Pentax
Spotmatic SP F (1973)
Nothing to
bitch about on this camera, it is a
beautiful piece of engineering. Not a trace of the bombastic Japanese
design
that can be found on some other brand cameras before and after
– the ”F” is
neatly designed. The odd part of this camera simply is its M42 thread,
together
indeed with its ability to measure the light at full aperture. Nobody
seemed to
bother that only s-m-c Takumar lenses were suited for open aperture
metering
(just as if one had moved to a bayonet mount, like almost all other
brands did,
and subsequently enjoyed the associated benefits). Pentax was stuck to
the M42
thread…
But just two
years later this relict was gone, when
Pentax introduced the K mount, a fine piece of engineering again. But
how did
the customers feel who had just bought a Spotmatic F, maybe even with
some
s-m-c Takumar lenses?
Pentax LX (1980)
Once upon a
time in 1980, Pentax introduced a new 35mm
camera, that challenged all existing professional cameras, all cameras, and that surpassed them in
many respects (and that had
a couple of tricks up its sleeve that even today’s cameras
cannot match)
This camera was
very expensive, much more expensive
than any other Pentax camera before, and there didn’t seem to
by any target
customer group, because only hard-dye Pentax fans could hope that a
significant
percentage of professional photographers would leave their current
system for
Pentax (and indeed, only very few switched brands)
So this camera
was a failure? Pentax made it for
twenty long years, so probably not, but whether the camera itself was
an
economic success, only Pentax knows.
What can be
said however is that the LX meant a lot
for the Pentax brand, it has
defined
this brand to a large extent, until today. Every Pentax photographer
knows the
LX, and when Pentax friends meet today and a LX is passed around, and
somebody
shows want it can do, there is a whisper “Oh look, an
LX”.
An inevitable
point of criticism is the lack of an
exposure lock, which is completely off track, because the preceding K2
DMD had
one. Apart from that, the ill-famous “sticky
mirror” syndrome is a knock out
condition all by itself, a thing like that should not happen to any
camera, and
if it does, it just isn’t a good camera, if it had not been
for love…
Pentax auto 110 (1979)
The prime
example for a product that should not have
left the drawing board. As nice a camera as this is, and as cute the
accessories look (even if the camera with flash and winder attached is
far from
small…), the truth is, that from a pocket sized film there
will never come
decent photos, not with the most sophisticated camera, and this fact
also
auto110 customers had to realize, sooner or later, after they had
played with
the camera enough.
To prevent
accidental usage I have removed the bayonet
flange of this camera, and have used it for this
mFT adapter.
Pentax
PC 35 AF mit Winder (1988)
As absurd as
this „Rucksack“ winder looks, that makes
the camera bigger and heavier than necessary, not to speak of the
whining sound
or the „speed“, that easily allowed faster manual
transport, this was a
successful camera, hugely popular, and this was for a reason: the lens
is
relatively fast and very sharp, an insider tip among those compact
cameras.
Pentax
EI-C90 (1997)
Now what is
this? Yes, this is Pentax first digital
camera, from 1997. It boasts a bit more than VGA resolution and you can already use it like any modern
compact digital camera, by looking at the display. But it is obvious
that the
designers were still thinking along the lines of ordinary cameras, so
the thing
only becomes handy when the monitor part is removed.
Please also
note the 4Mb storage card, which must have
cost a fortune itself. It seems unclear if this camera was really
developed by
Pentax, but maybe yes, it somehow feels like a Pentax…
Pentax Digibino
200 (1999)
Yet another
oddity from Pentax, a relatively small
binocular with built in 1.3 Megapixel camera. As a binocular it is
unsuitable
for serious bird watching, as is the camera, and the focal length
certainly is
much too long to use it as an ordinary camera. So this thing is good
for
nothing in the end, which the customers will also have realized not
after long,
and who will have blamed Pentax, with some reason.
Odd Rollei Cameras
Other Odd Cameras