Pentax 67 shortage/pricing

[Pioneer]

Wow!

Sell the Camera Calzone!!

They are really nice cameras, that's for certain, but if you can make a real good profit off this kit then do it.

Camera prices cycle up and down. In a few months your kit will be worth half what you paid for it. Fads do not last very long.

I know you enjoy the camera, and you are not really a seller, but let's get serious. I know that you have a lot of photographic options open to you so you are really not going to miss that camera that much. In 6 months to a year you will be able to buy it all back.

Just my 2 cents. Or maybe less.

 

[charjohncarter]

I think it's all down to: 105mm f2.4

Arista EDU ultra 100 HC-110h by John Carter, on Flickr

Handheld, 50 EI, the best lens I've ever used.

 

[bojanfurst]

I always knew if I keep shooting my P67, I'll eventually be hip 😉 Things come in and out of fashion. Next thing the kids will discover is Crown Graphic and the Pentax prices will come down 😉

 

[Benjamin Marks]

I still have mine and actively shoot it. Best MF camera there is. Someone needs to write another article about how heavy/cumbersome/primitive it is and the fact that you can't handhold it because of the mirrorslap

Never been a problem for me . . . love the thing. But it hasn't seen any film in a while.

 

[Prest_400]

I always knew if I keep shooting my P67, I'll eventually be hip 😉 Things come in and out of fashion. Next thing the kids will discover is Crown Graphic and the Pentax prices will come down 😉

Since I discovered the system back when I read about MF, there was something interesting in it. Perhaps the grown SLR form factor and neg size with good lenses and not steep price. Wouldn't say no to a P67, esp the P67II! 😀

The 105mm 2.4 is quite unique and attractive to the system. That is a heavy part of its recent hipness for sure.

Contax 645 ain't coming down for sure. There was this thread around here of the chap who wanted to find a 80 f2 under a grand, and it was very difficult.

 

[J enea]

I still kick myself for not buying a backup 67ii body when i had a chance. my local camera store used dept had got a whole system from what was clearly a pro. 3 67ii bodies all with the new metering prism and wood grip with flash capabilities. also was every lens that pentax made for that system, and I mean every one. the super long telephoto lenses had cases that looked like my telescope cases. so my drug dealer said he would sell me a body with the 105 and 55mm lenses with grip for $900. I passed as I was there to buy the same guys hasselblad pcp-80 slide projector for $800. while I love the projector I kick myself for not buying the backup body, or all 3 at the price he was selling em. I keep looking for a backup body now and your right guys, prices have gone up.

when I look back at what I consider to be my best landscape prints, more than 80% have come from my 67ii system.

 

[gdmcclintock]

I have it on good authority that Bruce Weber has 100 of these cameras that he uses for his fashion shoots.

 

[Larry Cloetta]

<snip> I was there to buy the same guys hasselblad pcp-80 slide projector for $800. <snip>........ prices have gone up.

A PCP80 for $800 is considered theft🙂 So, you're very lucky to get away with that.

As far as the prices for Pentax 67 items go, they may be going up, I don't know, but, if looked at in the context of what level of photographic results you can get with a given system, all that means is that Pentax67s have gone from being insanely undervalued to merely very undervalued. And, it's not just the 105.

 

[ktmrider]

There are two in the used section of B&H as I post this.

 

[GarageBoy]

67iis were always expensive and in demand. I sold one with shutter problems 5 years ago for $600

Roger, which 6x7 linhof do you use?

 

[huddy]

The 67ii's have been expensive for a long time. I'd love to get one but can't justify the coin. The 75/2.8 AL's have also held steady in the $750-1000 range. It's my favorite lens in the system but once again I can't justify it when the 55/4.0 and 105/2.4 make such a excellent combination. If the 67ii really does eliminate the vibration, I guess I should save and get one though; I've definitely had shots lose a bit of sharpness at 1/125 handheld that I could nail with a Mamiya 645 at 1/60.

 

[huddy]

There are two in the used section of B&H as I post this.

Just curious how much those are fetching? Does look like the units on the bay have risen $200-300 each.

 

[unixrevolution]

I just put 70 shots through my 6x7 at the rennaissance festival. All handheld. As long as your shutter speeds are up and you are careful, I don't see mirror slap issues.

Most of the negatives of the pentax 6x7 are either untrue or overstated. So I have learned by actually shooting one.

 

[brennanphotoguy]

Those two are sold. We sold them yesterday.

 

[Roger Hicks]

67iis were always expensive and in demand. I sold one with shutter problems 5 years ago for $600

Roger, which 6x7 linhof do you use?

Currently, in 6x7, a stripped-down Tech 79 with extra rise. In the past: ST IV, ST 70. I also have a 5x7 Tech V. And a 5x4 Technikardan...

Cheers,

R.

 

[flavio81]

I just put 70 shots through my 6x7 at the rennaissance festival. All handheld. As long as your shutter speeds are up and you are careful, I don't see mirror slap issues.

Which shutter speeds? How fast? Did you use the wooden hand grip? If i can't do 1/30 or at least 1/60 reliably then the camera becomes limited to me.

Most of the negatives of the pentax 6x7 are either untrue or overstated. So I have learned by actually shooting one.

That is what I thought at the beginning and that's why I bought myself a Pentax 67 in the past. So I actually shot one and sadly i found many of the criticisms to be valid. Got back to my Mamiya RB67 and C330, happier with them.

It is sad because I miss the sound of the P67 shutter. But romanticism aside, it didn't work as well as expected.

I am also dissapointed because the P67, which is an update of the original P6x7, did not improve the shutter to lower down the vibrations. It is just as if Pentax did not care for improving the machine. The actual improvement only came later in the form of the P67II.

 

[Roger Hicks]

. . . So I actually shot one and sadly i found many of the criticisms to be valid. Got back to my Mamiya RB67 and C330, happier with them. . . .

Same here, though I went for Linhof instead. Bigger negative too (56x72mm). I could borrows the company 67s whenever I wanted to, but I didn't often want to. But as I say, it was the unreliability of the early 67s that I really remember.

Cheers,

R.

 

[leicapixie]

I owned the 1st version for more than 25 years.
Less than 100 films through it.
I owned a 4x5 heavy metal tripod.
I had no problems with vibrations by not using certain speeds.
It needed "pro" labs that used outdated processing and printing methods compared to "1-Hour Labs".

My happiest moment was trading the whole kit and caboodle,
for a new 2000 Leica M6TTL at Samys in LA.

I never looked back.

 

[flavio81]

Same here, though I went for Linhof instead. Bigger negative too (56x72mm). I could borrows the company 67s whenever I wanted to, but I didn't often want to. But as I say, it was the unreliability of the early 67s that I really remember.

Was it the film advance? That's what I often hear when mentioning the reliability problems of the Pentax. The film advance is really ambitious, for it takes just a small angle of the film advance lever to advance a lot of film. That means the sprockets will be under a lot of stress. Coincidentally the film advance sprockets on the RB67 120 film back are also the weak point of the system.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Was it the film advance? That's what I often hear when mentioning the reliability problems of the Pentax. The film advance is really ambitious, for it takes just a small angle of the film advance lever to advance a lot of film. That means the sprockets will be under a lot of stress. Coincidentally the film advance sprockets on the RB67 120 film back are also the weak point of the system.

Honestly, I forget. They didn't break on the rare occasions I used them, and I never thought to ask the official photographer for the company just how they did break. I just know they were in for service a lot. Sorry I can't be more help: this was in about 1976-77, and somebody else's non-working cameras were not something I paid much attention to.

Cheers,

R.