Why did the BEATLES shoot with Pentax ?

Beverly Hills · Mar 18, 2023

snusmumriken said:
Yeah but why not wear specially designed body armour and a smaller camera that is less likely to be hit? It seems silly to festoon Nikons around you for protection.

snusmumriken please, the issue isn't complicated if your
viev considers the historical connections :

There was from two points no chance any longer for
oldschool press photographers with Speed Graphic after the Korea war, because losses skyrocketed.

Reasons :. 1)

this cameras did not offer a good balistic protection class.

Reasons : 2)

prominently displayed press cards did not prevent the enemy from firing anyway!
On the contrary, the enemy uses it as a deliberate shot to open massive fire....

That is the story in short why 135film became a professional
film format.

First with Nikon F ( bullet proof) and Leica M2 ( not bullet proof but noiseless)

snusmumriken · Mar 18, 2023

Beverly Hills said:
That is the story in short why 135film became a professional
film format.

First with Nikon F ( bullet proof) and Leica M2 ( not bullet proof but noiseless)

Actually Leica also bulletproof, but harder to hit. This is all getting close to bad taste considering the fate of poor John Lennon. Let’s stop.

Beverly Hills · Mar 18, 2023

Nicholas Lindan said:
Er., I think a point has been missed.

Multiple cameras with different lenses on them hanging around one's neck had nothing to do with armour.

Sorry Nicholas Lindan - but this is not quite correct! ....

It was only intended in Vietnam for extended protection.

Have a look here :

- how happy he is with so much metal in front of his body -

.....this is even more meaningful : Coppola takes the film out
of Hoppers cameras because he complained about the weight.

Coppola is said to have given Hopper the instruction allways
looking through the same camera.

And not because it was the one in wich he left Hopper the
film in.

As a reason for Hopper Coppola said : the right guys in
Vietnam only took pictures with one camera.

The others had them just in case a bullet strayed.

And Hopper believed every word he said !.......

Beverly Hills · Mar 18, 2023

snusmumriken said:
This is all getting close to bad taste considering the fate of poor John Lennon. Let’s stop.

+1

Beverly Hills · Mar 18, 2023

Coming back to Paul :

DF · Mar 18, 2023

BradS said:
Ringo used Nikon too. Paul seems to have used many different cameras. Linda is almost always seen with Nikons and the occasional Polaroid.

View attachment 332921

At a distance, Ringo might be mistaken for Mike Nesmith

mwdake · Mar 18, 2023

Because Pentax cameras were imported through the docks in Liverpool and maybe a case or two fell off the ship.

Beverly Hills · Mar 18, 2023

mwdake said:
Because Pentax cameras were imported through the docks in Liverpool and maybe a case or two fell off the ship.

The BEATLES stole all the Pentax cameras?
Do you really believe that Paul also walked through the dark
alleys of Liverpool, while carrying stolen boxes labeled Pentax?

BradS · Mar 19, 2023

250swb · Mar 19, 2023

BradS said:
It doesn't look like the first one stopped the bullet(s)....that's a pretty devastating exit wound.

In the photo posted by @Beverly Hills the bottom camera with the prism is Don McCullin's and it saved his life, I've seen it in an exhibition and it still has mud on it, or I think it's mud. The top camera is far sadder, it's that of Taizo Ichinose who died from the bullet that went straight through the camera body.

Rolleiflexible · Mar 19, 2023

Ages ago (okay, 1997), the Newseum in Washington DC hosted a show curated by Horst Faas called Requiem, about the photojournalists who worked in Indochina during the war in Vietnam. It was an immensely affecting exhibit that featured PJs of all nationalities, including Viet Cong, and the exhibit included contact sheets from the rolls found in the cameras of dead PJs on the battlefield. I still have the catalog -- the back jacket features the photo of Taizo Ichinose's camera, posted earlier in this thread. Here's a link to a blog that discusses Faas and reprints a number of images from the exhibit:

HORST FAAS : THE DEAN OF VIETNAM WAR PHOTOGRAPHERS

gmpphoto.blogspot.com

To answer the original question: Because they could not afford Leicas. (Only doctors can afford Leicas.)

Paul Howell · Mar 19, 2023

That was a show I really wanted to see, just could make the timing work for me.

Ian Grant · Mar 19, 2023

In the early 1960s The Rank Organisation opened a string of venues here in the UK under the name "Top Rank Suite" and in 1963/4 the Beatles performed at most of their venues. Rank also owned Pinewood Studios when it was used for some of the scenes for A Hard Days Night.

As I mentioned earlier Rank were also the Pentax distributors, and also Mamiya, something they had taken on around 1963. Rank were in a period of rapid expansion. So as I mentioned in post #26 it made sense for Rank to give the Beatles a selection of Pentax cameras and lenses during the filming of A Hard Days Night. All the images the OP posted are from this era, Pentax cameras can be seen in the film.

As the film was released in July 1964 in the UK The Beatles would have been some of the first users of the Pentax Spotmatic cameras here in the UK, as they were released the same year.

By 1966 Rank had also taken over distribution of Nikon cameras here in the UK, they acquired Pullin Optical who had been the distributors of Konica cameras, continuing to trade as Pullin for a couple of years, but distribution switched to Nikon.

Ian

Beverly Hills · Mar 19, 2023

Ian Grant said:
All the images the OP posted are from this era, Pentax cameras can be seen in the film.

That's absolutely right Ian Grant.

......THE Beatles in the film are constandly on the run from
their fans. If I remember the movie correctly, there is a scene where they try to escape by mingling with the crowd of press- photographers with their Pentax Spotmatics.

The press is presented with all sorts of cameras including
Graflex's iconic 4x5. And suddenly the Beatles appear with
their more modern, ultra compact Spotmatics.

BradS · Mar 19, 2023

Ian Grant said:
In the early 1960s The Rank Organisation opened a string of venues here in the UK under the name "Top Rank Suite" and in 1963/4 the Beatles performed at most of their venues. Rank also owned Pinewood Studios when it was used for some of the scenes for A Hard Days Night.

As I mentioned earlier Rank were also the Pentax distributors, and also Mamiya, something they had taken on around 1963. Rank were in a period of rapid expansion. So as I mentioned in post #26 it made sense for Rank to give the Beatles a selection of Pentax cameras and lenses during the filming of A Hard Days Night. All the images the OP posted are from this era, Pentax cameras can be seen in the film.

As the film was released in July 1964 in the UK The Beatles would have been some of the first users of the Pentax Spotmatic cameras here in the UK, as they were released the same year.

By 1966 Rank had also taken over distribution of Nikon cameras here in the UK, they acquired Pullin Optical who had been the distributors of Konica cameras, continuing to trade as Pullin for a couple of years, but distribution switched to Nikon.

Ian

Beverly Hills said:
That's absolutely right Ian Grant.

......THE Beatles in the film are constantly on the run from
their fans. If I remember the movie correctly, there is a scene where they try to escape by mingling with the crowd of press- photographers with their Pentax Spotmatics.

The press is presented with all sorts of cameras including
Graflex's iconic 4x5. And suddenly the Beatles appear with
their more modern, ultra compact Spotmatics.

All of the black cameras in the OP are Pentax SV (predecessor to the Spotmatic). The silver camera Ringo is holding in the second photo is also a pre-Spotmatic but not an SV - perhaps an S1a?

BMbikerider · Mar 19, 2023

snusmumriken said:
Pentax ran a very seductive advertising campaign at the time, with the strap line “Just hold an Asahi Pentax”. I never did, but they sure looked sexy.

That phrase has never been forgotten because it was the handling of the camera was superb. I must have been right through the gamut by different manufactures. Not every camera of course, and have settled mostly on Nikon, but the Pentax, especially my first a model, a SV set the seal on simplicity, weight and ease of use. With the clip on CDS meter and a couple of extra lenses it did all I asked of it.

mshchem · Mar 19, 2023

Beverly Hills · Mar 19, 2023

BradS said:
All of the black cameras in the OP are Pentax SV (predecessor to the Spotmatic). The silver camera Ringo is holding in the second photo is also a pre-Spotmatic but not an SV - perhaps an S1a?

S1a..... I would have thought about that, but it's hard to tell.

Beverly Hills · Mar 19, 2023

BMbikerider said:
That phrase has never been forgotten because it was the handling of the camera was superb. I must have been right through the gamut by different manufactures. Not every camera of course, and have settled mostly on Nikon, but the Pentax, especially my first a model, a SV set the seal on simplicity, weight and ease of use. With the clip on CDS meter and a couple of extra lenses it did all I asked of it.

....luckily they weren't 5 years ahead of their time and didn't come up with the slogan :

Just hold a Pentax 6 x7 in your hand...

BobD · Mar 19, 2023

Just ask the makers of Lugwig drums, Hoffner basses, Vox amplifiers and Gretch, Gibson and Rickenbacker guitars.

BradS · Mar 19, 2023

Beverly Hills said:
S1a..... I would have thought about that, but it's hard to tell.

I'm just guessing that it is an S1a because it is not an SV (it doesn't have the self timer dial under the rewind knob) and the S1a was contemporaneous with the SV. The little leather strap between the rewind crank and the prism suggests that it is of that era (pre-Spotmatic). I'm guessing these photos were made in 1962 or 1963...just a guess.

Long time ago, I had the Honeywell Pentax H1a which was the North American version of the Asahi Pentax S1a. It had a case like the one we see in the second photo.

250swb · Mar 19, 2023

BMbikerider said:
That phrase has never been forgotten because it was the handling of the camera was superb. I must have been right through the gamut by different manufactures. Not every camera of course, and have settled mostly on Nikon, but the Pentax, especially my first a model, a SV set the seal on simplicity, weight and ease of use. With the clip on CDS meter and a couple of extra lenses it did all I asked of it.

I think the other thing is the consistent weight of the focusing ring on the Takumar lenses between different focal lengths, and not many have been serviced since they were released and the feel is still far superior to the often inconsistent resistance of old Nikon lenses.

snusmumriken · Mar 19, 2023

mshchem said:
View attachment 333053

Is that a Novoflex that Ringo has on his Nikon? Thing with squeeze focus.

BMbikerider · Mar 19, 2023

250swb said:
I think the other thing is the consistent weight of the focusing ring on the Takumar lenses between different focal lengths, and not many have been serviced since they were released and the feel is still far superior to the often inconsistent resistance of old Nikon lenses.

I obviously now use Nikon lenses as per my previous post and I agree with you about the quality of Pentax lenses for the M42 threaded mount. They were up there with the best of them.

Beverly Hills · Mar 20, 2023

Cholentpot said:
Wind lever on the Spotmatic is top of the pops.

Also top of the pops :

Asahi Pentax SP II Motor Drive with a 250 Magazine.

Why did the BEATLES shoot with Pentax ?

Attachments

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency