PENTAX 6711 CUSTOM FEATURES New owners of the 67 II maybe interested to know about the custom features mentioned in the operating manual - these features are:HALF STOP SHUTTER SPEEDS, 20 or 30 SECOND VIEWFINDER READOUTS, APERTURE INDICATION IN THE VIEWFINDER + THIRD STRAP LUG (positioned by the wind on lever). Now that I've actually had my new body & prism 'customised' with these features - (minus the strap lug) by Pentax UK at a cost of #100, here's the reality of using them: Half stop speeds are obtained not by in between settings on the shutter speed dial as would be expected and logical, but by the ISO slider next to it - up for higher speed, once down for orginal speed (shown on the shutter speed dial) and then down again for the lower half stop. Readouts for the selected speed are: A tiny one on the top LCD + normal viewfinder readout. Seems a bit fiddly or what?! You might expect aperture readouts to be a simple case of stick your lens on, select any aperture and see it displayed in the viewfinder? I'm afraid it's not quite so simple - every time a lens is fitted the minium aperture must be selected first - then both the ISO and memory lock buttons must be pressed simultaneously with your thumbs - your first finger being then free to move the ISO slider up and down to select a matching/corresponding aperture (looking through the viewfinder whilst doing all this). I think this is a case of finger input overload. In effect you've got to manually 'tell' the camera what the minium aperture is so it can display other apertures in relation to that. I'm aware that the lenses are mechanical and the old body had 'chain' device linking the lens aperture and the TTL prism, however the 67II body must have some linkage since the aperture readouts do change (once you've gone through the hassle of calibrating each lens).I find this all a bit disappointing considering this is a professional standard camera that9s just been redesigned/updated and boasts TTL matrix metering. It's not hard to see how under the pressures of an important photographic shoot, exposure errors might occur simply by forgetting to recalibrate a lens. I found the standard 10 second viewfinder readout is just not long enough and was forever having to 'update' the display by depressing the shutter release. 20 or 30 second as standard would have been better. This also has the advantage of increasing memory lock to 40 or 60 seconds. The last custom feature -third strap lug- may come as a bit of a shock if you've just bought the camera and like hanging the camera in the conventional way - that is, hanging round your neck horizontally so that it can be grabbed with both hands and brought to eye level. As standard the camera hangs down from two lugs on the left (like the Mamiya 7) which means the strap twists as it's brought to eye level. The third lug is installed (at considerable expense apparently) top right by the wind- on lever. As far as I'm concerned all these 'custom features' should be standard features, and the half stop speeds should have been marketed as a major selling point for the Pentax over some other systems (rather like the RZII). Anyway, that's enough griping! - it's still a great camera, even if certain features appear to have been designed as an after-thought. Build quality is good, despite the use of polycabonatetype material in some areas; not such a bad thing since it's shock absorbance ability is better than stiff and heavy metal. I've noticed that the redesigned transport mechanism produces very consistent frame spacing though it's narrower than on the older bodies - it's now a consistent 4mm. Accurate cutting of negs and can be a problem... Metering seems spot-on. any thoughts? cheers Simon.

-- Simon Park (iomad@advsys.co.uk), March 11, 1999

Answers

Thanks for the information Simon.

It does seem that these features were included as an afterthought and they definitely (the 1/2 stop shutter speed AT LEAST) should have been included as standard.

I have a question: you said that the new shutter speed (after you select it with the ISO lever) shows as a tiny number on the top LCD; but where?? Where the ISO indication used to be?

And about the shutter release button: do you also have trouble metering a scene when the shutter is cocked because of oversensitivity? I never know when the shutter is going to fire because the shutter release button doesn't have a two-step resistance like the Nikon shutter release has, for example. You have to get a feel for it and it's easy to make mistakes. Any thoughts?

best regards, Marcelo

-- Marcelo P. Lima (MPL4@cornell.edu), March 11, 1999.

Simon,

With respect to the viewfinder aperture display, do you have to recalibrate after a lens change even if both lenses have the same minimum aperture? I hope that you do not have to do this recalibration exercise unless the camera has been modified . . .

-- Jim Korczak (korczaks@ptdprolog.net), March 12, 1999.

Marcelo,

ISO indication?

Half-stop indication replaces ISO on the LCD until it is cancelled... turn camera off or turn shutter dial.

Shutter release sensitivity seems ok to me - however there9s no trigger 2 stage9 feel to it which could cause problems if you9ve got cold fingers!

Regards,

Simon

-- Simon Park (iomad@advsys.co.uk.), March 18, 1999.

Hi Jim

Bad news I9m afraid...

recalibration9 must be done with each lens change, regardless of similar max aperture... which is a bit of a shame if like you and I, you tend to use all the F4 lenses - 45, 55, 200, 135 etc.

But no, recalibration is not necessary on uncustomised cameras since there9s nothing to recalibrate...(no aperture indication).. shutter speed indication is unaffected regardless (In viewfider). This brings up my original point - The camera should know9 aperture status since TTL metering works perfectly without any fiddling about with small buttons each time a lens is changed...

cheers,

Simon

-- Simon Park (iomad@advsys.co.uk.), March 18, 1999.

Above, it is pointed out that 'Recalibration must be done with each lens change, regardless of similar max aperture... which is a bit of a shame if like you and I, you tend to use all the F4 lenses - 45, 55, 200, 135 etc.'

Fortunately, I can not support this experience. At least the two F2.8 lenses in the Pentax 67 system do not require any recalibration after exchanging these lenses.

-- Joachim Inkmann (Joachim.Inkmann@uni-konstanz.de), August 07, 1999.

I have the 67ii with the 55-100 zoom and the 200. It is true if that you have to reset the calibration if you depress the shutter button without a lens on the camera. Mine will store the old setting if this is not done. I have a question to anyone using the 55 to 100zoom. I find the largest aperature on the lens is 4.5 but the calibration has to be set to 4.0 in order for all the remaining aperatures to sync properly. Is this true?

Thanks, Gary

-- Gary Bilecki (bilecki@home.net), September 18, 1999.

F-number indication in viewfinder display: I have ordered Pentax to modify my 67II, so that I see the F-number in viewfinders display, instead of exposure counter. A good idea that works well, if you do it this way, and not the Pentax way. Pentax state the "when attaching/detaching lenses, reset the minimum lens aperture value." This is an laborious job if you don't: Every time you intend to change a lens alway remember to switch the camera off (L). If not, you will have the exposure counter instead, when you look throu the new lens attached.

-- Bert Wiklund (photo@post9.tele.dk), April 15, 2000.