Pentax 67 / 6x7 in BGN condition - what to expect

[NJS]

Vlasto, expect a body with 30 years of mileage, even more... personally I wouldn't know what to expect from a 30 year old camera.
I also pretty much considered purchasing a P67 but after talking to few folks from around here I definitely quit the idea of purchasing a copy of older version.

I have a guy here in Belgrade with both versions, P67 and P67II, both of them need occasional repairs, mostly because of the film winding mechanism problems. Hopefully the folks from APUG meridians can change those stats for better.

[declark]

Just to throw a wrench in the works, I purchased from KEH a bargain Pentax 645 that wasn't real pretty but was a workhorse then I bought an Exc Pentax 645N body that had a mirror / shutter issue, it was returned promptly without much hassle.

[Paul Sorensen]

From your original post, I would recommend not buying bargain grade. I buy a lot of bargain grade stuff from KEH, and I am fine with the brassing and small dings/dents. I have never gotten anything worse than that, so I would not expect any large dents, for example. Since you say you don't like brassing, I would stay away from bargain at KEH, because brassing is a distinct possibility, even a likelihood.

If you were in the US, it might make sense to take a chance on one, as you can always return it, but it looks like you are in Europe, in which case the return shipping would present a real issue. They will probably get an EX 67 body in pretty soon, if you can wait. They are always getting stuff in.

[Paul Sorensen]

I just looked at KEH, they have all the parts available separately, so you can get the same outfit in EX condition. I have checked in the past and the prices for the individual items added together were the same as the price for a package with no discount involved. I am guessing they are just not listing the items as packages to try to sell more bargain grade equipment, perhaps they have a lot of the stuff in that condition.

Of course EX will cost a lot more.

[vlasta]

Thank you Paul.
Magic word is patience!
Also I will consider buying in parts.

[Casey Kidwell]

Does KEH do a film test on cameras? I'm asking because, as I stated earlier, film advance problems seem to plague these cameras and it's not "if" but "when". It starts as irregular exposure spacing and ends in overlapped exposures. If they don't run film through the camera I would be tempted to buy one through Da' Bay from someone who knows the history of the camera and has good feedback. I've used my 67's for about 13 years and that's been the only problem I've had. The shutter and the rest of the camera is pretty much bullet-proof.

[MattKing]

I've always wondered what KEH's response would be if you wanted their repair department to do a CLA and check on equipment before they sent it to you.