Cameras I've clicked with... Pentax 6x7
Why I bought and sold three outfits...
Part 2 : Compared with a Hasselblad
Continuing this ramble through my head which is trying to fathom out the reasons I bought and traded the same equipment three times is not simply treading old ground... it affects what I may buy and in which direction I may go in a couple of months time. The decision has been made to travel from early 2006 onwards... but with a wheelchair to sometimes push I have to rationalise and hone my equipment choice down to the basic minimum - whilst giving me the capability, facility and flexibility to produce images of sufficient quality to sell, at a profit, for an income. And the more I think about and write down these points and considerations the more I'm confused rather than tempted to invest again... so bear with me if I zip around as thoughts enter and exit my head!
Ultimately the final decision on re-equipping may be whether to stay with film or go digital... either will be major decisions because digital technology and practice has been adopted by many other professionals for over five years, and if I'm to do it at all it will have to be sooner rather than later. There is, however, a third way in that I can scan film originals to produce digital files. If that route is taken there will be considerable time penalties added from processing transparency films and then scanning them... all before any post-production work in PhotoShop is carried out. And if this route is taken it will be (will it?) better to scan 6x7cms (or 6x6?) medium-format originals rather than 35mm.
Scanning medium-format films with a dedicated m/f scanner has a high initial cost... the Nikon Super Coolscan 9000 costing around $2,000 or £2,000 depending on which side of the pond you reside! However, this route eliminates the need for a second Pentax 67 camera body... scanned colour images can be converted to monochrome if and when desired. There is no real alternative here because the cost of professional scans from a lab is high, and the quality from a flat-bed scanner is low. For final use in print (rather than on a monitor screen to view the web) a dedicated film scanner has be used rather than a flat-bed scanner with accessory transparency lid which doesn[base ']t have the dynamic range necessary for repro work. For a year I've been using a CanoScan 9900F with transparency / film adaptors scanning film for this weblog... but this use, plus photo-art printing, is about the limit of it's capabilities. You may convince yourself that the 3,200x6,400 optical resolution is impressive but the actual results (lacking in dynamic range for magazine repro) say it all... and although the 9900F isn't a cheap flat-bed scanner, when it comes to scanning film you get what you pay for. The further downside using this set-up being that a pro-spec 120 roll-film scanner will add around £2,000 to a budget... plus more ram will be needed for the Mac / PC because of the large file sizes... and in many cases users will have to consider a completely new (faster) PC system altogether.
Jumbled, but pertinent thoughts...
An interesting choice can to be made between Pentax 6x7 and Hasselblad 6x6 with portability in mind. The Pentax 6x7 is much more bulky than the 1 cm difference would have you believe... and you need a prism for vertical viewing whereas the Hasselblad 6x6 square format is in one orientation all the time. Most 35mm photographers handhold 90% of the time although probably 50% of medium-format users may. The size and slowness of operating a bigger camera demands a more careful mode of working... on a tripod, which may be too slow and inconvenient for me.
* All Hasselblad lenses can be used with a flash in daylight at all shutter speeds... whereas the Pentax 67 is limited to a current 165mm lens and a long discontinued 90mm lens. Both Pentax lenses have fiddly operation and TTL metering is impossible.
* Second-hand Pentax 67 prices are relatively high (sometimes 80% of list in the UK sometimes) because the equipment is not so common on dealers shelves. Hasselblad bodies, lenses and system accessories are often 50% of list, or below, of new (a high new price, admittedly) and there are huge amounts of of items available from dealers and on eBay.
* The Hasselblad system is longer lived (not that much actually) with a larger and arguably complete system behind it... almost all of which will fit recent bodies.
* The Pentax 6x7 body with the requisite prism finder (for vertical format viewing) only has 94% x 94% coverage in the viewfinder... to achieve 100% viewing of the frame you have to use the waist-level finder which is useless.
* From my previous experiences with both systems (although older systems in years gone by) the Hasselblad's Carl Zeiss lenses are sharper and produce a better tonal range in monochrome when making prints. That is not to say Pentax lenses are inferior by normal standards... just that the Zeiss glass is on a higher level which may not be seen in many instances at normal viewing distances. However, a 45mm Pentax lens I once owned was truly horrible in the corners producing awful "smearing" - especially of tree branches which I frequently photographed at the time. By comparison the Hasselblad Zeiss 38mm Biogon was extraordinary... at a price though.
* Pentax 67 lens filter sizes are all over the place... 67mm, 77mm and 82mm. Most modern Hasselblad CF Zeiss lenses between 38mm and 250mm focal lengths take a common 60mm filter and accessory size... including the superb Zeiss "Softar" lenses.
* Hasselblad's lens system spacing is excellent... from 38/40mm - 60mm - 100mm - 180mm to 350mm with respective spaces between them doubling neatly from 20mm to 40mm to 80mm to 160mm (almost). P67 users have 45/55mm - 100mm - 165mm - 200mm to 300mm with spaces of 45mm, 65mm then down to 45mm again then up to 100mm which is all over the place.
* Wow... I love the Hasselblad Compendium Lens Hood for optimum shading against stray light and flare... no such OEM is listed for the P67.
* Pentax 6x7 medium-format requires two bodies if shooting two different film emulsions (unless adopting the slightly convoluted technique I described in part 1). Hasselblad owners use extra magazine backs for extra film types... or for the same film types requiring different processing times.
* Printing 6x6cm square negatives on standard 10x8, 12x9.5 and 16x12 inch printing papers in the darkroom gives useful off-cuts for making test strips... however, that's a feeble point compared to the P67's negatives which fill standard size papers with no wastage at all give or take a few millimetres.
* Ouch... the Pentax 6x7 produces 10 negatives per 120 roll which don't fit a regular contact printer using standard paper. Hasselblad wins again with it's 12 negatives fitting a 10 x8 inch sheet perfectly!
* Hasselblad's 6x6cm focusing screens show a 6x4,5 cm frame marking which just happens to be the format of that standard 10x8 inch paper size.
* Most Hasselblads are much quieter in operation having no instant return mirror in the body. However, unless motorised, that lack of instant return mirror makes them less convenient to use in many situations.
* Perspective control using "Tilt and Shift" is again a Hasselblad option using the (now discontinued but readily available second-hand) FlexBody or ArcBody cameras with lenses between 60mm and 180mm in focal length. There's only a 75mm "shift" lens for the P67.
Having quickly thought of the above "pros" and "cons" I'm even more confused about what to do in the future... although perhaps a little clearer as to why I bought and sold three P67 outfits in the past.
If the above were Confusers... here are some Pro users...
There are many professional users of the Pentax 67 system whose work I have especially liked over the years including the following nine in no particular order of merit... all are, or were, true craftsmen...
1) Sam Haskins - whose grainy, monochrome, glamour images in his books "Cowboy Kate" and "November Girl" as well as colour calendars inspired so many other photographers.
2) Bob Carlos-Clarke - the late glamour photographer whose superb black and white posters are certainly talking points hung on SoHo walls. Try one!
3) David Bailey - whose black and white portraits and fashion work made him into a legendary figure and launched a life-style for many.
4) Sante d'Orazio - for fashion, candid nudes and models "hanging out."
5) Jeanloup Sieff - the late, Polish born, French residing portrayer of women both dressed and undressed for his several books and black and white original images.
6) Robert Doisneau - French photographer who was a master of the art and craft, particularly candids including the famous (or rather the infamously staged) "Kiss" and for commercial work for Renault cars, and...
Le Baiser de l'Hotel de Ville, Paris, 1950
Doisneau, Robert
55 in. x 39 in.
Buy this Art Print at AllPosters.com
7) Patrick Demarchelier - for his sensuous black and white fashion and portrait photography including images of the late Princess Diana.
8) Neil Leifer (interview) - whose sports images redefined the genre.
9) Robert Glenn Ketchum - whose beautiful colour images and wall art of the landscape focuses attention on the environment.
Part 1 of Pentax 67 System is the system compatibility.
Part 3a of Pentax 67 System is the 120mm Soft Focus lens.
Part 3b of Pentax 67 System is the 35mm Fisheye lens.
Part 4 of Pentax 67 System is being written.
Part 5 of Pentax 67 System reviews the two Spotmeters and other bits.
11:49:19 PM 
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