I've just bought a very clean used 67 and am in the process of checking it out. With a film in the camera it seems to be operating fine but there's one area in which it behaves differently to other cameras I've owned. After winding on the film and cocking the shutter, the film advance lever will still operate, though with less resistance than when actually winding the film and doing nothing (like a slipping clutch). The shutter releases perfectly and the film winds on OK. With other cameras once the shutter is cocked they usually prevent you winding on the lever. Is this normal behaviour for a 67 or is it a warning of actual or impending trouble ? (Next step is to run a slide film through and get it developed to check frame spacing etc).

-- Kim Fullbrook (kfullbro@cellnet.co.uk), January 18, 1998

Answers

Hi. My P67 has always done this. As far as I can tell it's never been indicative of any type of mechanical problem. One thing to watch out for is that eventually the clutch mechanism wears out. You'll know when it happens because you'll start to get overlapping frames. It's easily remedied with an overhaul. Good luck and enjoy the camera!

chet

-- chet provoda (cprovoda@fas.harvard.edu), January 20, 1998.

I've heard that P67 frame spacing will not always be perfect.

-- horst (fiedlerh@aol.com), January 28, 1998.

I've owned the same 6x7 for 21 years and have never experienced the situation you speak of.I doubt that it is intended to operate in this fashion,not to say that it could ever cause a problem.

-- Robert Huebner (huebner@harborside.com), February 21, 1998.

My new 67 does not do this. When the frame is wound, it locks until the shutter is released. No being familiar with earlier bodies, I cant say for sure. Call up pentax at >WWW.Pentax.com> and ask if this is normal.

-- Gene Crumpler (crumpler.gene@epa.gov), May 08, 1998.

My relatively new P67's wind lever stops after the film is advanced and the shutter cocked. As far as negative spacing is concerned, I have heard that it becomes uneven as the camera ages and eventually needs a relatively simple overhaul. But . . . the darn thing is much more evenly spaced than any of my Hasselblad magazines. After one year of only light use a new Hasselblad magazine overlapped the first and second frame of every roll to the point where it had to be sent in for repair. Moral of the story: in view of that experience I don't know that P67 users have a lot to complain about in the frame spacing department. It seems to happen to many cameras given the right conditions.

-- Bruce D. McLaughlin (bmclaugh@primenet.com), June 24, 1998.