joe_oliva

Greetings,

I can't figure out what the story is on all this mirror vibration stuff. I own a couple of P67s an use them mainly to photograph Jet Fighters and Bombers (F-117, B-2, F-15, F-16 etc.) both air-to-air and on the ground (takeoffs and landings). On the ground based shots I typically use a 300mm lens, pre-focused, and hand held, panning as the jet whizzes by at 150-170 mph. Lens wide open or stopped down one, and shutter speed 1/500-1/1000. Of course not all the pix are sharp, but most are. Air to air, lenses range from 35 to 300mm, and I loose maybe 20% to focusing errors/camera shake. Now if I could use a tripod, My pix would be even sharper, but tripods and ejection seats aren't terribly compatible. Most of the results get printed 16x20 inches, so sharpness is very important.

My best advice is practice, practice, practice. The P67 is not an easy camera to use compared to 35mm, but the results have impressed enough people in the Air Force to let this civilian fly in military jets and create images at a level of quality (and imagination) that few can match.

I must also say that as far as the lenses go, you can't get any more bang for the buck.

All the Best.

Joe Oliva

AvPhoto

Greetings,

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I have used the P67 2X on 300mm and 55mm lenses, and was rather

disappointed with the 2X. both lenses were stopped down 2 stops as

pentax recommends, and the camera was supported by a sturdy tripod.

Even though the images appear sharp in the view finder, the negatives

are noticably soft.

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I rented the 1.4X before I purchased this, and got satisfacory results

with it hand held with the 300 set wide open. I would not recommend

the Pentax 67 2X.

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Joe Oliva/AvPhoto