Review 3 of 24
Price Paid:
$220.00
from Helix, Chicago Summary:
I have owned this camera since 1996 and love it! I agree with most of what others have said in previous reviews. If you are a serious photographer and want to just go out on vacation or to an event without the usual load of equipment, this is one of only perhaps two other cameras with a 28 to 90 range that you could consider. Great for architecture exteriors and interiors as well as landscapes. "The" perfect 35mm auto-focus camera to take on vacation and not be burdened with all your SLR stuff and keep your companion happy and yet still be able to capture great dramatic image. Strengths:
Just love the camera, given its limits. If they are still around, the only other cameras to consider would be the Rolli Prego AF with a Schneider lens or the Samsung Maximum 90i. Any other camera that starts at 28 usually ends at 70, a range of only 2.5. The 928 has a range of 3.2. Cameras that start at 38 and go to 120 or 140 fail to mention the abysmal f-stop you''ll be shooting at 140 wide open, f11 or 13. I guess they assume you''ll be forced into shoot high-speed film. The sad thing is that 120 or 140 aren''t strong enough for most tele situations you want it for. I have run at least 125 rolls of film through it.
Most of the reviews I have read posted here are fairly honest and I agree with most of the observations. It is a dependable well built camera that, depending on use/abuse, may break, but that should not deter your decision. It is an extraordinarly sophisticated devise.
This camera was introduced in October of 1994. The slighty smaller 928M which has the same zoom range has superceded it but the speed is f/4.8 - f/10.9. The original 928 has a range of f3.5 to 9.9. I was considering purchasing the new one because it is smaller, but decided not to because I am Weaknesses:
Plastic body! The following could have happened to any hi-tech electric camera. After many years plastic fatigue struck and the back just gave up, cracked, and fell off! Repair department would not believe me and would not honor my extended warranty. In July of 1999, after a vacation in the stifling heat and humidity of Virginia, the brain/chip got fried. It was the infamous U7, a general code for an electrical command problem, with the zoom & the zoom function/mechanism in the flash. I insisted that they replace the entire board with the defective chip because I didn''t want to still have a board with old aged chips. The friendly patient fellows in service told me what I alread knew, that heat & humidity is very bad also because of condensation, particularly when going from going out from an air-conditioned environment out into a heavy humid one. They suggested putting camera in ziplock bag and letting condensation form on the bag, not the interior components of the camera.
The camera is a bit larger than those with a range of only 28-70 particularly in length and to some degree depth so that pocketable feature is a bit of stretch.
Like all cameras of this sort, getting in Similar Products Used:
The first auto-focus camera made by Canon, a small Ricoh Shotmaster I with a 38-60mm zoom and a Chinon with the same zoom range and size. I got splashed with a salt-water wave and that did the Chinon Customer Service:
Has been okay for me for the 3 times it has been in the shop. Staff on phone and inperson helpful and gave me tips and pointers so as avoid problems in future and why I had problems. (Usually associat
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