Review 2 of 32
Price Paid:
$180.00
from eBay Summary: In a nutshell, I couldn't be happier with the camera. My photography history started with a Pentax Auto 110 SLR, then moving to the Canon A1 my dad passed down to me when he upgraded. While I always enjoyed taking pictures, lugging the brick of an A1 around with the 50-250 Tokina zoom, flash, 28mm lens, Motor Drive MA (and 12 AA batteries!) tended to discourage casually taking the camera *anywhere*.
I serendipitously ended up with an APS Minolta Vectis for a while, and managed to take some really nice shots with it. When I decided to give photography another go a few weeks ago, I purchased a Canon Elph Z3, but much as I enjoyed carrying a decent camera in my pocket, I wasn't happy with the ergonomics or the experience of taking photos through an itty-bitty viewfinder. In the process of doing some research on a replacement, I discovered the APS SLRs, and headed to eBay to find an IX Lite.
A few days later, I had the camera in hand (with the Canon 35-80) and was very happy. A few days after that, I picked up the Sigma 28-200 Compact lens, a very small Tamrac bag (just big enough for the Camera+lens and my Nikon mini binocs) and now have a great camera with a lot of capability in a very light, portable package.
I've shot a couple of rolls with it (1 color, 1 B&W), and I'm *very* happy with the results. Walking around NYC, it was great being able to swap rolls depending on subject, and the camera performed flawlessly, even taking a couple of great long exposures of the evening NY skyline given extra "mood" by the haziness from the Quebec forest fires.
Developing costs can be expensive, but I'm using a Kodak lab and getting the Picture CD as well. I've used Photoshop for years and would love to have gone full digital, but a digital camera in this league is still many hundreds of dollars more expensive. The IX Lite gives me the best of both worlds - fairly compact with great image quality - though I wish I could get an economical PhotoCD instead of the JPEGs that Picture CD provides.
I never moved very far away from "P" mode on the A1, but I like that the IX Lite gives me a lot of room to grow, with multiple special-purpose modes (sport, portrait, close-up, etc) and the ability to move to full-manual as well. I've already experimented a lot more with this camera than I ever did in the past, mainly because it's so easy to carry around with me and be Strengths: Small size and weight
Compatible with entire AF lens line
Great auto modes + full-manual capability
APS features - mid-roll change; H, C, and P modes, prints exposure info on back of print Weaknesses: All APS-related - expensive to develop, enlargement limitations, grain in P mode.
Would like to see a bit of metal in construction, but that would add weight, so...... Similar Products Used: Pentax 110 SLR
Canon A1 Customer Service: Haven't needed to use
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