It’s barely been 3 weeks of owning this toy and I’m absolutely loving it. Here's a quick introduction to it.
Camera: Pentax IQZoom EZY
Camera type: Point and shoot
Format: 35mm film roll
Zoom Range: 38 – 70mm
Aperture: I have no idea
Features: Red-eye reduction, flash, timer
Battery: CR123A Lithium
Sizing and portability
This camera is pocket-friendly, weighing lighter than a 500mL water bottle, with its length and width measuring similar to an iPhone XR. 'Pocket-friendly' in this case refers to larger pockets from outerwear such as coats, jackets, or hoodies. For me, I chuck the camera into my denim jacket pocket and it fits nicely.
Controls
This camera has really simple controls. Literally point, and shoot. It is fully automatic and can be switched on simply by pressing a red button. The flash fires automatically when shooting in indoors with poor lighting conditions. However, if you are shooting portraits or human subjects, be sure to activate the red-eye reduction function using the button with an ‘eye’ symbol. The timer can be activated simply by pressing the button with a ‘timer’ symbol. As I have not tried the timer function, I do not know how long the timer would go on for before it takes a shot. There are also multiple options with the flash settings which I have not tried, so I will not comment on those.
The zoom function is somewhat similar to the modern digital point and shoot cameras - there is a knob which you can swivel right or left to zoom in or out respectively.
To take a shot, firmly click the light grey shutter button.
User experience
I have only shot 1 roll of the Kodak Ultramax 400 with 24 exposures and I love how it turned out. I developed the film roll at a photo lab and scanned the negatives with my Epson Perfection V370 35mm film scanner.
To open the film back, simply slide the latch downwards and tilt your camera backwards to allow gravity to do its work. The film is loaded on the right side of the camera facing up and the take-up spool is on the left. Drag the film across, feeding it slightly on the surface of the take-up spool and close the film back. It takes a few seconds to wind the film. You will know that the film is loaded when you see '1' appearing on the top of the screen. It indicates that the camera is ready for its first shot. If there is an error, an ‘E’ will appear, and you will have to open the film back again to readjust the film.
I have shot with this camera on a clear day, a slightly cloudy day, and also indoors. I realised that the shutter tends to take a split second before being activated to shoot. This is particularly obvious when shooting under poor lighting conditions with the red-eye reduction activated.
The zoom function of this camera isn’t particularly useful when shooting outdoors, but it would certainly help to frame your subjects better when shooting portraits.
As the viewfinder and camera lens adopt different positions, there may be a parallax error when you take your shot. Do take note of that before snapping away.
Opinions
It is generally a great camera for party events or gatherings to take casual film shots with friends or family. It’s a no-brainer point and shoot camera armed with simple easy-to-activate functions. As it is fully automatic, you are not able to change any settings, hence loading a 400 ISO film roll into the camera would be beneficial to compensate for the lack of flexibility in settings.
Below are some photos for references and all of them were shot on this camera with the Kodak Ultramax 400. Do enjoy them!
Cheers
keefi boi
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