Pentax SF-1 (SFX outside USA)- early Pentax AF

<p><strong>Pentax SF-1 (SFX outside USA)- early Pentax autofocus camera.</strong> <br /><br />1987<br /><br />Kadlubek Nr. PTX2810<br /><br />According to Pentax: "First AF camera with built-in flash."<br /><br /><br />This was not Pentax's first AF SLR, that honor (and the honor of being the "first SLR AF camera") goes to the earlier (1981) Pentax ME F. However, the ME F, like similar first AF cameras from Nikon and Canon were in what I would call the class of "goiter-lenses"- lenses with huge bulges on them with AF machinery of one kind or another. It also didn't work too well by report, and it was not, in any case, a commercial success in the market.<br /><br />The first 'normal'-looking AF camera/lens system was the 1985 Minolta Maxxum 7000 ( http://www.photo.net/modern-film-cameras-forum/00YGy4 ), aka "the World's first Body-Integral Autofocus SLR". <br /><br /><br />Pentax SF1 (SFX)</p>

<ul>

<li> Exposure modes: Programmed AE, aperture priority, shutter priority, metered manual. Metering range EV1-EV20 at ISO 100 with 50mm f/1.4 lens. Exposure compensation EV-4 to EV+4 in half steps.</li>

<li> Shutter speeds: B (up to 7 hours!) to 1/2000s. Flash sync at 1/100s.</li>

<li> Lens mount: Pentax K-AF. (Can also accept all K-mount manual lenses, and M42 with an adaptor.)</li>

<li> Lens supplied: SMC Pentax 35-70mm zoom (with macro), max. aperture f/3.5.</li>

<li> Focusing modes: AF single, AF servo and Manual. Autofocus in approx 0.3s. Minimum distance 0.7m. Spotbeam for low light to 4m.</li>

<li> Viewfinder: Pentaprism with dioptre adjustment. 92% field of view. Features LED for focus, exposure, shutter speed, flash readiness.</li>

<li> Integral flash: guide number is 14m at ISO 100</li>

<li> Other features: External LCD with all the info you need, self-timer, auto-wind (1.8 fps) and power rewind of film.</li>

<li> Power: 1 x 2CR5 6V lithium battery. AA-battery grip is an optional extra.</li>

<li> Weight: 665g (without battery).</li>

</ul>

<p><br />good sources: <br /> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentax_SFX <br /> http://kmp.bdimitrov.de/bodies/film_SF/SF.html <br /> http://www.pentaxforums.com/camerareviews/pentax-sfx-sf1.html</p><div></div>

<p>Butkus has manual for it ( http://www.butkus.org/chinon/pentax/pentax_sf1/pentax_sf1.htm ).<br /><br />From Kadlubek's listings, there was a "transparent" display body version of this made.<br /><br />Sequence of models following the SFX/SF-1:<br /><br />1988 Pentax SF7 / SF10 (USA) - http://www.pentaxforums.com/camerareviews/pentax-sf7-sf10.html<br />1989 Pentax SFXn / SF1n - http://www.pentaxforums.com/camerareviews/pentax-sfxn-sf1n.html<br />1991 Pentax Z-1 / PZ-1 - http://www.pentaxforums.com/camerareviews/pentax-z-1-pz-1.html<br /><br /><br /><br />Value today- I bought my SF-1 from KEH in 'Bargain' condition for just less than US$10. The Takumar F Zoom 35-80mm f/3.5-4.5, also in 'bargain' condition, was around $13. Shipping added another $9+. Quite a reduction from the 1987 dollar list price of $665 (according to the DollarTimes, equivalent to $1,358.12 in 2012)<br /><br /><br />A review of this when it was new and competing with the other early AF SLRs is from <em>Popular Photography</em> of December, 1987:</p>

<p>The lens I shot with was the Takumar F Zoom 28-80mm f/3.5-4.5 ( Kadlubek Nr. PEN5130, http://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/SMC-Pentax-F-28-80mm-F3.5-4.5-Macro-Zoom-Lens.html ) On the Pentax Forums this is rated as roughly 7-8 out of 10. As one reviewer said, "it's not a gem waiting to be discovered at a cheap price". ;)<br /><br />This is roughly comparable to the "kit" zooms that I have used on other early AF SLRs. Like the others, it was better than its original price would suggest. It worked well with the AF system.<br /><br />Here are some images that show the results I got with this camera and lens. These were all shot on Kodak Gold 800. We've had pretty gray weather so I went for a faster film.<br />Since this was the first AF SLR with a built-in flash, here is a flash of weights in the "Strength Room" at my gym.<br /><br /></p><div></div>

<p>The university mascot is a Saluki (we are in the part of Illinois known as "Egypt", so an Egyptian coursing hound makes kind of sense), and the entire town is covered in huge dog (known here as "dawg") paw prints on the pavement leading people to the campus.</p><div></div>

<p>The zoom has a "macro" range on it - here it is in action, with AF, also showing its bokeh.<br>

The image shows that Gold 800 has trouble with the rose red, and the image presented here is desaturated just a little in mitigation.<br /><br /></p><div></div>

<p>And here is the END.</p><div></div>

<p>I may, or may not, follow this up with some more early AF SLRs, but they are fairly consistent in utility, so my interest is flagging a little. <br>

I may work for a while, instead, with some more "Classic Manual" cameras that I haven't got to; they are so much fun, after all.</p>

<p>I guess the overwhelming response indicates an end to this series. :(</p>

<p>Hi, JDM,</p>

<p> I didn't know you live in Carbondale. Somehow I thought you were somewhere near Leipzig or Jena. Anyway, I actually have a few of those early AF SLRs: Minolta Maxxum 7000 and 9000, Chinon CP-9 AF, Yashica 230AF and 270AF, Olympus OM-77AF, and Pentax SF-1n. Sorry to say I never used any of them:-( I think I'll dust them off sometime and play around a bit. The oldest AF cameras that I actually used a fair amount are Nikon F4 and Pentax PZ-1P. But I use manual focus lenses on them. It happened that both Nikon and Pentax kept their lens mount compatibility when they moved on to AF.</p>

<p>JDM, you beat me to posting on this camera. I can see lots of nits to pick for those who are accustomed to newer cameras, but I had great fun shooting a roll through one of these a couple of years ago. The controls are very simple but it has everything you need. The camera is noisy -- both the screw-driven AF and in particular the shutter & motor drive, particularly if you compare it to the quiet motor-less manual-focus cameras that came before it, the film & motor-less DSLRs of today, and even later film AF bodies such as the compact & lightweight MZ/ZX series cameras.</p>

<p>The single-center-point AF on these seems to work pretty well for normal shooting of non-moving subjects, which is what I mostly shoot. I have a pretty good complement of the SF-series contemporary lens companions -- the Pentax-F series, including the somewhat less common SMC Pentax-F 28-80/3.5-4.5, which is different than the similarly spec'd Takumar version you describe in coatings, aperture blades, and # of elements. The very common 35-70/3.5-4.5 was the kit lens and works well enough other than relatively heavy distortion for a 2x zoom. Perhaps one of its best features is that it's barely bigger than a standard prime, a fairly important consideration at a time when SLRs were first being equipped with zooms as kit lenses rather than the traditional 50mm.</p>

<p>This was taken with my SF1 & F35-70/3.5-4.5 on Fuji Superia Xtra 400.</p>

<p><a title="Flags on King Street by 57th St. Incident, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3207/2829264705_51ba3bd38b_z.jpg?zz=1" alt="Flags on King Street" width="640" height="424" /></a></p>

<p>Andrew, I have been surprised on all of these early AF cameras at how well the AF does work. I guess that it was really a condition for any of these to succeed that they actually worked <em>well enough</em> even at the beginning.</p>

<p>Yefei, between the Salukis and the "polyspheroid watertower" it's Carbondale all right .<br>

You should try your old AF cameras, they are interesting to shoot, and as quickly as nostalgia comes on these days, they are bound to be the next big thing (joke).</p>

<p>I sort of wandered into this area after pretty much doing more than any really rational person would do in amassing a body of old DDR cameras. The camera bodies are so cheap that it's not very costly to try them out. The lenses sometimes, require a little more cash, especially for the lines where the lenses still work on the latest models.</p>

 

<p>Correction?<br>

I thought that the box said "Gold", but I threw it away and just kept the canisters. The film cartridge just says "Kodak 800", nothing more, nothing less.</p>

<p>The AF camera that really intrigues me is the Contax AX. It's not one of the early adopters, but it is the first one for the Contax brand. Although Kyocera had its Yashica 230 AF SLR much earlier than the Contax AX. What's really interesting is that it can autofocus any lens that can be mounted on the body. I am able to use for example the M42 screwmount lenses and the Retina S mount (Deckel) lenses on the AX via adapters. So I have Schneider, Rodenstock, Zeiss, Steinheil, and Voigtlaender lenses in glorious autofocus.<br /> Now I would really like to adapt those medium format lenses to AX. But I can't find any adapters from medium format lenses to either the Contax C/Y mount or M42 mount, even though it should be possible. Looks like Canon EOS mount gets all the attention.</p>

<p>Aha, just found the Mirex tilt-shift adapter from Mamiya 645 lens to M42 mount, but for a cool 400 Euros. Pentax, Hasselblad, and Bronica medium format lenses can be adaptered to the Mamiya 645 mount first. But I guess my urge to use those lenses in AF is not strong enough. Although it will be cool to have tilt-shift. It may just be worthwhile though, as the native tilt-shift lenses are silly expensive.</p>

<p>Here are a couple from my SF1. it's actually an enjoyable camera to shoot with.</p>

<p><a title="24130017 by galoot_loves_tools, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6050/5879095805_221dcf58e5_z.jpg" alt="24130017" width="424" height="640" /></a></p>

<p><a title="24130016 by galoot_loves_tools, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5155/5903687338_0d58ceb60f_b.jpg" alt="24130016" width="720" height="477" /></a></p>

<p>I have an SF1N, and it's fun enough to work with -- I did weddings with it for years -- but it does sound a bit like a meat grinder at work, especially winding on...</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I guess the overwhelming response indicates an end to this series. :(</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I hope not, I enjoy your reviews. They occasionally inspire the foolish spending of money on gear I would be better off without.</p>

<p>"The End" reminds me of a simple graphic somebody drew (pre-internet) titled 'Jackie Gleason Bending Over'. Minus the third leg, of course.</p>

<p>Thanks, Fred.<br>

I think I made a mistake in posting it too early and it got buried before the crowd came on at the weekend.<br>

I will definitely be doing more posts, but my experience with the early AF cameras is that there's not much practical difference- they are all better than you would have expected. I'm keeping an eye out for the early Yashica AFs and such, but they will need to meet my stringent criterion for acquisition - i.e., cheapness. ;)</p>

<p>I guess the earlier "goiter" lenses (the ones with the huge AF motors tacked on the sides) had shown the companies that they needed to do better, one way or the other, so these sort of "second/first" generation cameras are all pretty decent.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I'm keeping an eye out for the early Yashica AFs and such, but they will need to meet my stringent criterion for acquisition - i.e., cheapness. ;)</p>

</blockquote>

<p>The Yashica AFs shouldn't be expensive. I got mine for under $50 with lens, if I remember correctly, both the 230 and 230 Super. I got my Chinon in a package, with multiple lenses. That set cost me quite a lot more.</p>

<p>For anybody still watching, I did in fact pick up a Yashica 230AF and lens for under US$30 on eBay, so there will be at least one more Modern Autofocus Film Camera posting. ;)</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Looking forward to it, JDM.</p>

<p>i owned one of these for a couple of years in the late 80s before I went to the Canon T90. The best thing about the SFX IMO was the clever location of the flash shoe, the whole rig was much more stable with it centred on the grip like that.</p>

<p>Yashica 230-AF review at http://www.photo.net/modern-film-cameras-forum/00axyS</p>