Pentax Pictures


As you will know if you read this blog I recently acquired a Pentax 6x7, not my first Medium Format camera (by a long shot) but my first Pentax, and the camera I've nicknamed 'The Beast' due to it's size.
Well so far so good, size ultimately does matter. I can get some pretty good images with my Leica especially with slower film but with this size of negative/tranny it's a whole lot easier in other words there is more margin for error or for the use of faster film.
The first couple of films I've put through have been Fuji Velvia 100, a great film if you want saturated colours, deep blue skies (no polariser needed). It may not be true to life but it's a very attractive film for use with the autumn colours and landscape work but steer away from taking any people, skin tones are a bit red in fact in a couple I've taken my daughter looks like she's got sunburn.
I remember this from my initial tests with Velvia in the late 1980's when FujiHunt gave me a early version to put though my labs E-6 before it was on general release, Provia was a much better bet for skin tone and for pale skin I liked Ektachrome 64 Pro even more.
After a couple of weeks I think the camera is a keeper, not really for everyday stuff but for a small subset of my work especially if I can use a tripod as I fear going less than 1/125 sec because of mirror movement.

All images and text © Mark Antony Smith

Medium Format Acquisition

For a while now I've been looking for a good MF camera, my first thought was a Mamiya RB 6x7 then I became interested in a Fuji 6x9, but while waiting for those cameras to come in second hand locally, my dealer offered me this.

A Pentax 6x7
This camera can only be described as a Behemoth, it's like a regular 35mm SLR but just twice the size and weight. That's fine though because the film size is more than 4 times bigger and the resulting quality is amongst the best MF available, the Pentax lenses are also well regarded especially the later 'SMC' type.
I have only put a couple of rolls though the camera so far, and first impressions are pretty good. Handling wise the camera is what you'd expect, just like a large 35mm SLR. The shutter though is pretty loud especially after the 'mirror-less' Leica rangefinders I've been using of late. Another worry for me is that this is the model without the mirror lock up, so I'm not sure how vibration will affect picture quality so 1/250 is about the minimum shutter speed I dare hand hold.
Pictures taken with the camera I've nicknamed 'The Beast' will follow.

Taken on T-Max 400 with 150mm lens

Taken with 90mm lens on Fortepan 100
All images and text © Mark Antony Smith 2007