Plain prism Pentax 67 battery-shutter relationship

[m_forest]

<p>Hi all, just a quick question.. Some time back I bought a plain prism Pentax 67 and tested it out by shooting a few rolls. The camera functioned perfectly well, delivering good results, the battery check lamp was lighting up, etc. Having not used the camera for five or six months, I shot another few rolls recently, only discovering towards the end of the last roll that the battery check lamp was not lighting up. The mirror didn't do it's precautionary lock-up which I'm led to believe is the 67's way of telling you to buy a new battery. So, can the 67's shutter continue to perform when the battery is low/dead, or are the few rolls I just shot completely blank?? Any pointers much appreciated.</p>

[allan_jamieson2]

It's been a while, but I've used and owned about three different Pentax 67 models, I did buy brand new once the exact combination you

have and first time out with it on the very first roll of film the battery supplied with it failed! When that happens the camera is unusable re

as the mirror locks up and wouldn't release until I'd rushed out and bought a spare battery. If you can still take photographs with it I think

you still have some power in your battery but I would strongly recommend changing the battery ASAP and getting another one or two to

carry with you as spares before the mirror locks up on you. The batteries will last a long time, particularly as you are using a plain prism

and not the TTL version, enjoy these are still great landscape cameras and I loved using mine in the years that I had them.

 

PS sometimes the mirror can be a bit tricky to release again, even after changing the battery, well it was with that particular camera,

which come to think of it was replaced shortly after that by Pentax as it had a few strange issues.

[m_forest]

<p>Okay, thanks Allan.</p>

[mwmcbroom]

<p>I'm kind of new to the Pentax 6x7. The first one I bought was a 6x7 with MLU, and I noticed that a 6v battery I pulled from a Canon AE-1 Program, which performed well in that camera, wouldn't do anything with the Pentax. I tried a fresher one I had loaded in an A-1 and same difference, it wouldn't trip the 6x7's shutter. So I went down to the store and bought a fresh battery, loaded it in the 6x7 and noticed, for the first time, the battery check light glowed, albeit dimly. But there was enough juice in that battery to trip the shutter. So I began to be concerned about battery drain in that older camera. Especially after checking in at the Pentax forums, only to discover from other members that the battery typically lasted for years in their cameras. Well that had me concerned that the camera I bought may be experiencing excessive battery drain, so I returned it and instead opted for a later version of this venerable classic. I bought a 67 this time and, sure enough, the battery from that AE-1P woud trip this 67's shutter and the battery light glowed -- albeit still feebly. I installed that fresh battery in it and still got a feeble glow out of the battery check light. So I guessed that this is the nature of the beast. As long as I'm getting a normal battery's life from the camera, I don't care about how bright or dim the battery check light is. </p>