. And for those who gripe about the Pentax 67's laughably slow flash X-sync of 1/30 sec, there are even leaf-shutter lenses below that will allow you to do daylight flash-sync of up to 1/500 sec.

*At 55mm x 70mm, the 6x7 film frame is double the dimensions of 35mm film (24mmx36mm) in both width and height, making for a whopping 400% more film area. A rough guide to recalculating focal length to a 35mm equivalent is to divide by 2: so the 45mm super-wide is a 22mm in the 35mm world; and the 1000mm super-tele is a 500mm. More info on film format equivalents is here.

Interesting quirks

Danny Gonzalez has perhaps the best summation of the Pentax 67 that I've seen:

        This camera is designed as a field camera, for handheld SLR convenience (convenience is only relative with this camera). The camera remains basically unchanged from its original form and, having been introduced about thirty years ago (and based on the design of the Pentax Spotmatic 35mm camera), almost every feature is archaic by modern standards. It's very large and heavy (by 35mm standards; small and light by 67 standards), fires off like a canon (Mucho vibration and noise) and is quirky like the Pentax 645 (If you take off the TTL prism, then replace it, you've got to remove and replace the lens before you get a reading back. The meter just goes dead). Some lenses focus very closely (55, 90, 135 and new 200), others don't focus closely at all (300/4 and the old 200).
        Working with the camera is an exercise in indecisive relativity; it charms you with its fast lenses, its tanklike craftsmanship and its versatility, but bothers you with its noisy, vibratory release and its 'retro' feature set.
                        Danny Gonzalez

Myths and Truths

The Pentax 6x7 most probably has more myths around it than any other medium format camera. Here are some common ones:

1. You can't handhold it: FALSE. Yes, it's a behemoth and will tire your arms, but many people use it as a handheld field camera. There's an auxiliary wooden grip that makes it much easier to handhold. As an added bonus, the grip also provides a flash shoe bracket. There's a lot of vibration from the mirror flipping up and the huge shutter opening and closing. But with fast film (ISO800 is very usable for prints since the film negative is so huge) and shutter speeds greater than 1/250, it's a nice medium-format shooter. Just be sure to pump weights at the 'Y' before buying one.
2. You need mirror-lock-up (MU): 50% TRUE/FALSE. MU is most probably one of the most important features to look for, but it's not a deal-killer. If you can get a good user 6x7 without MU for a song, then buy it. You can always upgrade later. And with a hefty tripod or with fast film, you may never know the difference.
3. You need a good tripod: TRUE: Again many sins are forgiven with fast film, but if you're shooting with Provia 100 (or goddess forgive, Velvia 50), then you need a very solid tripod. The rule of thumb is that your tripod+head must be twice the weight of the camera. Carbon-fiber is lighter to carry and deadens the vibrations weight somewhat but sheer mass is what's crucial. Many high-end tripods have hooks on the end of the center column, this is to hook your camera bag to give the system more mass. You can also buy "tripod stone bags" to weigh down the legs.
4. Film loading is a pain: TRUE. There are some good sites with tips on how to load film quickly. You can download the manual from the Pentax corporate website (below). The key appears to be loading the empty spool in the camera first, then the film spool, and then finally threading the film into the empty spool.
5. Daylight sync flash is impossible: TRUE. With a top X-sync speed of 1/30th of a second, it's sadly true. This is not a good camera for use with a flash unit. You can buy leaf shutter lenses for the Pentax which increase the sync speed to 1/500 sec. but they are expensive and not that practical in use. If you're doing flash work, get a Hasselblad 500 series instead.
6. A Pentax 67 is sharper than a Hasselblad: Truish. The Hasselblad lenses are actually slightly sharper, but the Hasselblad film size is 55mm x 55mm square. When you actually crop to print, a Hasselblad is more like a 6x4.5 camera. With the much larger 6x7 frame (55mm x 70mm) which requires no cropping on standard printing paper, the Pentax has more film surface area and requires less print magnification, which more than makes up for the slightly lower lens resolution.
7. I need the meter-prism: FALSE. You don't need it, you want it. The 6x7 and 67 came standard with an unmetered pentaprism. You could buy a meter prism as an additional option. The meter prism was coupled to the film speed dial. You would meter the scene, the prism would tell you the aperture you needed to be at. If you're poor, get a handheld lightmeter for between $30-100. It does the same job as the meter prism with better accuracy.
   With the Pentax 67ii, the new AE Pentaprism has the ability to set the shutter speed automatically given the aperture you are at (aperture priority auto-exposure). This is quite handy, but hardly essential.
   There are a variety of interchangeable waist-level finders for the Pentax 67. These are great for macro work, ground-level work, or for pretending your Pentax is a Hasselblad. The Pentax 67 is a system camera, you can also change out the focusing screen.
8. This is a great wedding camera: FALSE. The combination of horrible X-sync flash speed with slow film loading makes this unsuitable for wedding photography (unless you have a very patient bride) or on-the-fly photojournalism. Get a Hasselblad 500 with interchangeable backs instead. Or go digital like every other wedding photographer out there...
9. This is a terrible street photography camera: False. The 67 is a great street photography camera -- as long as you don't need to change film that often. People think it's just a regular SLR -- a bit big perhaps, but an SLR. So you look like just another tourist.
10. Only real men shoot Pentax 67s: FALSE. Actually, one of my friends, New York photographer Eun Suk Joo, shoots with a Pentax 67. She's maybe 5' tall and weighs less than a hundred pounds. It's funny to see her carry it since it's totally out of proportion to her body, but she shoots a mean slide with it and regularly prints giantic 40"x60" posters. If she's ever mugged, she could whack the assailant with her Pentax 67. He'll go down cold and she'll be lucky if she isn't charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

Technical Details

Normal Lenses

Leaf Shutter Lenses

About Asahi Optical Co.

You see both Asahi Pentax and Honeywell Pentax cameras on the market, what's the difference? Asahi Optical Company is the manufacturer of the cameras and has a very hallowed history. It was founded in 1919 to make optical lenses. It came out with its first SLR, the Asahiflex I in 1951. Pentax is the name of their first SLR with a pentaprism (penta-prism = pentax) which came out in 1957. Since then, it's been their tradename for their series of SLRs, just as EOS is the trade name for Canon's electronic SLRs.

Honeywell was the U.S. importer for Asahi cameras until the mid-1970s. Cameras that they imported are stamped "Honeywell Pentax" on the nameplate, not Asahi Pentax. With the minor except of one camera that was designed to accomodate a Honeywell flash unit, Honeywell Pentaxes are identical to Asahi Pentaxes.

About the only things with a stronger cult following than the Pentax screw mount cameras (Spotmatics) are their K-mount cameras, including the K1000. The K1000 which is now being made by Chinese companies and branded under Chinon and other labels, is often recommended by photography instructors. This has caused the price to stay about $200 for a new set. My own recommendation is to stay with the screw mounts. There is a wider variety of lenses and prices are relatively good. There's also a very strong cult following around their gargantuan Pentax 67 medium format SLRs.

• History of the Asahi Optical Corporation (digilander.libero.it)

Trivia: "Pentax" was one of the names the Nippon Optical Corporation cycled through when coming up with the name of their new camera in 1948. They ended up calling it the "Nikon" instead.

On the Net

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