What weighs half a ton and makes you look like a miget.

On occasion I have being known to go a bit smaller and lighter and dig out my Pentax 67. I stole the camera from my wife after she went totally digital. Having swapped my Mamiya 7 for three 10/8 lenses and a packet of gum drops I thought the Pentax was a pretty decent alternative even though it weighed four times more and sounded like a sack of spuds being dropped each time you pressed the shutter. In no time at all I had taken the Pentax, added a wide angle lens, (which cost me three pounds), a cable release and a big lens hood. I had made the camera my own and I was now in a Pentax six seven state of mind...
I like the idea of just walking around with a camera without the whole rigmarole of a large format set up although I would never really use it for any serious work as the neg is just a bit too small for those big juicey prints.
Well without whaffaling on that fat 6/7 broke down today, jammed like a three wheeled Asda trolley. Up to until now I had found the Pentax to be quite a reliable piece of kit and had even managed to pull off a two hour -20 degrees shot at Utah Salt flats last Christmas (the winder froze, but it didn't jam, see image above).
Naturally I took the 6/7 beast to my operating table in the garage and began surgery with the help of a penknife and a small set of screw drivers. Within seconds I had removed the cap on the top of the film winder crank and was faced with a small screw which obviously I removed. I was then blinded by a glint from a shiny metal washer which proceeded to launch from its position sending small ball bearings and springs everywhere. Several choice words later I was on all fours not really knowing what I was looking for other than very small components my fat fingers would never be able to pick up. This lasted for many hours until I finally admitted defeat as the parts where nowhere to be seen. The Pentax was now well and truly knackered..
And so I lay the once mighty Pentax in the photographic draw of peace (in pieces) and vow never again to take a camera apart (well at least not a Pentax).

And so a dilemma which faces us all from time to time. Do I;

Get the camera fixed which would probably cost more than the camera is worth.

Claim it on the insurance and put up those premiums.

Tell my wife I have broken her beloved camera where upon she attacks me breaking both my arms and all my fingers. But then when I am in hospital she feels so guilty for her actions that she buys me a new camera.

Cannibalize the parts and build an almighty 'ultimate' camera capable of shooting any format and even has room for a digital back..

Keep dreaming.