Is there any hope for sharp pics with an old 6x7?

[albano]

Hi. I've just bought an old Pentax 6x7, without MLU (the oldest

version). Reading the web archives, it seems it's a hard quest to

obtain sharp images without the MLU and a heavy tripod. Is it really

true? You put me paranoid.

I bought this version because I found a gorgeous deal on it with

prism and SMC Tak 105mm, but I'm affraid about what can I expect from

it in terms of image quality. My intended uses would be flash-studio-

photography, some landscape work. My tripod is a Manfrotto 144 with

029 head. I want to know what are the slowest speeds handholdable (if

there's anyone)?, if you think my tripod is enough for this beast? If

even not having MLU I can expect good results using the tripod? What

speeds I should avoid?

I don't plan to buy new lenses in the near future, so all comments

should be regarding the use of the 105. All tips and comments are

welcome. Thanks in advance.

[tony_cunningham]

Albano - you might be surprised by this answer, but I think the oldest body was heavier than the next model, this made it more stable hand held. Also hand holding damps some of the vibration. I used to use mine a lot hand held and never had any problems. I would rarely use speeds slower than 1/125 though. You may run into problems with the slower films.

 

You cannot realistically use the MLU hand held anyway, so for your hand held work this body should be ok, assuming it is in good condition. I have heard that Pentax won't service this body anymore in some countries, but am not sure if that is true.

 

I do like the MLU on a tripod and rarely used my old body on a tripod. When I did for landscapes I shut down the lens and used very long exposures - covering the lens by hand and counting the exposure.

 

In the studio I used (and still do) the 165 LS mostly to avoid the 1/30 shutter speed. Depends what you will photograph.

 

So don't be too worried about the old body, it could be fine.

 

Some old 105s are good and some are not. You will have to decide for yourself. Mine was razor sharp, but with a yellow cast.

[allan_jamieson2]

The first Pentax 6 x 7 that I had was the non mirror up version, a bit beaten up

and obviously hard used, but it did enable me to get used to the format and

start to build up a decent lens collection. I took mainly landscape pictures with

that camera, using Velvia down to 1/4 and 1/8th of a second and the resulting

transparencies were pretty sharp. I compared some of them to those that I

took later on with a new Pentax 67 and I couldn't see any evidence of camera

shake or any blurring. But, I did use the camera on a heavy tripod, often

pushing down on the prism to steady it a bit as I pressed the cable release.

 

I kept that camera for years as a spare P67 body, when I had the new camera.

It came to a sad end last year when the Royal Mail harpooned it with some

mystery projectile straight through the prism, whilst in transit.