135compact.com 35mm ultra compact cameras Pentax Espio 145M Super
The Pentax Espio 145M Super is a late 35mm film camera. It was
first released in 2002 when the digital market was already in full expansion.
It has an impressing zoom that covers 38-145mm in a relatively small body. It
got some good reviews at the release, but in general there are few
reviews altogether. Its main features are:
38-145mm F4.8-12.5 lens, 8 elements in 6 groups, autofocus with focus lock, min. focus 0,8m Electronic shutter, 2-1/400, 1/2-1min bulb mode Size 113x66x51, Weight 240 gr. without battery 25-3200
ISO, automatic DX coding, self-timer, automatic film advance, infinity and spot AF mode, self timer
Camera
front closed.
Camera
back. Viewer with flash and AF LED. Panorama switch, on/off button. Wide/Tele lever. Film type window.
Camera front open. The flash is set automatically. Flash
guide number ~15 (m/ISO 100). The lens moves automattically to ~38mm. The lens set to wide position, 38mm.
Lens moved out to its impressing tele position, 145mm which extend the lens to nearly 9cm from the body.
View from above. Shutter
release. LCD
screen (shows focal length for a short moment after moving the lens). Flash, red eye, self timrt/remote and focus mode buttons. View from below. Tripod socket. Mid-roll rewind button. Battery compartment, takes a CR123 battery.
Film compartment.
Camera in original case.
This
camera is easy to use.
Autofocus is responsive and works well. Putting a film is easy as well,
you drop the film, tear the film leader up to the mark and that's it. The
camera winds it automatically. It has some manual settings if needed,
the menu is very easy to access on a big clear LCD screen.
The picture are sharp, at least mine is not bad. There are
optical limits between size, zoom and max. aperture, you have to choose. It's
a very good point and shoot camera
with a wide angle zoom lens, good picture quality, very nice
finish in a still pocketable body which is slightly bigger than other
cameras. Seen the 145mm zoom it's small. It sets the flash on from
start and there is no general flash off mode. However night photo and
flash off mode works fine, even in daylight.
A nice find, it's not expensive for its impressing zoom.
