I was recently going through my file cabinet, and on the back of a photocopied page (a product test) was a comment by a Japanese photographer which, in broken English, goes like this: "...I really had a wish Pentax was to make the Pentax proto 66, because it give total access to both 645 and 67 lenses, and would have the desirable, changeable film backs...". I can't tell what magazine it came from, as the bottom of the page is cut off on the photocopy. It is probably from the early 1990's. Does anyone know what he is talking about? Was there a Pentax 6x6 prototype that didn't get made, and the 67II was made instead?

-- Carl Tower (cjtowerman@yahoo.com), September 28, 2001

Answers

I have never heard of the 6x6 Proto but have long wished that there was an Asahi 6x7 II in addition to the Pentax 67 II. It would have been nice to have the original upgraded to include mechanical MLU and Mirror Lock Down, spot metering and half shutter speed metering. SR

-- Steve Rasmussen (srasmuss@flash.net), September 30, 2001.

I don’t have the same article you are quoting from, but do have something which might be related to it. It is a March, 1991 article from Camerart magazine, “One Camera I’d Like to Have – Requests for Camera Manufacturers”. Basically, the editors asked ten influential Japanese photographers/writers to describe the camera they would like to see made. A man named Tetsunao Tsuji had this to say: “A 2 ¼ x 2 ¼ single lens reflex that takes both 6x4.5 and 6x7 lenses is what Pentax should produce as a next generation camera. The new model has a waist-level finder and interchangeable backs. It features an aperture-priority automatic exposure control and manual control modes with through-the-lens, open aperture metering system which offers an 1/3 stop increment exposure compensation system”. This was his entire comment, and he –like the other photographers who responded- appears to be describing an “ideal” or hypothetical camera, as opposed to any prototype (though maybe there was such as thing?). Worth noting is that one of the other respondents also proposed an adaptation of the P67. Hideyuki Abe requested/recommended a Pentax 68, as in 6x8 (based on the P67 design, and a field camera, as opposed to the Fuji 680 design).

-- Michael Tolan (mjtolan@kbjrmail.com), October 01, 2001.

I believe that he described the hasselblad 203/205.

-- Gene Crumpler (hassieguy@att.net), October 18, 2001.