Hi all.
I have a friend that's interested in buying a Pentax 6x7, or something similar. Basically, he wants a quality medium format, and I thought I'd check if anyone here was looking to get rid of one.
Russ
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend either a Pentax 67 or the Pentax 645 system ... it depends what he wants to do with the system which one I would suggest he look closely.
The 67 is an amazing system and of course produces huge images on 120 roll film that are 60x70 ... the 645 is an equally amazing system which produces smaller 60x45 images on the same 120 roll film (you need different inserts for 120 or 220, while the 67 has a switch on the pressure plate for the change). Image size might be his criteria, but there are other things to consider when selecting a system ...
The 67 will be about twice the cost (based on used eBay prices) and will be almost twice the weight ... plus no zooms or autofocus on the 67 if either of those features are important.
Pentax has not made any additions to the 67 system for a few years now, so what is out there is what is available, finding good clean 67's is getting harder and harder.
Not all 67's have mirror lock, watch for that, it should have ML, that is an important consideration in this camera, that is one huge mirror moving up and down.
In the 645 only the 645NII has mirror lock ... not to be confused with the ML on the 645N, which means memory lock for exposure (I hate when they do that, use ML to mean two very different things).
The 645 offers an amazing array of lenses, both prime and zooms, and I'm here to tell you that any of these lenses are stunning performers, even the zooms (I have 3 zooms and stopped down slightly they are amazing). Lot of used 645 lenses on eBay, and the manual focus lenses are ridiculously cheap for what they are, good clean examples run about $0.20 to $0.25 on the original dollar!
The 645 also offers both manual and auto focus (he will need the Pentax 645N or 645NII and auto focusing lenses for autofocus capabilities … the original 645 and original lenses are all manual focus only, which all interchangeable ... but if you want the autofocus tool in your kit then the path is clear as to what you will need). All Pentax 645 lenses are interchangeable on all of the Pentax 645 bodies, manual lenses fit the autofocus bodies, etc., but of course a manual focus lens on an autofocus body does not give you autofocus.
PLUS, and here is a huge advantage to the 645 system, Pentax offers a digital 645 body for under $10G (compared to $35G and $40G for other MF digital), so if ever he wants to add the digital wrench to his tool box for whatever reason he can use all the same lenses and accessories as the original 645, 645N and 645NII, no need to buy a whole new system.
By the way, Pentax offers an adaptor to go from 67 lens to 645 body ... plus they also offer an adaptor to go from 645 lenses to any K-mount body ... quite a nicely designed system, all the way from 67 to 35mm.
Another consideration might be projection ... if he is shooting chrome (slide film) and wants to project his images then the 645 would be the best system. Rollei made a selection of medium format projectors which will handle 6x6, and GEPE still manufactures 645 slide mounts (which are simply masked 6x6 mounts). Unfortunately I know of no way to project 6x7 images, unless you cut them down to fit the 6x6 mounts, but of course that cuts the image forever. 6x7 is pretty much a 'light table format' in this regard.
Printing might be worth mentioning here now as well ... a 645 negative almost falls onto the standard 4 to 5 ratio papers (4x5, 8x10, 16x20, etc.) with little cropping, while the squarer 67 format doesn't, and will either require significant cropping of the image, or a good amount of the enlarging paper on each side will be blank.
(By the way, the 4 to 5 ratio papers are not a perfect fit for any film format today without some amount of cropping of the original image. Oddly that 4/5 ratio is a carry-over from sheet film of the view camera era, and even though 35mm film (24x36 with a 2/3 ratio) eventually dominated the market, the paper format was never modified by manufacturers for these modern film formats.)
So, actual image size vs. system expansion ... two items that may well be the dedicing factor in choosing the right Pentax medium format system.
Brian