Pentax 67 On A Round About Trip To Me

I have been having issues getting a good working Pentax 67 camera (late model version 1) back in my collection. The last one I got ended up having light meter issues and also counter issues, so I sent it back to the seller. Two before that I got refunds before they were shipped due to missing details in the listing I missed. The one I sent back I did finally get a refund for it, but Im waiting 3 months for my refund for the customs charges I incurred for that camera.

That said I found one that looked promising and it was on the less expensive side compare to others out there, so I purchased it. I paid the customs charge on it as it was coming into North America. It made it to the USA, and was supposed to be enroute to me to Canada after that. But somehow someone at DHL didnt read the address info correctly, and had it sent to China, which is where its still enroute to or is currently at now. I had to call DHL to get them to redirect it back to Canada, so the DHL guy escalated a case on it to get them to get it back on route to me. Nothing since that point yet.

With the luck I've had getting a decent 67 camera from Japan without issues, Im starting to wonder if getting this thing is jinxed? It literally will have crossed the Pacific Ocean 3 times to get to me, assuming it does finally make its way here. Im worried it will get lost in the system and end up needing a refund on both the camera, and also my customs fees, which for that will take another 3 months. Somehow they must have thought CA on the shipping address must have meant China instead of Canada.

Here's hoping I get this sorted out and at my home this coming week. I hope Murphy's Law doesnt factor in here. My luck indeed.

braxus said:

but Im waiting 3 months for my refund for the customs charges I incurred for that camera.

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Undo customs is a nasty adminstrative procedure, AFAIK the seller is involved in it too specially if it is a business. My Logistics department at work hates to return anything from any country with Customs (UK, Switzerland), but 3 months is too much.

Good luck with that Pentax!

I hear you, it took me 3 tries and several months to get a working Olympus Pen F. I've also had packages misdirected to random countries, but after a delay they did make it to me.

Apparently I was correct about DHL going directly from Canada from the USA. When it came back from China, it went to the same Ohio center it was at before. That said, it came to Canada this time and I picked it up today. Just checked it over and it seems fine. The battery light was a little tricky, but press it right, and it lights up. Shutter speeds seem good. They had the wind lever sticking out when I opened the box, but it does rest against the camera body as you said. I noticed the camera didnt come with a Film spool inside. This would have been a problem for some people, but i have my own spares here which I could use. I'll test a roll with the camera and see if all is good. So guys this adventure is over and now I'm on the lookout to get a late model metered pentaprism for it.

Hopefully your luck is better on this one. I have a late model 67, and it was actually my first medium format camera. I haven't shot it in a while, but it has never gven me any trouble.

Ive owned 3 late model version 1s before this one, of which the last one before current one got sent back. The first two I kept for some years, at different time frames. I just tested the camera with a roll, and other then the spacing between frames not being exact per frame, its working fine.

Im wondering about what looks like a faint scratch line in the images. I can't really see much on the neg, but it still could be there. I'll have to make sure this camera isnt scratching negs before I use it for serious work. I checked the film gate and the 1 roller next to the 120 marker seems high, but Im not sure its supposed to be that way. It does go down when you push it, but pops back up when you release it. Could this be the culprit?

Here are some sample images from todays test roll.

braxus said:

I checked the film gate and the 1 roller next to the 120 marker seems high, but Im not sure its supposed to be that way. It does go down when you push it, but pops back up when you release it. Could this be the culprit?

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The raised profile is nothing to be concerned about. The roller is part of the tensioning of the film once the back cover is closed and the rear cover pressure plate then imparts the necessary tension across the film gate. Neither roller — indeed nothing at all should be touched, forced or reverse-turned, especially the counter roller on the right, which uses a frail worm-drive spring.

The line, visible in one image, looks significant and would be a worry, I agree. From the camera's perspective (but not universally the film manufacturer) it is running along the lower third of the film. It would be vanishingly rare to find burs along the film gate rails, and just as rare finding burs or an embedded foreign object in the rollers. But poised scrutiny with a with and magnifer, looking over the film travel path (but keeping wary of the shutter) is worthwhile. In 29 years of using the P67 I have never experienced marks on negatives, other than the marks imparted by clumsy, incompetent or plain filthy processing facilities — and such gremlins look very different (and more severe) than shown here!

I'll have to check its my developing reel doing this and not the camera. I guess the only thing I can do is throw another roll into the camera and shoot it, then use a different reel to develop the roll. The line seems more significant during the end of the roll then the beginning. I didnt quite let the roll warm up enough when I shot it either. I cant check my 67II for how it sits, since there is a roll in it currently. But the left roller does sit quite a bit above the film gate, higher then you would think it should be.

I'll check it all again tomorrow.

You might try this @braxus , different camera but it worked for me. 2000 grit sandpaper on the rollers. My scratches were much more widespread than yours, I barely noticed it.

For those who, like me, struggled to see the line, this screen shot might help:


The fact that it is dark in the positive scan tends to suggest a scratch on the emulsion side of the negative or an issue with the scan.

I put through a second roll when I got home from work today. Its developed (very fogged and under developed), but is now drying. I'll see what a scan of it will produce in an hour or two. Lets see if that line reappears again or not, assuming I can see anything through the dense fog. I used a different reel today when I developed the roll. And this is a silver rich film (Orwo NP15), so scratches should show up easier. I'll be back in a couple hours with the results, if anything.

braxus said:

And this is a silver rich film (Orwo NP15), so scratches should show up easier.

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That would instead imply older technology and therefore, possible less effective/modern hardening, leading to a greater susceptibility to scratching.

MattKing said:

That would instead imply older technology and therefore, possible less effective/modern hardening, leading to a greater susceptibility to scratching.

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In different words, yes Matt. Efke 25 is also silver rich and has a soft emulsion, making it easily scratched. Im assuming Orwo NP15 would also be the same. That said the film is quite dark from fogging, so Im not sure if I'll get any usable scans off the film, especially since the latent image is very faint. Its a really old roll.

braxus said:

Im wondering about what looks like a faint scratch line in the images. I can't really see much on the neg, but it still could be there.

Here are some sample images from todays test roll.

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Are you sure it's not a scanning artifact? This is a well known problem with Epson scanners.

It could be the scanner, but I've not seen this on my scans until yesterday. The scanner did sit for a while though un-used. I scanned up 3 images off the neg that showed the most image. I didnt see any lines in the scans, but that isn't conclusive based on the condition of the negative.

Well, things are good until they're bad.

If your scanner is an Epson, I would scan a strip of negs that I've had no problem scanning in the past. If it shows up, then search the Google for "Epson Scanner Purple Line" to find the fix. I've had this problem, as have several other APUG'ers, and there are at least a couple threads about it. It just requires some specific cleaning steps that vary by model.

It's not a scanning artifact. It would be 100% horizontal. There is an angle to it. It's probably a small burr or piece of grit on a particular spot on the roller. I'd inspect closely the bottom part of the rollers with a magnifier.