Pentax Auto 110
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The Pentax Auto 110 and Pentax Auto 110 Super were single-lens reflex cameras made by Pentax that used 110 film. The Auto 110 and three lenses were introduced in 1978, three more lenses in 1981, and the Super in 1982; the system was sold until 1985. The complete system is sometimes known as the Pentax System 10, apparently its official Pentax name, although most Pentax advertising just uses the camera name or Pentax-110. This was the only complete SLR system built for the 110 film format, although several fixed-lens 110 SLRs were sold. It also lays claim to being the smallest interchangeable-lens SLR system ever created.
The cameras and lenses were very tiny (the camera fits in the palm easily) and made to professional SLR standards of quality.
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[edit] Auto 110
The Pentax Auto 110 featured fully automatic exposure, with no user-settable exposure compensation or adjustments. Metering was TTL (through the lens) and center-weighted. Unlike 35 mm SLRs, the system's lenses did not have a built-in iris to control aperture; instead, an iris was mounted inside the camera body, and functioned as both an aperture control and a shutter. It was capable of exposures between 1/750 sec. F/13.5 and 1 sec. F/2.8. To ensure that minimal light leakage past the blades could not get through to the film over time, the camera's mirror also functioned as a light-tight seal when down. Since the iris was part of the camera, all of the system's lenses had to be capable of F/2.8. The lens design required meant that the 24 mm 'normal' lens was the smallest, while wider or longer lenses were larger.
The camera detected film speed by the presence or absence of a ridge on the cartridge, as specified in the 110 standards. Since there was no official specification of what the film speeds should actually be—they were just "low" and "high"—film and camera manufacturers had to decide for themselves the meaning. Pentax chose 100 and 400 ISO as their settings. 200 ISO film must be either under- or over-exposed; fortunately, the exposure latitude of color print film is quite high. Unfortunately, much recently produced 110 film is 400 ISO but is packaged with the ridge indicating 100 ISO. This must be removed for the camera to expose correctly. Since only a few 110 cameras ever supported the ISO auto-selection, this does not affect the majority of cameras using the format.
The camera was offered in a special edition "Safari" model, identical to the Auto 110 except for the brown-and-tan color scheme.
[edit] Auto 110 Super
Introduced in late 1982, the Super was largely identical to the previous model. Film winding was improved with a single-throw film advance lever that advanced the film and cocked the shutter in one stroke. A switch around the shutter button enabled a new ten-second self-timer mode and a shutter lock; the self-timer brought a red light on the pentaprism which flashed during the count-down. A button on the front on the user's left hand side gave a +1.5 EV backlit scene exposure compensation.
[edit] Lenses
The line of lenses consisted of these three at launch:
- 18 mm f/2.8 wide angle lens (equivalent angle of view to a 35 mm lens on a 135 format camera).
- 24 mm f/2.8 normal lens (Equiv. 50 mm). The optical design meant that this was the smallest lens on the system.
- 50 mm f/2.8 telephoto lens (Equiv. 100 mm)
In 1981, three more lenses were included:
- 18 mm "Pan Focus" lens was a compact lens of fixed focus set to the hyperfocal distance; the short focal length and wide aperture meant that its depth of field stretched from 1.75 m (5.7 ft) to infinity.
- 70 mm f/2.8 telephoto lens (Equiv. 140 mm)
- 20-40 mm f/2.8 zoom lens (Equiv. 40-80 mm). Uniquely, this lens extended for wider focal lengths and shortened towards the telephoto end.
The three later lenses are much rarer.
Soligor also made a 1.7x teleconverter.
Lens hoods were available for all of the lenses, and Pentax sold add-on close-up lenses for macro photography and a range of filters.
[edit] Winders
Two models of motor winder were produced. The original 110 Winder took 2 AA batteries and with a set could wind through 100 cartridges of 110 film. It worked only in single-shot mode. It took about 1.5 seconds to wind a frame. The 110 Winder II, introduced in 1982, added a continuous shooting mode and improved the battery cover door, which was rather fragile on the original.
[edit] Flash
A custom flashgun, the AF130P, was part of the original Auto 110 system, and was produced until the end. Pentax responded to criticism that this was too large by introducing the smaller AF100P in 1980. This was never part of the camera kits and is thus rare.
[edit] Other accessories
Pentax produced a range of bags, cases and a belt clip for the cameras.
[edit] References
- Pentax110.co.uk, a very complete but unofficial reference to these cameras.
- Pentax 110 Cameras at the Sub Club site.
- Pentax 110 SLR at CameraQuest.
