The Pentax Espio 24EW is a very late 35mm film camera. It was
first released in 2003 when the digital market was already in full expansion.
It has an impressing zoom that covers 24-105mm in a very small body. It
got some good reviews at the release, but in general there are few
reviews altogether. Its main features are:
24-105mm F4.9-12.5 lens, 7 elements in 5 groups, autofocus with focus lock, min. focus 0,3m, 0,5m in macro zoom mode Electronic shutter, 2-1/400, 1/2-1min bulb mode, 1-5min bulb timer mode Size 113x62x41, Weight 195 gr. without battery 25-3200
ISO, automatic DX coding, self-timer, automatic film advance, infinity and portait mode, exposure compensation, date mode
Camera
front closed.
Camera
back. Viewer with flash LED. Wide/Tele button. Film type window.
Camera front open. The flash is set automatically. Flash
guide number ~10 (m/ISO 100, the manal gives the 400 ISO value). The lens moves automattically to ~28mm. The lens set so ultra wide position, 24mm.
Lens moved out to its impressing tele position, 105mm which extend the lens for ~7.5cm.
View from above. Shutter
release and ON-OFF/timer/remote switch to the right. LCD
screen (flash off, bulb) and date setting. Exposure compensation, flash mode and focus mode buttons. View from below. Tripod socket. Mid-roll rewind button. Battery compartment at the side, takes a CR2 battery.
Film compartment.
Camera and 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, even exposure compensation,
the menu is very easy to access on a big clear LCD screen.
To
make a valid conclusion I have to put some more
rolls through it. The corners are not impressing, there is some
vignetting (as with all 24mm compacts), but mine is not bad. There are
optical limits between size and max. aperture, you have to choose. It's
a very good point and shoot camera
with an ultra wide angle zoom lens, good picture quality, nice
finish in a small pocketable body which is not bigger than other cameras with less wider and shorter lenses. A nice find, it's not expensive for its impressing
data on paper.
