Pentax P30

swordjo

swordjo

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Jonathan
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Hi,

My dad handed one of these to me the other day when I popped in to see him (it had been in the loft for years). Now never having used a film SLR I was just wondering if anyone had ever used one of these over the years. Seems like a nice little camera,but i'm not too keen on the 28-200 Vivitar lens thats on it! Sadly it doesn't have the 50mm f/1.7 which is pictured with in the manual. May have to pick one up if the camera is worth using?

thanks

Jonathan
 
They are decent little cameras; compact, nice to hold and easy to use. Looks well styled too. The one I used to have's shutter went in the end, but wouldn't say that's a weakness of the camera, just something that happens with any camera after years and years of use.

Anyway, I kept hold of the 50mm f1.7 SMC-A lens, so if you're still interested in getting one for it let me know and I can put it for sale in the classifieds of the forum.
 
Have you tried the lens or are you going on hearsay/myth?
 
Thanks Rick, Arthur which lens are you talking about , the 28-200 or 50mm?
 
The Vivitar...
 
I gave it a quick look through last night,not saying it's not going to be a good lens, it just felt too big on the smaller body for my liking. I'm used to primes on big old DSLRs!
Is it regarded a good/bad lens?
 
No idea, but I do know that despite what you may think of the brand *now* - back when that lens was supplied it would have been/was a whole different ballgame.
 
It wasn't anything to do with the brand,it was more to do with the size of the lens on the small body. Don't know how you guys do it, or the moderm boys with GF-1's and huge lenses.
 
The Vivitar was not a bad lens. Bit of a compromise trying to get 3 lens in one, hence 28-200. I think the down side to it was, not very fast aperatures and I think it suffered a bit of vignetting when at the 28mm end with the aperature wide open.

I do know what swordjo means, it is a big heavy lens on a small compact and light body. Was never a fan of those lens but the P30 was decent little performer.
 
Pentax P30,loads of used PK fit lenses about on ebay and camera fairs but make sure you get the A lenses with the electric contacts,a nice kit would be a 28+50+135 lens in pentax,all use 49mm filters.As for filters what would you want to shoot but a polerizer is a must for any film.
Some half decent Tamron lenses out there,I have a 135mm f2.5 ,sharp as a tack for £20 but 58 mm filter thread but can be used on most film cameras with a adapter
Just stay away from wide range zooms(28-200),wont do your photography any good)
When i started photography ,a long time ago a chap in the camera club said if you must use zooms dont pull it in and out ,decide what focal length you want and set it to that,28 ,50 or whatever as the effect changes as you zoom
A lens i did have years ago was a Vivitar 28-105 f2.8-4 varifocal MF,not a zoom so every time you change focal length you had to refocus(fool to get rid of it)but it made you think .It was like having 77 diffrent lenses on your camera but hard to get hold of now.Dont confuse it with the new type serese 1 lenses thouh (AF)Big filter though ,72mm
One of the best walk around lenses.Not a fault with the lens but with it being a vari focal lens it did focous beond infinity but as i said it did make you think
 
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Lots of great info guys, thanks for taking the time to reply :thumbs:
 
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