[montecarlo]

Hello everyone,

Just a question about the P30n. The camera is identical (reliable/sturdy) as the oldet P30 ? The back door looks flimsy. The P30 , as I noticed, is made of metal (bottom plate, back door, etc.) with some plastic coating (top plate for example & grip) . P30n is the same (were used the same materials) ?
I would like a ME Super buy they also got more expensive lately
Thank you very much.


PS. What about Chinon CE-4 ? Are these camera as reliable and sturdy at least like the Pentax's P series (P3/5 - P30/50) ?
Thanks again.

A would like a cheap, sturdy, reliable, small and quiet (as it can an old SLR be) and with Av exposure mode besides the fully manual K pentax mount camera.

[Nesster]

I hope not to be a part of the cause of yet another hidden gem being discovered and therefore experience a price run up (at least before I've bought mine!)... but with K cameras I'd suggest look at the pre-program Ricoh's - I think there was a thread or two here that mentioned them, and there's a fair amount of info on the net. Sears sold rebranded Richoh's as well.

Did you see the test report on the Chinon? http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/1296/featured-used-camera-of-the-weekbr-chinon-ce-4.html

Another 'off brand' that I've seen is Vivitar. No seriously, they are light weight and decently put together bodies. Not the most robust cameras perhaps, but the few I've played with (but didn't buy) seemed nice. I almost bought one at a Goodwill type store.

In Pentax, consider the Program Plus... and any other model that at its time was 'one down' from the top models. These often sell for a lot less than the top model, people being people and insisting on only the 'best' whether they need all the features or not.

[WJW]

Another Chinon option would be the CG-5. Sort of their answer to the P3/P30 line.....

I've found the Chinons to be very reliable and usually not very expensive. My favorites are the CP-5/CP-5s/CP-6 but these are their program cameras.

[lithos]

Aye, I'll second the Chinon CG-5. While I don't think they're on par with the P series (the CG-5 doesn't supper the KA mount), they're still very good. They're more like the M series; you might consider them a slightly improved (and larger) ME F. (I say ME F in that you've got to find the rare AF lens for it...)

Sure, they're plastic, but I've noticed a few advantages over my ME Super:

* Quieter shutter, well, slightly quieter. And it's got a cooler sound, in my opinion.
* DOF preview.
* ISO setting goes up 3200.
* AE lock - by pressing the button on the left of the lens mount.
* Electronic self-timer, not the pepper-grinder mechanical one of the ME. Timer both flashes a light on the front and blinks.
* Has a shutter speed dial, not those abominable, heathen, godforsaken, malignant, evil, crap, bad, no good, painful buttons of the ME used for manual shutter speeds. So you don't have to be looking through the viewfinder to see what shutter speed you're using.
* Comes in black, as standard.
* The back seems much more securely held than my ME Super. My ME Super's back often pops open when it flaps against my body. I have to hold it down with tape.
* Has a handgrip, where you can store spare batteries.
* Shutter is as light an a prize-winning sponge cake. Delicate as some sort of sickly, waifish female character from some boring gothic novel set on a crumbling estate on a windswept moor in some despairing bleak corner of Merrye Olde Englande.

Disadvantages:

* Not as small as a the ME Super. I guess the CG-5 seems more normal size.
* Made from plastic (but honestly, I could go either way on this one - it takes a greater force to split plastic than it does to dent brass.)
* Viewfinder is nowhere near as bright as the M-series finders. No SMC on the surfaces, I guess - sometimes I wonder if it's really a pentamirror, not a prism. Maybe the M-series has spoiled me, because, dammit, nothing's as good as the ME's finder.
* Is slightly bigger.
* Shutter is as light as a prize-winning sponge cake. For every three times I love that shutter, there's two frames I've wasted whenever I've, say, picked up the camera to shoot.
* By far the most annoying gripe with the CG-5 is that the distance between the film advance lever, when at rest against the body, and the prism housing, is not enough for me to easily wedge my thumb between them and cock it one-handed. At least not as quickly as my ME Super.

[lbam]

hope this helps a little : Pentax P-Series Film Bodies

[ftpaddict]

You know I bought me an ME for 35 euros? Really nifty camera.

[lithos]

You know I bought an ME for $30AU? With an f1.7 50mm A?

[WJW]

* By far the most annoying gripe with the CG-5 is that the distance between the film advance lever, when at rest against the body, and the prism housing, is not enough for me to easily wedge my thumb between them and cock it one-handed. At least not as quickly as my ME Super.

Either you have a big thumb (and mine isn't small) or the lever isn't springing out to the right position. Seriously, I never found this to be a problem with the CG-5. I can't comfortably use the M bodies because the small size and control placement just doesn't work for me and my slightly large, clumsy hands.

Jeff

P.S. One nice thing about the Chinon program cameras is that they DO NOT require A lenses to function . Just set the lens to the smallest aperture and the camera does the rest

[ftpaddict]

You know I bought an ME for $30AU? With an f1.7 50mm A?

Har har. I live in Yurp.

[séamuis]

the P3/P30 has a metal film door, the P3n/P30n has a metal film door, and the P30t has a plastic film door. I have no idea which material is used for the film door of the P5/P50.

[Just1MoreDave]

the P3/P30 has a metal film door, the P3n/P30n has a metal film door, and the P30t has a plastic film door. I have no idea which material is used for the film door of the P5/P50.

The P5 has a metal film door. It also has a detachable front grip like the Program Plus, connections for a motor drive, an LCD display and lots more electronics. It's a nice camera. The P30t feels a bit cheesy because I'm used to my P3n, but the whole series are decent cameras.

[montecarlo]

Thank you very much everybody .



PS. What I like regarding the P series is their viewfinder indications. I can see them much better , even in low light (and also know the exact value not just a coloured point), and in the M mode i like the way the indications work: the selected shutter speed is lighted in continuous mode and the right shutter speed in clipping mode. So you know exactly and more quickly I would say, what shutter speed to select.

[grun2000]

My p30n has a plastic door and diagonal focus screen like the p30t. Maybe a later version of the p30n?