Pentax 67 prism won't remove.

Hi,

 

Recently put a regular (non-TTL) prism onto my Pentax 6x7 body and now I cannot get it off at all. The Prism-release buttons on either side seem to be doing nothing when I press them.

 

Anyone got any ideas?

I don't own a Pentax 6X7, but I went through 3 Prisms before I could get one to work on my Mamiya 645. The first Prism would not fit tightly on the camera no matter what I did, or how hard I tried. The second prism fit, but the mirror inside was starting to detach. So every time I looked through the view-finder I would see a dark line running through the middle. It didn't affect picture quality, but it was very annoying.

 

I'm not sure, but on some of these older, all-metal cameras, I think the metal starts to warp a little either from the heat, or from being dropped, or for being bumped around during transport. That's why my last Prism actually came with the camera together, not bought separately. The good thing is that Pentax/Richo is still around so maybe you can write to them and explain your situation. Did you try reading the Manual ?

Edited December 2, 2020 by hjoseph7

The good thing is that Pentax/Richo is still around so maybe you can write to them and explain your situation. Did you try reading the Manual ?

 

I think it would help more — a great deal, actually, if you owned a Pentax 67 and were familiar with the fittings of e.g. the prisms, metered or non-metered.

 

Regarding Pentax/Ricoh, support for the Pentax 67 MF cameras ceased in 1988 and no support, verbal or otherwise, is provided by the conglomerate of Ricoh/Pentax that we know today which is not even familiar with the earlier cameras.

 

When and where a component fails it needs to be referred for repair, chiefly on the grounds of the age of these cameras, both the 6x7 (1969 onward) and the newer 67 (1989 to 1992). Repairs are provided (in the USA) by Eric at pentaxs.com (Tennesse).

 

Though very rare, the prism latches can jam or lose functionality if there is rust present in the spring release or the spring itself has slipped (either/both events can be the result of long periods of neglect, but more commonly heavy professional use). I think it is likely rust or an obstruction is also present in the body-side latch piece. You can try a very small squirt of WD40 where the latch fits into the top prism fascia and see if that frees it up. It is important to thoroughly clean the focusing screen if WD40 gets onto it. Use isopropyl alcohol and a microfibre cloth for this and be thorough.

 

Photonet is just one of the avenues of enquiry you can make. There are others. You may find that posting your query in the medium format section of Pentaxforums.com will generate some assistance from long-time users of these cameras.

"Photonet is just one of the avenues of enquiry you can make. There are others. You may find that posting your query in the medium format section of Pentaxforums.com will generate some assistance from long-time users of these cameras."

 

At least I tried nobody else did ? I even Googled some Pentax 6X7 camera reviews , because sometimes there are some pretty good hands-on tutorials there, but I did not find anything that would help.

 

There are also quite a few of 6X7 owners and there is also a Pentax Section. Maybe they never ran into that problem ? I din't think about the Pentax Forums though.... I visit that Forum a lot and they can be pretty helpful....

Edited December 3, 2020 by hjoseph7

Got it off eventually, thanks though guys. Not sure why it was so difficult, might have been a tight fit because of fresh light seals. Had to use a piece of hard plastic to press down very hard on the switch while I pulled the prism up, that did the trick.