What Film for Pentax 67

joburger63 · Apr 15, 2010

Hi Guys,
I'm new to this forum and have become somewhat disenchanted with 35 mm digital photography.
I recently purchased a Pentax 67II body and five assorted lenses to go with it. Suffice to say, this is a mother of an SLR. I was wondering if anyone had any tips on what sort of 120 film I should start with to shoot a few frames with this thing hand held. I travel and photograph in Africa a lot and am very influenced by the black and white work of Peter Beard and more recently by Nick Brandt. In the places I photograph, there's not much scope or time for setting up a heavy tripod.
Apologies if this sounds all a bit amateurish, but like I said I'm totally new to meduim format photography and haven't used a 120 camera since I was at university in the 1980's. Any advise would will be gratefully received.

PhotoJim · Apr 15, 2010

If you're going to do a lot of handheld photography, you might want to seriously think about getting a 35mm system. Even a large 35mm SLR is easy to handhold. The Pentax 67-II is not.

As for film, there are so many choices that it's hard to know where to begin, but for black-and-white film, Ilford FP-4 Plus and HP-5 Plus and their close cousins, Kodak Plus-X and Tri-X, are a great place to start. My favourite 120 colour print film these days is the very recent (just released in 2009) Kodak Ektar 100, but you might need a faster film to handhold this large camera.

papagene · Apr 15, 2010

I would suggest a 400 ISO film, Ilford HP5+, Delta 400, Kodak Tri-X or T-Max 400. These should allow you to shoot hand-held in daylight conditions.
Good luck and have fun.

Michael W · Apr 15, 2010

You can shoot 400 ISO & have no grain worries with 67. Tri-X looks great in this format. Ilford Delta 3200 rated at 1600 also has low grain & beautiful tonality.

Jeff Kubach · Apr 15, 2010

Have you consider a tripod? BTW welcome to APUG.

Jeff

fschifano · Apr 15, 2010

From a practical standpoint, the suggestion that you want to use this camera hand held precludes the use of slow to medium speed films, and makes a 400 speed film almost mandatory. So what are your choices, and what do you prefer? There's Tri-X and HP5+ for conventional grain films, and TMY-2 and Delta 400 for newer technology emulsions. All are very good high quality products, but I have a preference for TMY-2. I've used it in harsh light and have been able to capture usable detail in the deep shadows without suffering completely blown highlights. In more favorable light, it's one of the easiest films to print that I've used. Tri-X is good, this stuff is better.

dpurdy · Apr 15, 2010

Tmax 400 travels well and as mentioned is better speed for hand holding. Don't forget that you can lock the mirror up even hand holding a lot of the time. Just hold your position.

apconan · Apr 15, 2010

joburger63 said:
In the places I photograph, there's not much scope or time for setting up a heavy tripod.

Jeff Kubach said:
Have you consider a tripod? BTW welcome to APUG.

Jeff

Hahahahaha....
This guy...

joburger63 · Apr 16, 2010

This site is certainly a lot more responsive than Nikonians! Thanks for your advise guys. I'm getting one of each you recommended and we'll see how we go. It seems the general consensus is 400 and above in all cases. I'll be back when I'm figuring out how to load this beast! Cheers! Chris

DanielStone · Apr 16, 2010

here you go for a loading "how to"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmJHVVaWRBg

cheers!

-Dan

2F/2F · Apr 16, 2010

Delta 3200 is what I would use as my primary film if I wanted to do what you described. It would be my first choice, as it is extremely versatile, has a lot of latitude, and has a beautiful look, IMHO. I would also bring some 400 film in case I wanted less grain and sharper pix for certain subjects. I'd also bring some medium speed film. You can hand hold 100/125 film in strong light, if extensive depth of field is not one of your aims.

With the Pentax 6x7 hand held, I like to use a '500 shutter speed at minimum with a normal lens, but '250 is doable pretty easily. Slower speeds are usable if you are careful, especially if you have a monopod. Using the camera with a WLF instead of an eye-level prism helps with hand holdability as well.

cfclark · Apr 16, 2010

I've had good results with Tri-X thus far with my 6x7, but I'd agree with the monopod and tripod (where practical) suggestions. You might look around for the wooden grip that fits the 6x7/67; I found one at Adorama. It's not something you'll find you use constantly, but it gives you another alternative for holding the camera.

cfclark · Apr 17, 2010

DanielStone said:
here you go for a loading "how to"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmJHVVaWRBg

cheers!

-Dan

Very helpful video (especially since I've had a learning curve myself in getting the start mark in the right place), but you'd think they'd have wanted to put a body cap on that 67ii. :confused:

DanielStone · Apr 21, 2010

the 67II is an slr. you can load a roll without having to cover the lens. No darkslide, the shutter covers the film preventing unwanted exposure.

its not like a film back, since there isn't one

-Dan

joburger63 · Apr 23, 2010

Thanks 2f/2f for the advice, I couldn't get hold of any Delta 3200 but I have some on order and I'm certainly keen to see what it's like. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for posting the clip Dan, very handy.
C

What Film for Pentax 67

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