Pentax IQ Zoom/Espio 120SW

Review Date
May 22, 2003

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5, 2 votes

Reviewed by
prisca_turner , Expert , from Vancouver, BC, Canada

Price Paid
$200.00 at London Drugs

Photography Experience
21+ years , Fine Art

Summary
This is a revised opinion. I have recently purchased this item, and used it for a Spring trip to Greece. This is not my first such trip, but it represents the first using modern emulsions in a compact camera with zoom lens. In the 1960s I had a fixed focal length rangefinder, and the finest emulsions would not resolve what my lens would put on them. I am basically an advanced amateur landscape-and-buildings photographer, now getting too old to lug an SLR and several lenses everywhere.
I exposed only Fujichrome Velvia in good daylight without a tripod: the resolution is excellent at all focal lengths; there is, contrary to an earlier review, no vignetting visible even at 28 mm. in mounted slides; the camera is light, small and super-convenient, slipping into the interior pocket of a handbag, which my IQZoom 928 will not do; there is no visible camera shake in spite of the extreme lightness of the camera. What a beautiful range of focal lengths! Remarkable is the lack of distortion at wider angles: the lens is as slow as is to be expected in a point-and-shoot, but a winner in every other way. With the new Velvia 100 it should give even better results. I do not think that it should be used against the light, for it may be an SMC optic, but the front element is level with the housing at shorter focal lengths. There is no way of fitting a hood or polarizer (and no exposure compensation to set with filters). I did not see any flare. I have not, I should add, tried any people-pictures with flash, so cannot comment on the overexposure problem mentioned by another reviewer. That does not strike me as a difficulty with neg. film.
Both the focus-cum-exposure lock and the timed release setting are useful. Exposure is pretty good even with a contrasty film. Spot exposure metering gives even better results in some situations. Scans suitably edited in Photoshop yield excellent b&w files.
I expect to travel with no other outfit until the best digital cameras slim down.
I should add that I could use a case which wasn't liable to fall off the strap and get lost at every turn.

Strengths
Compactness, wide range of focal lengths, excellent optics, simplicity of use.

Weaknesses
Losable case.

Similar Products Used
Pentax IQZoom 928.

Customer Service
Haven't tried.

Review Date
April 30, 2003

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
0-1 years

Reviewed by
prisca_turner , Expert , from Vancouver, BC, Canada

Price Paid
$279.00 at London Drugs

Summary
I have just purchased this item, and used it for a Spring trip to Greece. This is not my first such trip, but it represents the first using modern emulsions in a compact camera with zoom lens. In the 1960s I had a fixed focal length rangefinder, and the finest emulsions would not resolve what my lens would put on them.
I exposed only Fujichrome Velvia in good daylight without a tripod: the resolution is excellent at all focal lengths; there is, contrary to an earlier review, no vignetting visible even at 28 mm. in mounted slides; the camera is light, small and super-convenient, slipping into the interior pocket of a handbag, which my 928 IQZoom will not do; there is no visible camera shake in spite of the extreme lightness of the camera. HOWEVER, and it is a big but, there is at all focal lengths up to about 50 mm., when the lens does an audible and visible adjustment, causing the front element to retreat in relation to the housing, really hideous 'stone-in-the-pond' ringing in skies and other bright backgrounds. This is now involving me in endless faking in Adobe Photoshop. This must be a result of the front element's having no protection from light coming in at the top and sides. I should add that I could use a case which wasn't liable to fall off the strap and get lost at every turn.

Strengths
Compactness, wide range of focal lengths, excellent optics in principle, simplicity of use.

Weaknesses
Ringing in light backgrounds, 'losable' case.

Similar Products Used
Pentax 928 IQZoom

Customer Service
Haven't tried.

Review Date
April 9, 2003

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Reviewed by
aban01 , Intermediate , from Seattle

Price Paid
$215.00 at Adorama

Photography Experience
21+ years , Outdoor

Summary
This is a small camera with near SLR capability. It has a very capable 28 - 120 zoom with SMC (super multicoating) that virtually eliminates internal reflections that cause larger ratio zooms have softer images. I love this camera; it produces wonderful sharp images at the same time it is size of APS cameras. I have used it for more than a year now and it is always on my belt.

Strengths
Sharp
28 MM wide to 120 MM tele
Small

Weaknesses
it is not built like a tank it feels fragile (but it has survived being dropped at the airport by the security person)
Given 5.6 - 12.0 max f-stop you really need 800 asa films to get the best results (especially if you live in darker northern climates)

Similar Products Used
Yashica T4, Nikon Nuvis S, Canon Sure shot, and a host of SLR's, my favorites: Canon F1, Nikon N80

Review Date
July 16, 2002

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
2-5 years

Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5, 3 votes

Reviewed by
M Chan , Casual , from Hong Kong

Price Paid
$230.00 at Broadway Hong Kong

Summary
This camera have got the TIPA best compact camera award 2001. But I don't think it deserve the award.

The sleek design of the camera is very attractive. It is so light, quiet. It's just so cool by design. The 28mm capability is also a big selling point. I bought it without second thought because of this and previous good experience with Pentax zoom.

However, I am very disappointed with the performance. The camera vignette seriously at 28mm end (dark corners). Photos at this end are totally unacceptable even to casual user. My cheap EOS with bundled cheap zoom lens can beat it's performance by a big margin.

To me, picture quality is much more important than any other factors. A nice little pretty camera with poor optics is not what I want

Strengths
Size,
weight,
elegant design,
excellent ergonomics,
quiet,
4x zoom,
wide angle,
features rich.

Weaknesses
serious vignetting at 28mm offset all the goodies

Similar Products Used
Pentax Zoom 70
Pentax Zoom 90WR
Pentax Zoom 105
Pentax Espio 120MI
T3 (very elegant and good optics)
Canonet QL17 GIII (very sharp and contrasty, on par with my T3, a very good point and shoot, b

Customer Service
Can't help. I send my 120SW back and after one month, it says the camera is okay. The vignetting effect is normal. That's the design of the camera. How ridiculous are they?

Review Date
January 6, 2002

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
2.52 of 5, 25 votes

Reviewed by
brainedesign , Expert , from Louisville,KY,USA

Price Paid
$200.00 at Murphy Photo

Photography Experience
6-10 years , People

Summary
This is not the camera for you. Poor viewfinder, poor red eye reduction, flash overpowers the subject.

Strengths
Size, weight

Weaknesses
Poor viewfinder, poor red eye reduction, flash overpowers the subject.

Similar Products Used
Olympus, Fuji, Minolta,Nikon