joe_lacy Posted February 2, 2001 Share Posted February 2, 2001 I just came from the Pentax 645 world and I have to admit the 6x7 is a beast to load and unload! I ruined my first roll and the second roll in the camera now is HIGHLY suspect. I'm not a "happy camper". Those little chrome rings on the bottom of the camera won't seem to fold down in their proper place and getting the film out of the camera without unraveling the roll was the reason Valium was invented. There's got to be a better way than what I am doing. What's the secret here? Put it all up for sale on E-bay? Please help... Now...where did I put my Valium bottle? :-) Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg_lawhon Posted February 2, 2001 Share Posted February 2, 2001 Joe: Don't give up on the P67 yet! While it will never be as easy to load as your P645 was, most people seem to get over the learning curve with a little practice and some tips. Check out the thread titled "Pentax 67 Fast Way to Load?" under the Pentax 67 heading on the New Questions page. Here's the link: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0002Xm Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gene crumpler Posted February 2, 2001 Share Posted February 2, 2001 I've been shooting with p67s for about 4 years and I've only had one roll of 120 to by fogged by the the paper unrolling. So just practice! The images you get will be worth the effort. A rolleiflex TLR, Mamiya c330 and a hasselblad are as much trouble to load. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1ev Posted February 2, 2001 Share Posted February 2, 2001 With a little practice you can unload and reload a film in less than 30 seconds and safely. Be sure, when you load the new roll and the empty one on the right to engage it first on the top and then lay it down and lock the chrome ring. If the engage isn't successful at the first try, then you need to play a little with it an loose some time. Same procedure to take the roll out, unlock the ring and press with a finger at the top border of the roll so it will lift from the bottom and you can grab it safely. I was also a little disappointed coming from the 35 mm world, but now I find it quite easy and fast. I never had an unrolled film with the P67. Good luck and don't give up so fast for such a small inconvenient. The quality potential with this camera is just great. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe_lacy Posted February 2, 2001 Author Share Posted February 2, 2001 Thanks everyone. This really helped. Even though the left side was somewhat more difficult... I did get he exposed roll out and a new one back in. This design seems a bit awkward to me, but what the hey! If the images are stunning then the pain is worth it. I'll know how much more "stunning" over my 645 later tonite. Thanks Again, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altaf Posted February 2, 2001 Share Posted February 2, 2001 <!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> <head> <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Mozilla/4.75 [en] (Win98; U) [Netscape]"> </head> <body> <a href="http://www.perceptionsoflight.com/tutorials/loadpentax6x7/loadpentax67.htm">http://www.perceptionsoflight.com/tutorials/loadpentax6x7/loadpentax67.htm</a> </body> </html> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garrett_adams Posted February 2, 2001 Share Posted February 2, 2001 With my fingernail I tear about 80% of the fresh roll sticker and then seat the roll properly in the load slot. Then I complete the tear and pull out the sticker prior to feeding the paper leader towards the take-up slot. This method allows for easy extraction of the roll if you end up having a problem getting the loading spindle to seat into the film spool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgans Posted February 3, 2001 Share Posted February 3, 2001 I just rented one to try it out(and love it). Loading is a little quirky but not much of a problem, and I'm a klutz. The trick is to keep those chrome rings pulled out (and then closed it). But you really can get it down to under 1 min. Is the camera really for sale on eBay? RON Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe_oliva Posted February 3, 2001 Share Posted February 3, 2001 Joe, Loading the camera is one of the few drawbacks to this great camera. Probably the best thing to do is to get roll of film you can waste, and just practice. The faster you try to load it the harder it gets. Its very difficult to load this camera quickly or easily, but it can come with practice. I am an aviation photographer, and I can tell you when I'm strapped in the backseat of a jet fighter, in the middle of a big formation of jets, sometimes were spending $100,000 per hour in jet fuel and operating costs. It's a real drag to tell everyone to hold their position and chill for 30 seconds so I can re-load. Often times I have to concentrate on relaxing so I can get the spindles to seat properly. It definitely takes practice, but in short time you'll find it's worth the extra effort. All the Best, Joe Oliva www.Jetpix.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim_cunningham1 Posted May 12, 2001 Share Posted May 12, 2001 I know what you mean. A partial solution (which is no problem because of my film of choice) is to use an Ilford reel(blank) as your take up reel. Instead of 2 slots for take-up Iford has 4. Sounds crazy but it helps me alot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony_clark Posted August 12, 2001 Share Posted August 12, 2001 It just takes a little practice to pick up the nuances of the loading and unloading. I find that the easiest way is to have the body on a tripod and slightly tilted back to help extract the exposed film. To load the body, slightly tilt the body forward. The toughest part of it is to get the spools locked in the body then securely holding that little tail on the exposed roll of film. With a little practice you will be able to load and download without a tripod and do it quickly. Good luck, Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaps Posted December 25, 2002 Share Posted December 25, 2002 For me, the toughest part is getting the take-up roll properly engaged, so that the silver lever will fold down. I also shoot aerials, and time is of the essence. Here is what I do: get some extra take up reels from your lab, and put a dot of white paint marker showing the orientation of the slot -- in that way, I can visually "line it up" with the blade of the advance mechanism. If I (or the taxpayers, also me ;-) were paying major bux for airtime, I would carry multiple loaded bodies, and yes shoot 220 film for 20 shots! Also, use Fuji film with their improved reel design (a single plastic tab grabs a hole in the film, rather than inserting the tapered leader into the slot and praying). For me, the Fuji reels practically eliminated misalignment problems with paper backing. Happy Shooting! - Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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