Want to Buy WTB: Pentax 67 Wide Angle

[AaronRatza]

I am currently still looking for a Pentax 67 55mm or 45mm lens. I would prefer the later version and it needs to be clean mechanically. Let me know what you have.


May also be looking for a second Pentax 6x7 MLU or 67 body.

Thanks

 

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[AaronRatza]

Bump

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Visit pentaxforums.com (medium format sub-forum) and For Sale area.
Also check eBay.

 

[AaronRatza]

In the process of returning a purchase due to scratches. Been looking on pentax forum but nothing coming up. Hoping to buy from somewhere other than ebay to avoid another return.

 

[voceumana]

KEH has a 45mm late version in Exc+ condition for $400. It is probably in like new condition--their lens ratings tend to be very conservative, and not so conservative on bodies (in my recent experience).

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Research your choice of the 55mm f4 lens with care. Many of these 1990-release lenses (designated SMC Pentax 67 55mm) have been reported to present rattles. This rattling has never showed up in the smaller 45mm f4, so try and get your hands on a lens to feel it before buying.

 

[AaronRatza]

Well, I've been leaning towards the 45mm anyways for the smaller size and lower weight. I had not heard about this problem before. What causes the rattling?

 

[craigclu]

Anecdotal, I realize but I had a large number of 45 and 55 P67 lenses go through my hands over the years. I never had a 45 that was truly impressive when pushed a bit (enlargement-wise). Almost all of the 55's were quite good. Two of the 45's were bought new, so I assume they hadn't been exposed to difficult circumstances.... Perhaps others have had different experiences but that was mine.

 

[AaronRatza]

And the decision gets harder....

Dont happen to have one of those 55s to sell do ya?

 

[craigclu]

I'm awaiting someone, away from home. Let me double-check, take photos and return to the thread after checking at home this afternoon....

 

[craigclu]

Here are some photos of one I can sell. I have a newer one that I now recall is with my son (a distance away). I can't quickly find the front cap as I had a Tiffen Haze-1 and rubber wide hood attached (I can include). It was well protected in a case and I just used it that way. It's got the typical usage rubs but the glass appears clean and perfect. I took a quick look on eBay and see there are plenty to pick from! The decent ones seemed to be in the $200 with shipping and up. If you or anyone in CONUS is interested in this one, I'd like $175 (including rear cap, filter and hood),shipping included, too. You need to make a $10 gift to PHOTRIO, too. That should represent a decent value and do a little good for the site, too.

 

[AaronRatza]

PM Sent

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Well, I've been leaning towards the 45mm anyways for the smaller size and lower weight. I had not heard about this problem before. What causes the rattling?

Nobody has come up with a definitive answer to this question yet! And the rattling is peculiar to the 55mm 1990-version, designated SMC Pentax 67 (not SMC Pentax 6x7, which is an earlier model that replaced the Takumar version).

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Anecdotal, I realize but I had a large number of 45 and 55 P67 lenses go through my hands over the years. I never had a 45 that was truly impressive when pushed a bit (enlargement-wise). Almost all of the 55's were quite good. Two of the 45's were bought new, so I assume they hadn't been exposed to difficult circumstances.... Perhaps others have had different experiences but that was mine.

It is known there is a fairly wide variation in quality among the 45mm f4 lenses; it is just pot-luck whether you get one which is sharp across the range of turns noticably rather soft. I swear my 45mm is a gem!

 

[Fixcinater]

Sounds like you have a great 55mm option presented above. The 45mm I have is very good, holds up to drum scans at 4000DPI on 100ASA monochrome negs even near or at wide open if I can do my job in nailing focus/holding it steady/solid tripod, etc. I don't get into special developers or the really slow fine grained stuff in 120 so can't say beyond that but it's no slouch to be sure.

For me, the 45 is great but will almost always look like an ultra-wide angle lens was used. The 55 seems to be able to hide that a bit better. Seems similar to the gap between 24mm and 28mm on 35mm film.

 

[craigclu]

It is known there is a fairly wide variation in quality among the 45mm f4 lenses; it is just pot-luck whether you get one which is sharp across the range of turns noticably rather soft. I swear my 45mm is a gem!

I can certainly believe it was a solid performer. Some years back, I was building a P67 system by buying complete kits, testing and culling the duplicates. More than any other system, I found great variability on the same lenses. The 135 macros seemed to vary and the 105 seemed inconsistent, too. The 165 was solid but the LS seemed to vary....? The good examples of any of the P67 optics were very, very good and could stand with almost anything. In those days, it was easy to sell off these lenses and I recall always being money ahead by buying groups of items when offered and selling off the culls by piece. I use rangefinders these days for wider duties and haven't seen the sort of performance variations that I do with the P67 glass. In actual use, off a tripod, especially, there are many variables affecting quality than hair-splitting glass differences, though!

As I write this, I recall how different various tripods would behave with the big Pentaxes. Some rather heavy rigs that one would expect to work well just seemed to vibe at the wrong frequencies. I learned quite a lot from mounting a laser pointer to the camera and inspecting the negatives using my own and borrowed pods and even spent some time in a photo shop, using their demo rigs. MLU took care of much of it but even then, the shutter motions would induce odd motions at certain shutter speeds.... I guess that's enough hijacking of a thread for now!