Pentax 67, back with a vengeance

It's been kind of weird the last few months, not having a Pentax 67 kit to shoot. Back in April my main Pentax 6x7 camera just totally locked up while shooting, and my backup body stopped winding film properly. This was after my first Pentax 6x7 body stripped a gear in the winding mechanism. So yes, I had 3 cameras break on me in a short period of time. Not a good time for the Pentax. I've been meaning to send all 3 to get repaired (and sell the extras) but so far I haven't had the chance.

Then I happened upon a very, very good deal on a Pentax 67ii kit. I took the plunge and bought it so I could upgrade to the 67ii model, which I've wanted to do for years.

I've been ecstatic with this camera. The Pentax 67 system is by far the most versatile medium format kit I've ever shot. It only has a few drawbacks - first, it's big and heavy. Second, the flash sync sucks, at 1/30 of a second shutter speed max (though the two available LS lenses mitigate this). Finally, the mirror slap can be a downer in those clench moments when you need a 1/30 exposure time or lower, sans tripod. But other than those issues, it's pretty much the perfect system. I almost have every lens made for the system, from 35mm through 500mm, so I use it for everything from landscape to portraits to wildlife.

Anyway, of course I needed to put the camera through its paces so I shot a few rolls in the last week. I love the AE mode in the newer model. So much faster and easier to shoot on the fly. The weight is a tad lower on the newer body, and if I'm not mistaken, the shutter is slightly better damped. With a careful approach and using MLU while hand-holding, I was able to shoot at 1/30 with a 2/3 success rate or so. Not bad.

Here's some images from Grand Bay and around Drexel Park:

 

VSU Jazz Ensemble Pre-Concert Photos

Just for fun, I took some pre-concert photos of the VSU Jazz Ensemble as they warmed up. I used my Leica M6 and 15mm f/4.5 Voigtlander Heliar, 50mm f/1.1 Nokton, and Nikkor 8.5cm f/1.5 lenses, on Rollei Digibase CN200 film. This color negative film is so malleable that I could shoot under the tungsten stage lights and still color correct the images easily, which is really difficulty with most negative film. Here are a few images:

 

 

 

Jacksonville Field Trip #2 - VSU ART

Last month we took another field trip to Jacksonville to go to the MOCA, which we missed last time due to it closing early. We also made a little detour to Big Talbot State Park and a small town called Callahan, FL.

First we toured the MOCA:

 We started driving to Big Talbot but along the way we just had to stop along the road to take photos of the approaching storm and this cool power plant:

 

Next we made it to Big Talbot but it was pouring down rain. We waited for a while and it finally cleared up, giving us about a half hour to explore the Driftwood Beach area:

Finally we started heading home but everyone was hungry. By this time we were out in the middle of nowhere so we had few choices. But when this place in Callahan was found we just had to stop...sadly it wasn't all that good:

That's it for our trip. I shot all of these with my Nikon SP 2005 and either Portra 400 or Agfa Optima 100 films and my Rolleiflex with Tri-X or Plus-X.