I have heard some conflicting info on the NPC Polaroid back for the Pentax 67. Some people say the back is permanently attached to the body, so you need to devote a separate body to only Polariods. However, I was looking through a B&H book last night an it said the NPC back can be easily attached and removed -- implying that you can use one body for both Polariods and regular film.

Does anyone have experience with the NPC Polariod back? Is it a permanent connection? How practical would it be to use one body for both Polariods and film?

-- Joel Collins (jwc3@mindspring.com), July 15, 1999

Answers

I would like to know exactly the same thing! I was confused by people telling me about NPC's being permanently attached and on the other hand I read you can put them on and off.

-- Alex B. (samedobrefotke@hotmail.com), July 17, 1999.

The NPC polaroid back is not permanently attached. You are free to remove the back and put a regular back on the camera. The problem arises when you try to do this with film in the camera. If you want to use one body to shoot both you need to shoot an entire roll before changing backs or else you expose your film. This obviously isn't very practical in a studio setting which is why most people use two bodies.

Hope this helps. On a side note I have found the polaroid back for the P67 finicky and generally a pain in the buttocks.

-- Mark Meyer (mameyer@xsite.net), July 19, 1999.

Mark,

Thanks for the info on the NPC back. Just a few clarification questions for you: 1.) How long does it take to install and remove the NPC back? Is it 10 seconds, 10 minutes, or what? 2.) Does the installation and removal of the back require tools? 3.) Can you keep the camera on a tripod while you attach/remove it? (So you don't have to recompose a shot.) 4.) What about it makes it finicky and a pain in the butt? And finally, 5.) Do you think it's worth the $$$?

Thanks for your comments.

-- Joel Collins (jwc3@mindspring.com), July 26, 1999.

I use the NPC back on a P67. When it arrives on order from B&H you will have two pieces 1) the back and 2) a replacement body half hinge unit. The body half hinge unit allows fast removal of the normal back and replacement with the polaroid back by means of a sliding pin. It's installation can be done by a camera repair shop (I did it myself by carefully pealing back the sticky leather, removing the existing hinge, replacing it with the new unit and putting the sticky stuff back down).

Once this is installed the change is a 10 second operation with no tolls required. Film loading is a much more time consuming and complex ordeal.

As the previous poster noted this is not practical in mid roll. Also note that if you shoot one polaroid and remove the back the next polaroid (type 669 has 10 sheets per packet) is ruined and my experience is, if you wait a long time (in terms of days) the one behind it is often unusable. With the cost of polaroid film it is painful to use 3 sheets of film to get one shot. I tend to shoot everything I think I'll need to test to use as much of a polaroid packet as possible before switching to the normal back.

On my Bogen quick release tripod head, not only can it not be changed on the tripod but the camera mounted with the polaroid back will not mount on the tripod at all. You can space it up about 3/4" to get enough camera bottom clearance, but I've yet to trust the stability of such an arrangement.

The quality of a polaroid from a 4X5 back is good enough to evaluate sharpness with a loop. This provides confirmation of depth of field calculations as well as shift affects. The P67 polaroids are not capable of providing such detail. There is a fiber-optic block about a 1/4" thick that makes up for the inability to have the film pack at the normal film plane location. This setup provides enough diffusion to make sharpness evaluation very difficult. It can be checked relative to known subjects in the image only.

The only time my back has been a pain in the butt is when I have attempted to use out of date film. It has been flawless in several hundred shots when using current film. There seems to be something in the cement they use to allow the tabs to follow one another that screws up with age and causes the next sheet progression to foul up. When it does it is very easy to cover the rollers with developer and pull the guts of the film pack out without intending to.

Finally, on the question of is it worth the $$. For me it is an unqualified yes. I have two 6'X 2' light banks and a 3'X 5' softbox that I use routinely. My polaroid consumption is confirming studio lighting. I use models in this work and have tended to change something before going to roll film so it is economic for me. I don't tend to worry about what the polaroid can't tell me (depth of field, etc.) so it is a successful piece of equipment FOR ME.

I am now working on my wife to allow me to get a P67II so that I can dedicate the P67 to the polaroid back. I've done fine for several years without out it so it isn't necessary, it's just a 'want'. Hope this helps.

-- Patrick Drennon (sierraengineering@worldnet.att.net), July 28, 1999.

PENTAX 67 POLAROID BACK I9ve recently managed to acquire a 67 Pola back - here are my observations:

-It9s fat - so that there9s difficulty in getting eye to eye-piece correctly. (Tip! - mount a Bronica GS1 prism on a ridged finder chassis - available at small cost from Pentax - gets round the above problem and also gives 100% view. I use one as standard with film or Polaroid.

-It9s large - it9s lower than the camera body at the bottom, meaning most tripod heads would need a spacer of some sort to lift the body. You might have trouble in the vertical mode also. (Another tip!: the Manfrotto made L9 bracket for cameras is almost custom made for the 67: lifts the body, functions as a left hand grip and keeps the horizontal/vertical rotation almost central about the lens axis).

-You can take it on and off but the back hinges are, apparently, prone to break under constant use so it9s best to have a spare body for just Polaroid purposes. Also, it may come as a bit of a surprise to learn that there9s no darkslide provision; no problem if you don9t mind losing a sheet of Polaroid each time you take the back off.... and yes, you do have to burn a whole 120 before being able to refit it!

-The fibre-optic block does not seem to effect picture quality at Polaroid sizes - but I9ve yet to try some neg/pos film and print-up large.

-One last thought: given the price of this independent manufacture accessory, and the fact that Pentax has just upgraded the 67 to the 67ii, I think they9ve badly let down Pentax owners in not introducing a sensibly priced version of their own at this time...

Hope this is of some use, Simon.

-- SIMON PARK (iomad@advsys.co.uk), July 29, 1999.

It really is not practical to change from standard film back to the Polaroid back. I found a 6x7 body with Penta prism and NPC back on eBay for a great price. If you cannot find one I would find a Polaroid 600se or 180/195 to shoot Polaroids.

Good luck, Tony

-- Tony Clark (tcphoto@earthlink.net), June 14, 2000.