pentax 67II and tripods

I am thinking of buying a pentax 67II with the prism finder and probably the
55-100 lens. All the reviews I read and most of the user reviews seem to
stress that becasue of the huge mirror and the slap created by it, it is
essential to use a big solid tripod especially when shooting below 1/250.

No one seems to mention monopods though. I hat using tripods and would much
prefer to use a nice solid monopod held firmly into the ground - surely this
would be just as useful to stop mirror vibration? It would also mnake it
easier to use the mirror lockup feature.

What do you think?

In article ,
wrote:

I am thinking of buying a pentax 67II with the prism finder and probably the
55-100 lens. All the reviews I read and most of the user reviews seem to
stress that becasue of the huge mirror and the slap created by it, it is
essential to use a big solid tripod especially when shooting below 1/250.

No one seems to mention monopods though. I hat using tripods and would much
prefer to use a nice solid monopod held firmly into the ground - surely this
would be just as useful to stop mirror vibration? It would also mnake it
easier to use the mirror lockup feature.

I had one of the original 6x7s back in the late 80s/early 90s. They're
a great camera for most things, but not real hand-holdable. There was
considerable shake and the damned thing is pretty heavy.

"M" wrote:
I am thinking of buying a pentax 67II with the prism finder and probably
the 55-100 lens. All the reviews I read and most of the user reviews seem
to stress that becasue of the huge mirror and the slap created by it, it is
essential to use a big solid tripod especially when shooting below 1/250.

No one seems to mention monopods though. I hat using tripods and would
much prefer to use a nice solid monopod held firmly into the ground -
surely this would be just as useful to stop mirror vibration? It would
also mnake it easier to use the mirror lockup feature.

What do you think?

A monopod should help. I can get sharp images with a Mamiya 645, 150mm lens
and a monopod at 1/30. Without mirror lockup. I'd think mirror lockup and
monopods wouldn't work well, though.

That 55-100 might be too big a lens for monopoding. The Japanese landscape
types use the MF zoom lenses to good effect, but they use monster tripods.
I'd recommend looking at primes. Every time I've checked out an MF zoom, the
conclusion has been that I'd rather have two primes than one zoom.

David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan

M wrote:
I am thinking of buying a pentax 67II with the prism finder and probably the
55-100 lens. All the reviews I read and most of the user reviews seem to
stress that becasue of the huge mirror and the slap created by it, it is
essential to use a big solid tripod especially when shooting below 1/250.

No one seems to mention monopods though. I hat using tripods and would much
prefer to use a nice solid monopod held firmly into the ground - surely this
would be just as useful to stop mirror vibration? It would also mnake it
easier to use the mirror lockup feature.

What do you think?

If you use a monopod then this would reduce camera shake but you will
still have some slow movement and sway so if you use mirror lockup it
will all go dark and then when you take the shot the camera might be
pointing somewhere slightly different.

I have a Pentax 6x7 and I support the camera with my left hand under
the body and the lens and with a wide angle lens (55mm and 45mm) and a
shutter speed of 1/250th sec or faster I do not detect any camera shake
in photographs using a 10x loupe looking at a transparency. Having said
that, I am still on the lookout for a suitable tripod for it.

"M" wrote in message
...
I am thinking of buying a pentax 67II with the prism finder and probably
the
55-100 lens. All the reviews I read and most of the user reviews seem to
stress that becasue of the huge mirror and the slap created by it, it is
essential to use a big solid tripod especially when shooting below 1/250.

No one seems to mention monopods though. I hat using tripods and would
much
prefer to use a nice solid monopod held firmly into the ground - surely
this
would be just as useful to stop mirror vibration? It would also mnake it
easier to use the mirror lockup feature.

What do you think?



Reputedly it's not the mirror (they have mirror lockup for that), it's the
focal plane shutter that causes the vibrations, apparently not detectable at
speeds of 1/250th and greater, and for which the only solution is a very
sturdy tripod. I've heard people refute this as well, and I don't have
first hand experience, but I eventually rejected the 67 for these reasons
and purchased a Mamiya 6 instead (which I later sold for a Rollieflex
6008i).

--
Regards,
Matt Clara
www.mattclara.com

In article , stonecad17
@bigpond.com says...
I am thinking of buying a pentax 67II with the prism finder and probably the
55-100 lens. All the reviews I read and most of the user reviews seem to
stress that becasue of the huge mirror and the slap created by it, it is
essential to use a big solid tripod especially when shooting below 1/250.

No one seems to mention monopods though. I hat using tripods and would much
prefer to use a nice solid monopod held firmly into the ground - surely this
would be just as useful to stop mirror vibration? It would also mnake it
easier to use the mirror lockup feature.

What do you think?



I recently did a test and found that I could only get really
sharp handheld images with the 200mm lens at 1/500 or greater.
I have no trouble holding shorter lenses down to 1/100 or so.
So I would say the combination of higher magnification, more
weight and shift of center of gravity makes longer lenses more
problematical for hand holding.
I have never really found the mirror lock to do anything if
the exposure itself is less that 1/30. I think a monopod might
be a useful compromise down to about 1/30.
Perhaps you can try one in the camera store and see if it
suits your purposes.
Whatever you get I would also consider a ball head (like the
medium size Bogen) and a matching quick release plate for the
camera. Using the tripod socket gets tiresome very quickly!

--
Robert D Feinman
Landscapes, Cityscapes and Panoramic Photographs
http://robertdfeinman.com
mail:

I've been using my P67 for sports duty a bit and have had good results
with the Bogen 3018 monopod and a 3025 head. Because of lots of
trouble getting a tripod that truly controlled the Pentax, I almost
didn't attempt to use the monopod but have been very pleased with it
for this sort of duty. I've used it with the 165 and 200 and don't
own anything longer but it seems that the high shutter speeds of 1/250
and faster have been enough in combination with the monopod to give
very sharp results. It's almost as agile as hand-held for the soccer
and downhill ski racing shots I've been doing and it takes the load
off your neck and back that a strap held rig causes after a period of
time. The smallish 3025 head is definitely too light duty to use for
tripod applications but seems perfectly adequate in this application.

Your MLU expectations sound like they might work where precise framing
isn't required... I tend to lose my perspective on that after the
mirror goes up!

On Thu, 10 Nov 2005 00:29:45 GMT, "M" wrote:

I am thinking of buying a pentax 67II with the prism finder and probably the
55-100 lens. All the reviews I read and most of the user reviews seem to
stress that becasue of the huge mirror and the slap created by it, it is
essential to use a big solid tripod especially when shooting below 1/250.

No one seems to mention monopods though. I hat using tripods and would much
prefer to use a nice solid monopod held firmly into the ground - surely this
would be just as useful to stop mirror vibration? It would also mnake it
easier to use the mirror lockup feature.

What do you think?


Craig Schroeder
craig nospam craigschroeder com

"Matt Clara" wrote:

Reputedly it's not the mirror (they have mirror lockup for that), it's the
focal plane shutter that causes the vibrations, apparently not detectable
at
speeds of 1/250th and greater, and for which the only solution is a very
sturdy tripod. I've heard people refute this as well, and I don't have
first hand experience, but I eventually rejected the 67 for these reasons
and purchased a Mamiya 6 instead (which I later sold for a Rollieflex
6008i).

The Japanese landscape types* seem to have no trouble getting sharp images
from their P67s, so it's perfectly possible. My guess would be that people
having trouble with vibration aren't using strong enough tripods. I'm using
a 2.2 kg carbon fiber legset (Velbon Neo Carmagne 730) for 645, Mamiya 7,
and digital, but I'd want the 830 for the P67.

So the heavier tripod requirement is a reasonable reason to look to other
cameras. But I'm finding 6x7 to be a lot bigger than 645/6x6...

*: Most of the 6x7 images in the bimonthly landscape photography dead-tree
magazine here are P67 images, and they're seriously wonderful. I wouldn't
have thought that you'd be able to see the difference in A3 double page
magazine quality images, but you can.

David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan

Your MLU expectations sound like they might work where precise framing
isn't required... I tend to lose my perspective on that after the
mirror goes up!


I don't see a problem with framing the shot then holding the camera still
for the couple of seconds to use MLU. The monopod would enable a very
sturdy position to hold the camera framing.

Thanks for all replies.

"David J. Littleboy" wrote in message
...

"Matt Clara" wrote:

Reputedly it's not the mirror (they have mirror lockup for that), it's
the
focal plane shutter that causes the vibrations, apparently not
detectable
at
speeds of 1/250th and greater, and for which the only solution is a very
sturdy tripod. I've heard people refute this as well, and I don't have
first hand experience, but I eventually rejected the 67 for these
reasons
and purchased a Mamiya 6 instead (which I later sold for a Rollieflex
6008i).

The Japanese landscape types* seem to have no trouble getting sharp images
from their P67s, so it's perfectly possible. My guess would be that people
having trouble with vibration aren't using strong enough tripods.

So you feel it's not the shutter, just a plain old tripod problem? That
contradicts what I've read on the net in considering the purchase of a P67,
though as the solution offered is the same--get a heavier/better
tripod--there's no way to tell without some in depth testing.

--
Regards,
Matt Clara
www.mattclara.com