Pentax P30T

I didn't really want this camera. The reason i bought it was the lens - a brand new and clean Tokina 28 f/2.8 that shows no signs of having ever been used. I thought i can mount this lens on my MX and get rid of the Makinon 28 f/2.8 which never really impressed me. Five pounds seemed like a real bargain price so this is how this camera ended up in my hands.

The P30T is the third and final incarnation of the first P30 introduced back in the 1985. The P30 evolved to the P30N and eventually in 1990 Pentax gave some facial lifting to the P30N and added a diagonal split screen and a plastic back, moved the production to China and baptised the P30N into a P30T. While this camera was very well received in the mid-80's, ten years later, it seemed so outdated and lacking important features that other entry level cameras from Nikon/Canon/Minolta were offering for standard that eventually persuaded Pentax to pull the plug somewhere in the late90's (1997 if i recall correctly). Have a look at the picture on the right, it is taken from the 1995 issue of practical photography.

Streets ahead?

I will start with the things i don't like about this camera. First of all, it is all made of out of plastic, but the kind of plastic that you feel you can dent with your nail. It just feels so cheap in my hands. Another major (for me) problem is the complete lack of exposure compensation or ISO setting dial. The camera supports automatic DX-coded film but up to 1600 ISO, so forget the 3200 if you are using super fast films. The lack of any exposure compensation means that the programme mode in the P30T is a kind of pointless excersise. You have no control over the exposure and you have no idea what is the selected aperture. There is a memory lock button offered that should do the trick in back lit scenes but for me this is not enough. What if you want to under-expose a scene on a cloudy day to add to the overall drama? You have to switch to manual then. Another thing missing is an aperture reading in the viewfinder and the little window next to the winding level that used to turn red to indicate that the shutter is cocked (you can find it in the previous generation of Pentaxes like the MX and the K-1000).

But not everything is bad news. The camera has a number of strengths too. First of all the overall design and form of the camera is very comfortable and is nice to hold. Also the wind on level requires such a short stroke to advance the film and engage the shutter that is a pleasure to use. The  P30T offers remote cable release and the mirror and the shutter are quite well dumped. The exposure system is accurate and with older K-mount lenses (non-"A") the camera offers full manual and aperture priority. People in Pentax Forum seem to like it and Matt Denton, who i always trust his reviews, seems to love his. Overall it seems that this camera has been reliable and well accepted by amateurs. Finally, this camera is so easy to use and you do tend to like it more the more you use it. The P30T has been an entry level camera and it is important to note that Pentax kept it in production together with the legendary K-1000 and still resulted in very good sales.

What could have been better? A bit more metal in it (although we are talking about the 80's now), aperture readings in the viewfinder and manual ISO setting. To tell you the truth, i am wondering why Pentax didn't consider the possibility to offer shutter priority with this camera? As it is now If you turn the lens to "A" it will go to programme mode. if you set "A" on the shutter dial it selects aperture priority. I was wondering if it would have been possible to : In order to select programme, both aperture rings and shutter dial should be in "A". If you put only the shutter dial on "A" you could have aperture priority and if you turn the aperture ring to "A" you have shutter priority. I am just thinking aloud now, obviously it is not possible but i am thinking how much better camera it would have been....

Conclusion

I think that with this camera, Pentax filled the glass with water until half way through. It is up to you how you view it. In my case it is half-empty but i know that many people see it as half-full. I think that a Chinon CG-5 (reviewed in this blog) is a better camera. Ok, it doesn't offer programme mode and does not display aperture readings in the viewfinder either but offers exposure compensation, manual ISO, memory lock intergrated in the shutter button and not seperate one, aperture priority and manual and it is usually much much cheaper. It will accept all the Pentax lenses and it has a proven history of reliability. Now that the second hand market thrives with cameras like the Chinon in ridiculously low prices, i think there is no reason why you should pay three times more (based on the prices of that online auction site) to get this Pentax.

But of course, others will do. And they will be happy with their decision.

Fair enough.