strong
well balanced
reliable
easy to use
light weight for a camera of that era.
amazing variety of lens that can be used with the P3

the programing feature is a bit tricky, at least for me it is.
it cannot be changed over to a digital camera as I really like the style.

My first camera, bought it with my income tax return $$, even bought a large Macro lens with it.
Have owned it for 25 years now. Best investment ever made.
, and it looks just as good as it did when I purchased it.
I have taken over 4000 photos, including weddings, baby pics, portaits, family pics.wild life, drag races, races at Delaware race track, photos of the moon, stars, movie stars, music stars, and all the photos taken of the horse drawn vehicles from Bayfield Wagon & Carriage Works/Penhale Wagon. The list goes on and on.
My P3 still works amazing and I will never get rid of it, infact my kids now want it to keep and take photos as long as there is file for it.
I have many different types of lens and accessories for my P3.
Now I would like ot buy a new digital SLR, but again I want to purchase a camera that will last me for the rest of my life, yes I will buy only another Pentax.
My review can go on for many, many pages as this camera has basically grown up with me and it is now a part of myself and my family.
Thank you Pentax for an amazing camera.

Customer Service

I used to have it cleaned and checked over by Carman Cameras in Goderich for nearly 20 years, they did a wonderful job and never tried to take advantage of my loyaltiy.
I contacted Pentax when I wanted to purchase an external flash, the customer service girl was very friendly and easy to talk to

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only the silly little point and shoot cameras
I swore that I would save up my money to buy a "real camera", the Pentax P3 was it, my Real Camera.

Fantastic SLR Camera which helps you to choose the correct exposure and aperture, helps you to line up the lens to get great shots.

Compared to todays cameras it is a little on the heavy side and I agree with the comment made about the on/off button, i forget i turned it off to save power and miss a photo opportunity.

I was given this camera by my grandad over 4 years ago to use whilst I was studying Photography. I needed an SLR camera in able to learn and see the aperture and ways of using exposure to my advantage. This is a fantastic camera, great for an amateur photographer. I have only used it to take still life and outdoor pictures, I also used it to take professional people shots in college, and all of the images have come out perfect. have used both colour and black and white films and have never had a problem.

Sturdy and solid
Tons of lenses available
Easy to use
No unnecessary (for me) functions
Comfortable grip
Bright viewscreen
Easy to clean
Available cheap used

DX detection would be a problem if I wanted to push or pull the film.

An old flame bought this camera for me 15 years ago. The meter has never let me down when used properly, which is good because when I first started out and didn't know anything I would just turn the shutter speed or aperture until it stopped flashing. I think I've used the autoexposure function maybe twice because I didn't have a manual until about 9 years ago and by then I knew how to properly use it in manual mode.

I don't use a wide range of films and haven't wanted to try pushing or pulling, so the automatic and unchangeable DX detection hasn't been a problem. In other words, it has all I've needed.

This is a great camera for anyone who prefers or wants to learn on a manual camera but wants a little help from the meter or auto mode.

I dropped it on rocks once and all it had was a small scratch.

Customer Service

Never needed service but information is availble on the Pentax web site.

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No other SLRs ever used.

Low cost, wide variety of lenses.

Meter on/off switch is in awkward location, can be tricky to use & is easy to forget, since it controls the whole camera, it is possible to miss shots, if you have "switched off" in order to conserve batteries or lock shutter..

Vastly underrated camera, K-mount lenses are great glass; easily producing results that are on a par with most better known "pro" lenses. Plus Pentax makes a nifty adapter allowing one to use their (or any other makers) m42 screwmount lenses on K mount bodies. This opens up a whole world of vintage glass on this body ( I have a Super Tack 55 macro, a Vivitar Series 1 Zoom, & a Mamyia 1.4 50 all purchased for less than $10 each). The P3 is light weight, VERY ergonomic, fitting well in the hand, and comes into action quickly.(meter switch IS a bit fiddly) The viewfinder is reasonably bright, with easy to read metering. The one I always seem to grab if I need something to take on a non photo specific outing.

Customer Service

Never contacted office,mainains resonable support for older systems, dealers are a bit thin on the ground outside major cities.

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Nikon FM, EM

I have accidentally dropped it many times and its still in one piece.

Its kind of heavy for me.

Im not really a camera person, Im only 12 years old, when my dad got a new digital camera, he let me have this old one from the 90s. Since its my first camera, I can't really compare it, but the performance is incredible (once you get used to all the complex adjusting system).

Nice design, fits nicely in hand, light and easy to manuver

None that i've found

Good overall camera, i found it in my basement, after my parents purchased it over 20 years ago, and it still works perfectly. The shutter speed setting ring tends to stick, and you really have to press it firmly tomake it move, other then that, i havent had any problems what-so-ever. It does look a little ancient, but it delivers great preformance and can last a long time [Over 25 years!]

Customer Service

never needed or wanted

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Too many to count...

light and solid

dx coding

how in the world did i score something like a brand new 28 year old camera? i have no clue. this camera is awsome it is brand new never had a roll of film in it when i got it!!!!!!! i guess someone bought it back in the 80's as a backup and just never opened/used it

Customer Service

never used

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minolta srt 101

Solid build quality / exposure lock / depth of field preview / self-timer / ergonomics / film window (so you never forget what film's loaded)

No manual ISO / no shutter speeds slower than one second / can't use film any faster than 1600 (I'm being picky here - not that I regularly do use 3200 film, but ever so occasionally it's needed in very dimly lit theatres)

Whilst it's not the most beautiful of piece of photographic equipment, this is a solidly built & fairly compact camera that sits nicely in the hand. It offers program, apeture priority & full manual control, & usefully includes an exposure lock, depth of field preview, self-timer & a thread for cable release (my camera is a P30N - I believe the P3/P30 versions don't have a cable release thread). I occasionally miss not being able to use shutter speeds slower than one second & not being able to push film if necessary (the DX coding can't be overridden), but nevertheless I love this as a neat & rugged go-anywhere camera (especially when paired with a 50mm lens & loaded with some nice Ilford Delta 400 or HP5).

Customer Service

Never used

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Pentax K2 Pentax ME Nikon F55

-price -reliability -good body and build -DOF preview, remote release slot, exposure lock -plenty of lenses out there

-no DX override

this is great camera for very low price. In times when everybody changes film dslr for digitals it's very cheap to buy one. There is quite a lot of lenses as well. The only disadvantage of this camera is automatic DX settings.

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Canon AE1, Nikon FG

Easy, compact. It's full of useful functions, but they are just what a good photographer needs. No electronic useless time-wasting feature. When you need, it's easy to take quick shoots!

Only DX iso coded film. In Italy it was sold together with a pentax zoom 28-80 KA, an awful lens.

I really love my P30N. I've pulled it into my backpack during many outdoor trips on Alpi. With the sun and the snow, hot and cold weather. It's a really sturdy camera. It comes with me since 1987.

Customer Service

Never.

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A nikon FG.