Huss, you've got a good eye. You find beauty in everyday things that are easy to just ignore or take for granted, and you turn them into photos that convey a cheerful state of mind. It's evident that you're out having a lot of fun and it shows in your photography.
coralnut wrote:
Huss, you've got a good eye. You find beauty in everyday things that are easy to just ignore or take for granted, and you turn them into photos that convey a cheerful state of mind. It's evident that you're out having a lot of fun and it shows in your photography.
TY! Much appreciated.
There are way more important things to be serious about than goofing around with a camera and pocket full of film!
Desmolicious wrote:
I dunno mate, it has a nasty dent on the top right corner so it has taken a hit. $700 for a dinked p&s that frankly are not built to take abuse?
I took a flyer buying a TX-1 from a pretty dodgy guy and that worked out OK so I'm sure this one would to.
So I just received my Pentax Espio 24W. $34 from ebay/goodwill store. The next cheapest working one is about $150.
Camera is in much better shape than I expected - no dings/drops/scratches. Just very slight handling marks like it has barely been used. Quite surprised really. Shot a roll of Delta 400 at +2EV - this camera has a button that allows you to +- 3EV!. Gave it extra light as old film..
Initial impressions - surprisingly small, aluminum body is a nice touch as it makes it feel premium. DX only. Turning on it takes a little longer than I'd like to get ready, as that lens first comes out, then the lens itself makes a quick adjustment to get into the ready position. Default setting is 35mm, even though widest view is 24mm which is very unusual for a P&S.
Camera is very quiet for a P&S - both in focus, shutter and wind on. VF shows focus distance symbols so you get a rough idea if it focused correctly - flower/head shoulders/full body/mountains. That is a nice touch. Flash defaults to auto - turning off is not saved if you turn camera off. Camera body is a little smaller than the amazing Samsung AF Slim Zoom, but the Samsung is less slippery and actually feels a better size. But I'll get used to it.
This shows me that Pentax made some really lux P&S cameras, and apparently are going to do it again in 2024.
And also... don't drop big money on P&S cameras!
Will soon post results so you can see if this camera is worth getting..
oh - another bummer - in dim light it seems to blip a tiny preflash in some circumstances to aid focusing. The jury of one is out on that. I mean great if focus is nailed, but sometimes you don't want a blip of light.
Brief vs the Samsung AF Slim Zoom? The Samsung has that amazing Snap focus setting for street photography.
Oh, one big deal - the placement of the VF eyepiece. It is on the left corner with the Pentax which makes it instantly findable when you pick up the camera. Most P&S cameras have it somewhere in the middle which takes a moment to find when you lift camera to eye. The Pentax also has a diopter adjustment - score.
The Espio 24EW Date automatically imprints the date or day and time of shooting on the photograph. It even adjusts the position of data imprinting when the panorama mode is selected. the power is turned on, its "final date" function displays the exact date when the camera was last used, so that the user need not worry about the deterioration of the film, even when the camera has been left unused for a long period of time.
Huss, a query...I was passed on an Olympus Stylus 38-80 zoom P&S from my late aunt. Is the camera/lens anything of note, i.e., worth blowing a pricey roll of film to find out?
j.liam wrote:
Huss, a query...I was passed on an Olympus Stylus 38-80 zoom P&S from my late aunt. Is the camera/lens anything of note, i.e., worth blowing a pricey roll of film to find out?
No idea - there are soooo many P&S cameras from so many different mfgs out there. But.. because that is a relatively short zoom range, the chances are it will be decent.
Don't blow a pricey roll of film - blow cheap roll of film! P&Ss are meant to be grab shot type cameras.
For B&W Kentmere 400. Colour - Fuji 400 or whatever the cheapest roll of 400 Kodak.
j.liam wrote:
Huss, a query...I was passed on an Olympus Stylus 38-80 zoom P&S from my late aunt. Is the camera/lens anything of note, i.e., worth blowing a pricey roll of film to find out?
The Olympus Stylus Epic Zooms are quite good. I bought a 38-105 in 2004 for a nearly month long trip to Europe. My feeling was, if it was lost or stolen it wasn’t a big loss and at that time there were still a lot of one hour photo processors. It worked great, never a problem. In 2017 I found a 38-170 at a Goodwill for eight USD. Put a battery in it and it worked fine. They fit in a pocket, give good images and don’t cost a fortune.
Desmolicious wrote:
No idea - there are soooo many P&S cameras from so many different mfgs out there. But.. because that is a relatively short zoom range, the chances are it will be decent.
Don't blow a pricey roll of film - blow cheap roll of film! P&Ss are meant to be grab shot type cameras.
For B&W Kentmere 400. Colour - Fuji 400 or whatever the cheapest roll of 400 Kodak.
I bought the original Olympus Infinity Stylus 35mm/3.5 (the first/non-zoom version of that line of P&S cameras) back in the 90s, for those times when I didn't want to lug around my bulky AF Nikon kit. It was an incredibly great little camera... until it got stolen. Now they've become so popular that they don't cost $20 any more -- they cost as much now as when they were new, about $300.
I remember laying down in the Arizona desert dirt to take a macro photo of a tiny blossoming cactus against an orange Arizona desert sunset. It was an incredibly difficult lighting situation due to all the backlighting and I was afraid of getting a silhouette. So I turned on the flash with the camera on auto and let the camera do it's thing. I ended up with an incredible picture of a flash illuminated blossoming baby catcus in the foreground, with an incredible orange sunset in the background. The image was so good that it could have passed for a Nikon ad for their distance calculating speedlight systems. I remember making print copies on the DIY print machine at Robert's in Indy and all of the staff ogled over what a great picture came out of that little Stylus. They hung a copy of that image on the DIY print machine for years ... until DIY the print machine got retired.
I really miss that camera. I wouldn't hesitate to put a roll of film through one.
madNbad wrote:
Images look good. How about a user review?
I thought I did that a couple of posts up? I will add that when you use pano mode, the VF actually masks off the area so you cannot see anything outside the pano frame. A very nice touch unlike many cameras where you just have permanent set of dotted lines to show you how to frame. cough cough my Nikon LiteTouch AF..
The LCD panel lights up which is nice - my Samsung does not. And, er, it's fun to shoot!
Desmolicious wrote:
I thought I did that a couple of posts up? I will add that when you use pano mode, the VF actually masks off the area so you cannot see anything outside the pano frame. A very nice touch unlike many cameras where you just have permanent set of dotted lines to show you how to frame. cough cough my Nikon LiteTouch AF..
The LCD panel lights up which is nice - my Samsung does not. And, er, it's fun to shoot!
Couple of extra things. If a non DX film is used, the default setting is a very unusual ISO 25! However this is working out fine for me because that ancient expired TRiX I have works best at ISO 25-50.
The lens on this camera is ok. Sharp in the middle, less so going outwards. It also performs the best close to mid distances, infinity not so great if pixel peeping.
Pentax Espio 24EW with tapped off the DX code on that 35 yr old TriX so it shot at 25.
Looks really good at iso 25! Shot in the pano mode which isn't a gimmick IMO as it makes you commit to that composition. Instead of saying you can crop later when you figure it out...
Desmolicious wrote:
Oh, one big deal - the placement of the VF eyepiece. It is on the left corner with the Pentax which makes it instantly findable when you pick up the camera. Most P&S cameras have it somewhere in the middle which takes a moment to find when you lift camera to eye.
zOMG yes. My Canon Sleek has the VF in the middle and I lose seconds just moving my face around trying to find it.
Desmolicious wrote:
AF Slim R:
3 element 35mm 3.5 lens
Shutter speeds: 1/64 - 1/300s
DX coding: 100/400/1000 ISO
Red eye reduction
DO NOT GET THE SLIM R!
Those are the same specs on nearly every Canon Sure Shot fixed lens camera.
Test roll with the OG Samsung AF Slim, old TMAX 400 @ 100
Shooting another test roll through the camera because there were too many unsharp pics. Using fresh HP5 to determine if it was user error or camera issue.
