I accidentally hit the MLU "lever" last night and then put the camera away hoping to be able to use the frame the next day (with some compositional guessing). This morning when I took the shot, the shutter did not fire and when I checked the battery it was dead. Does having the mirror up use battery juice or was this simply a coincidence?

I do know that solenoids hold open the shutter when set on B (thus using the battery ), but I was under the impression that the MLU was a mechanical system only.

-- Deron (dchang@choate.edu), February 11, 2000

Answers

Yes, the MLU will burn the battery. Unlike Pentax's KX which has a mechanical mirror up & down, the 67 has the electrical type. You can save the frame on the 67II by putting the lens cap on, firing the shot but making sure you are set up for double exposure so that the film does not advance. On the older models, you need to put the lens cap on , fire the shot, then disconnect the right hand spool release on the bottom of the camera. You then advance the lever(which will not advance the film)and the camera thinks a new frame is in place. Now reconnect the film spool release. It will be cocked and ready to go. Be forewarned, it doesn't always work. SR

-- Steve Rasmussen (srasmuss@flash.net), February 11, 2000.

Yes. From the manual:

"The battery is being exhausted as long as the mirror is held up. A new 4sr44 Silver-Oxide battery lasts about 5 hours when the mirror is kept constantly held up..."

-- Mark Meyer (mameyer@xsite.net), February 11, 2000.

P67II has the ability to MLU without battery drain. P67 does not.

-- Patrick Drennon (sierraengineering@worldnet.att.net), February 14, 2000.