Pentax 6x7 lenses

They won't work handheld. They clip in around the eyepiece ring to the prism, and flip up to get out of the way when you want the full image. Right angle ones screw into the eyepiece threads instead, if I recall correctly; I use on of those on the copy stand.

The deluxe chimney hood finder has a bright built-in magnifier which covers the entire image. It saves quite a bit of weight compared to the prism finders, but is miserable to use for vertical compositions.

DREW WILEY said:

They won't work handheld. They clip in around the eyepiece ring to the prism, and flip up to get out of the way when you want the full image. Right angle ones screw into the eyepiece threads instead, if I recall correctly; I use on of those on the copy stand.

The deluxe chimney hood finder has a bright built-in magnifier which covers the entire image. It saves quite a bit of weight compared to the prism finders, but is miserable to use for vertical compositions.

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Thank you was afraid of that

Taylor Nankervis said:

It is chiefly recommended to use the magnifier with the camera mounted on a tripod. This ensures you can concentrate fully on the tiny central spot in the viewfinder. I cannot say if it is useable handheld — I gave up any hope of steadily handholding the 67 many years ago!

The magnifier is attached by unscrewing the dioptric lens holder — the knurled ring that is visible on the 67's prism/pentaprism. It is then placed on the magnifier mount, and the caboodle is then in turn screwed back onto the viewfinder. As you may imagine, this can present a safety hazard — to you and to the camera, in the event of a heavy bump; it could damage or strip out the thread on the viewfinder where it is attached, or be bend out of true if the camera should fall. Best practice suggests that you attach it when and where necessary, then remove it, especially when stowing the camera in a pack.

Same comments apply to the right-angle viewing attachment which is bigger, bulkier but generally easier to use (and won't poke you in the eye unexpectedly!).

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Thanks !

DREW WILEY said:

Coast Redwoods grow remarkably quickly, and are farmed for timber. The tallest tree ever discovered on earth was just uphill from where I live.
Now there's not even a stump, just a little plaque off the in weeds hard to find. Every last old growth redwood tree in this area was logged, and all the present groves are second growth. What has mainly taken their place are groves of eucalyptus trees - talk about a fire hazard!

The Giant Sequoias in the Sierra are considerably bigger in volume. The grove near my hometown just survived another big fire; but many of them did not further south in Sequoia Natl Park a couple years ago. The fires in recent years have gotten so hot, and the flames so high, that the fire reached into the crowns of the trees hundreds of feet up, and burned them from the top town - trees which previously survived centuries and even thousands of years of fires along the ground. Times are changing.

In the redwoods, I'm accustomed to an 11-12 stop dynamic range when the sun is out, so have to be picky about even the black and white film I select (generally TMax). But when the fog is still present, typically till around noon, it's like a natural softbox, and better suited for color film or a more nuanced b&w treatment. I like it all. Along the ridges, we get some cloud forest effects, where it literally rains under the redwood trees and old growth firs, which are basically fog collection machines, keeping the ecosystem moist.

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Are you speaking of Arizona or somewhere else?
I have correspondents in AZ, and all I know to date is that it is a desert environment, bedecked with cactus, wildflowers and...snow (!).

Quelle horreur! They log these beauties in the US!?


Those redwoods down here, all three plantations, were never intended to be logged. It is believed to have been an experimental, observational undertaking; the original cut and thrust has likely been lost to the passage of time; there is no information about the plantations currently to assist in 'looking back' almost 90 years.
They do have coupes of plantation timber — not S. sempervirens, but 'garden variety' pine, for logging. The stands in the Great Otway National Park are about 15-20km inland from the coast in a known very high rainfall area with year round coolness (within the plantation), and certainly tall enough to catch the tempestuous maritime climate that area is known for. I must say it is a fascinating, even eerie experience, to walk among these giants in the dim light. But you have to be lucky with the peace and quiet! Asian tourists wander and run and titter and scream and carry on with their cameras — adorned with Hello Kitty toys... Goodness me, it's nice when everybody has left and peace descends once more among the giants and the cold, still air.

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Just located this piece with Google:

The Redwood Forest in the Great Otway National Park features a plantation of Sequoia sempervirens (Coast Redwoods), planted in 1936 by the Forests Commission Victoria as an experimental timber project. These impressive, towering trees, located near Beech Forest on Binns Road, offer a unique and awe-inspiring experience in Australia, with many visitors describing the environment as a quiet, mystical, and wonderland-like place despite their relatively youthful age compared to their Californian relatives.

I've tried my view camera ground glass magnifiers with the bare 6X7 screen itself - didn't work either. You really need the shading of some kind of hood. The compact folding hood has a basic meniscus flip-away magnifying glass in the middle, but is a pain in the but for vertical compositions too. I really don't need to accessory magnifier very often except for the 75/4.5, and ironically the 300 EDIF, which is plenty bright,
but with such shallow depth of field, especially if you use it relatively wide open for selective focus, that you want to be certain.

No, Taylor. Arizona is mainly inland desert, but with extensive Ponderosa pine forests at the higher elevations. Sequoia semipervens naturally grows only on the mid and northern California coast - the damp ocean fog belt. There are some sizable planted groves on the Hawaiian Islands,
where the climate is similar in certain mid-elevation areas.

But Giant sequoias (Sequoia gigantea) occur in a number of discrete groves at a limited elevation range (about 6,000 ft) exclusively on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada range of California. Many of the groves are isolated, but a few famous ones get highly visited in Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks.

Yet another famous tree species is the Bristlecone Pine. These are the oldest trees on earth, which occur way up high under arid semi-desert conditions, around 11,000 ft elev in the White Mountains of the California/Nevada border, and several other similar locations in Nevada and western Utah. These trees are all gnarly and twisty (highly photogenic), and barely look alive; some are over 5,000 years old.

Another interesting local tree is the Radiata pine, which grows naturally only at a few rocky points along the mid California coastline, where it resembles a stunted distorted Bonsai garden. But when farmed sheltered from the wind it grows extremely straight and consistent, and makes an excellent moulding and siding wood. It is farmed mainly in Chile and New Zealand.

But the more photogenic coastline trees are native Cypresses, like Edward Weston famously took pictures of at Point Lobos. Many of those have also been planted as wind breaks for ranches and military installations.