Hi!

Does the AE viewfinder of Pentax67-II shows 90% of the image area or just 90% vertical and 90% horizontal (=approx 80% of image area)?

-- Patrik Bjorklund (patbj@itn.liu.se), August 14, 2000

Answers

It shows 90% of the actual image area.

-- Steve Rasmussen (srasmuss@flash.net), August 15, 2000.

According to the P67 II sales brochure, the AE Pentaprism finder shows 90% of the actual image area. It says nothing about 90% vertical and 90% horizontal. SR

-- Steve Rasmussen (srasmuss@flash.net), August 24, 2000.

Pentax 6x7 and 67 prisms show 90% of linear height and 90% of linear width of the screen, so Patrik's calculation is correct, i.e. one can see 0.9 x 0.9 = 81% of the image *area*. Since Pentax says it has done nothing to improve prism coverage on the 67 II, that same 81% of screen area would still apply.

-- Sal Santamaura (bc_hill@qwestinternet.net), August 24, 2000.

The 67II brochure is just as loose with terminology as was that for the 6x7. This is probably why Patrik asked his question. Quite a few years ago I contacted Pentax to clear up the ambiguity. Their response (a letter which is somewhere in a box at home) gave the "90 by 90" answer. I decided to buy the system despite its viewing shortcomings, and then never bothered to confirm those percentages with actual measurements. It should be relatively simple to do so. My weekend is fully booked, but anyone out there with a 6x7, 67 or 67II and a yardstick should feel free to take some data and let us know!

-- Sal Santamaura (bc_hill@qwestinternet.net), August 24, 2000.

I can't confirm 90/90. However on a frosted focus surface I did trace the focused image a linear subject and then compared it to the view seen in my TTL prism viewfinder. I noted the discrepancies and made a laser printed graphic showing the actual recorded image beyond the viewfinders field of view. I carry this laminated card to remind me of the difference. Briefly what I found is that when viewed in the landscape orientation the left/right side are equally shrunk, However the top and bottoms are different with roughly about 1/3 loss on top and 2/3 on the bottom.

-- Garrett Adams (gadams@jps.net), August 25, 2000.

Popular Photography tested this camera around the winter of 2000 in one of their articles they stated the viewfinder frame was quite small. I know it was much less than what Pentax claimed in their sales brochures. I think if I recall correctly it was about 80% of the full frame. Which is usually O.K. if you shoot print/negative film since most labs cut off the edges of the negative when printing. If shooting slide film it may be a bit troubling.

Peace, Rolland

-- Rolland Elliott (rolland_elliott@yahoo.com), November 06, 2000.