The Pentax Espio 928 (IQZoom 928 in the U.S.) is a 35mm film camera of the upper mid-range series. It was
first released in 1994 when the digital market was not yet a consumer market.
It has a very good zoom that covers 28-90mm in a relatively small body. There was a silver version, the 928M and a date model. Its main features are:
28-90mm F3.5-9 lens, 9 elements in 7 groups, autofocus with focus lock, min. focus 0,58m Electronic shutter, 1/400-1/5, 1/2-10min (!) bulb mode Size 126.5x73x54.5, Weight 315 gr. without battery 25-3200
ISO, automatic DX coding, self-timer, automatic film advance, exposure
compensation up to +/- 3 EV, remote control (optional), panorama mode
Camera
front closed.
Camera
back. Viewer with 2 LED for flash and AF, On/Off button with panorama
mode dial. Wide/Tele lever. Film type window. Diopter dial missing.
Camera front open. The flash is set automatically. Flash
guide number ~17 (m/ISO 100). The lens moves automatically to 28mm. The lens set to wide position, 28mm.
Lens moved out to its tele position, 90mm.
View from above. LCD
screen. Flash mode, red eye, focus mode and self timer buttons. Shutter
release. Wide/Tele
lever. Long pressing the red eye button gives access to exposure
compensation via the Wide/Tele lever. Long pressing the self timer
releases the mid roll rewind. View from below. Tripod socket. Battery compartment, takes a CR123 battery.
Film compartment.
This
camera is easy to use.
Autofocus is responsive very 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 interesting manual settings if needed,
the menu is very easy to access on a big clear LCD screen.
The
picture are sharp on the wide end, the luminous F3.5 lens at 28mm has
nearly no vignetting. On mine the the zoom end is a bit soft. It's
a very good point and shoot camera
with a good wide angle zoom lens, decent picture quality, nice
finish in a pocketable body. It sets the flash on from
start and there is no general flash off mode, but a night mode which works quite well as
flash off in case of.
The B mode gives access to impressing long shutter times, up to 10
minutes! An infinity mode, an easy-pic mode (hyperfocl setting), a spot
AF, multi exposure and numerous flash modes, there is quite a choice.
A nice camera for easy shooting witout the limits of the simpler models..
