Review 3 of 5
Price Paid:
$349.00
from London Drugs Summary:
I have been a 35mm photographer for years, but I have the age old problem - I miss pictures because my full size 35mm gear is at home. I tend to be a minimalist with regard to bells and whistles (features do not make great photos - photographers do), but I need the basic equipment to be of high quality. What I am looking for now is a take along camera, an ultra compact that I can have with me at all times. I have been hoping the APS format can give me that. The Pentax Efina T is my first purchase in this format, and it is seriously making me reconsider this strategy.
First the good: The form factor is "perfect" for my needs. It is really and truly pocket size, and weighs next to nothing. I put it in a shirt pocket with the excellent Pentax camera strap around my neck. It is always available, and is zero effort to bring along wherever I go. So far so good. The body is stainless steel, and solid as a rock. The zoom is a good range - equivalent to 29mm to 87mm in the 35mm mode, definately adequate for what I want. The mode dial on the top is precise, non fiddley, and allows you to set all of the major features quickly.
The exposure control of this camera is superb. I have taken some test rolls under deliberately difficult lighting conditions. The exposures were uniformly excellent, probably due to combination of the camera and PQI.
Now the bad: First: Red eye reduction is a bad joke. You would be way further ahead to just shoot with regular flash and preserve the spontanaity of the moment rather than accept the delay of the red eye flash mode, because frankly it does not work. Second: flash range is extremely limited - I suppose that is to be expected with a flash the size of a dime.
The key problem, however has to be the sharpnesss of the opticals. I don't believe I can accept the sharpness that I have seen on my first rolls. On panorama mode, it is unacceptable, and it is none too good on regular classic mode. I don't believe that you could get an acceptable 8x10 enlargement from this camera.
Bottom line: I'm returning it and getting something else. I could live with the flash and the red-eye, but it just ain't sharp enough for me. Too bad - I really thought this one was perfect for my needs. Strengths:
Size/weight
Metal body
Zoom range Weaknesses:
Red eye Reduction
Sharpness of opticals Similar Products Used:
None yet Customer Service:
Not tested
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