P6 flying home

[PaulC]

Well, Rolf Baier (Baierfoto) has finished servicing and repairing my Pentacon Six and it is in the mail back to me.

I really pushed the boat out on it, getting Baier's new pressure plate system to improve film flatness, and his frame-overlap protection system as well as fitting a fesnel viewing screen and regreasing and servicing everything. It cost several times what the camera did, but I'm hoping that I now have a top quality medium format system that will serve me for as long as I need.

Is it worth it? Time will tell. Perfectly flat negs, accurate curtains and Zeiss optics surely should add up to something like Hasselblad quality.

I'm itching to get my hands on it. Watch this space for results .... (or maybe the film gallery space; anyway, somewhere here).

[Attila]

I cross my fingers to get success! Need really for P6 can't wait to see your reports!

[mo]

Sounds good Paul,can't wait to see your photos.

[PaulC]

My next dilemma will be whether to risk taking it to India. Would a 5D, a Pentacon Six and an ME Super be too much? Would I always regret not getting medium format slides? Is the humidity there too risky for the lens and the curtains?

[Attila]

[PaulC]

Yeah, silica gel would help.

[Attila]

[F16SUNSHINE]

It would need to be very, very dank air that would create a problem over a short visit.
I bet a bit of care would ward off any fungus.
That's a lit of kit with 3 systems though.
When are you going and where if you don't mind my asking?

[fish4570]

go get 'em ...

[mo]

When it is very humid/after rain here the silica beads need replacing as fast as once a week possibly earlier.I assume India would be far more humid than where I am. Of course it all depends when you are going...which season wet or dry?

[my_photography]

Any thing specific you wish to shoot that needs 3 systems?

[wilson.c]

I would get lots of those silica beads as you are talking about average humidity of over 75% during the summer months and x-Large zip-lock bags. We face the same problems here in Hong Kong with the heat and humidity. Hence my stuff is in a electric dry box all year round or it would be useless lumps of glass and brass!

I would guess the short trip of a week or two won't hurt things, but the killer would be condensation. Your hotel room would be air-conditioned, when you take your camera outside in the heat and humidity, condensation forms. Care must be taken when you return home making sure everything drys out. I guess Arizona would be a good place Just check the weather to see what it's like when you are going. Summer months are the worst!

That's alot of gear to be lugging around. My last trip to Turkey with my old 5D and three lenses in a camera backpack, I ended up with a sore back (ouch).

Hope this helps.

[PaulC]

We're going in a fortnight (that's in two weeks' time, if you're American ) to Kerala, which is full of rivers and very humid at this time of year.

I wasn't reckoning on three systems. I was going to take the 5D Mk2 as the main business camera, the Pentax ME Super as a spare film camera rigged up for M42 lenses, which I could also use on a Canon DSLR (and I might have taken a little folder, cos, hell, they're fun and don't weigh anything).

I've got a friend there who is interested to see the tricks I can play with things like my IR filter, reversing ring and diopters, all of which require that I take a couple of M42 lenses (the 77mm Canon filter rings are too big), so I would be taking the Canon and at least four lenses anyway (two Canon L zooms and a Flek 35 and Sonnar 135. The Pentax body adds almost nothing in weight and I've got in some Velvia to try.

I guess it's pretty daft to think of adding on something as bulky as a P6, though I do want to play with it.

Wilson, my "home" is Qatar, which (almost) makes Arizona look chilly with a mild and temperate climate, so I have no doubt about getting everything thoroughly dry in the longer term.

[visualopsins]

[themoleman342]

I'd say if your afraid of taking equipment on any photogenic excursion, what is the point in having the equipment at all? Be careful surely, but don't miss the opportunity to get the slides that you really want. I'd probably take all three systems, but cut back on the number of lenses for each, taking really only the ones that I am confident in. Sometimes it is good to restrict yourself to a few really good primes.

[mo]

[PaulC]

[mo]

Paul you being a newspaper man should know.....I read the newspapers,watch TV.....damn I am being corrupted