Looking for info on Pentax P3N

[jordan_harkness]

Hi All,

 

To make a long story short, I need to replace my current, broken,

Pentax mz-50. I was ready to move up from that entry model anyway

and my goal was to purchase a cheap Nikon body and start building

from there; however, the best laid plans of mice and men...

 

I ended up with a Pentax P3N after making a split-second decision

based mostly on my entreprenurial spirit; it was a darn good price.

Now I need to decide if the camera is worthwhile keeping or if I

should part it out and buy what I really want. I have had a

difficult time finding information via the Internet and I trust your

opinions so here are my many quesitons...

 

What are your general opinions of the P3N?

What features is it lacking?

What are its strong points?

To what lenses will I be limited? (i.e. does it lose metering for AF

lenses)

Can it use a manual shutter release cable?

 

Now, a little bit more about me. I have been an amateur photographer

for a while and have some decent results from my labour. I now shoot

mostly with my Fuji Finepix 602 but want to "get back to the basics"

with a camera that will force me to take photos the traditional way.

Don't get me wrong, digital is wonderful, but (uneditted) film

photography is the art that makes me smile.

 

Your thoughts and comments will be appreciated.

J.

[efusco]

Jordan,

I have owned two P3N bodies in the past, but it's been at least 5 years since I sold my last one. I really don't recall exacting detail about features but I'll go by what I can remember and give some less specific thoughts.

 

I view the P3n as a very basic starter body..I suspect you'll be disappointed after the MZ-50 as the aperture priority must be controlled by using the aperture dial, it just isn't very versatile feature wise. As I recall you can't adjust film ISO, you can't do multiple exposure, you have only one metering mode (center weighted I think). No bracketing or exposure compensation. Construction is flimsy.

 

But it works. I shot with that body for about 7 years and learned a LOT about photography with it. But it was restrictive--my first move up was to a Nikon FA, then an FM2n, then my F5--all of which were more versatile and, in many ways, more advanced.

 

If you are using many of the manual features of your 602 and like to have a lot of control over your images then I do think you're going to be pretty disappointed with the P3N. If, on the other hand, you like the automation of the 602 and want something that will slow you down but you don't need a lot of bells and whistles and like solving problems by working around the limitations of your gear then you may be happy with the P3N.

 

Frankly, if I still had mine I'd probably give it to my sons at around age 8 or 10 (when I got my first 35mm body)--lots for them to learn about, they won't feel restricted, and I wouldn't care if it got destroyed.

 

Pentax makes some decent lenses, I belive most of thier modern mount lenses work on the P3N, but you will have to find out for sure yourself, it's just been too long.

[efusco]

Jordan,

<p>You can download a PDF of the <a href="http://www.pentax.com/docstore/index.cfm?show=6" target"_blank">P3N Owner's Manual</a> from the Pentax web site for free(scroll about 1/2 way down the page--I missed it the first time, but it's there). Should have all the specs you need and information to help you clarify your decision. FWIW, there is a shutter speed dial, but the aperture adjusts only with the aperture dial on the lens. There is DOF preview.

[stemked]

I still have the P30T which I believe is very similar. Some nice things about the camera that are different than the MZ-50.

 

First you can use ANY K mount lens on it, unlike the MZ-50.

 

The remote release on it is both manual AND electrical. You can either get any classical mecanical one or the pentax electrical one. Because it is electric (it just completes a circuit) it is pretty easy to make a very long one out of two wires and a circuit connector.

 

You can make double exposure using the old classical techniques.

 

There are a couple of short comings

 

You'll only have programmed flash (No TTL).

 

No moter drive options

 

A basic camera, but it works well.

[jordan_harkness]

Your comments are very appreciated.

 

I had hopes that this was a diamond in the rough but from your reviews, perhaps it was a step sideways or backwards. I don't mind losing the auto features but the exposure compensation will be sorely missed and I'll have my fingers crossed that the metering will be acceptable for my uses.

 

Having said that, the body, 5 lenses (18f3.5, 28f2.8, 50f2, 135f3.5 and 200f4) and 6 lenses came to $460cad (~$336usd). I suspected that was a pretty good deal so if I don't like it, I will try parting it out and selling it off so I can buy an FM2, F3 or F601. Mind you, the body of an FM2 around these parts is close to $500cad before you start adding lenses...

 

BTW, the drawbacks to my fuji602 are that it doesn't have B mode, it's terrible for camping (batteries, picture transfer etc.), the lense is fixed so I can't toss on a wide angle lense nor can I increase the zoom beyone 6x optial (~190mm) and, the manual focus mode is a waste of time because I can't tell if the subject is in focus on the LCD screen. Don't get me wrong, I love my 602, but it doesn't do everything.

 

Thanks again,

J.

[kristian_s_oslash_rensen]

Not being familiar with that particular model, but with many other pentax SLR cameras, I had a look at the manual for it that was posted earlier in this thread. It does look like a strait forward and very uerfull camera.

<p>

There is aperture priority, shutter priority, manual and program mode. Set the aperture ring on "A" and select a shutter speed to get shutter priority, the viewfinder tells you how far your setting is off with regard to the meter reading. Same procedure with the shutter ring on "A" and an aperture of your choiche for aperture priority. You get manual by taking both aperture and shutter rings off their "A" settings. Guess how you get program mode ;-) There is AE lock as well.

<p>

It has a depth of field preview button at the usual position above the lens release knob.

<p>

It will read the DX codes of off film rolls so you do not have to set film speed manually.

<p>

The flash sync is 1/100 s., it does not have TTL flash metering, but that goes with the vintage, it an take advantage of dedicated automatic flashes either Pentax or compatible units. This gives you a flash ready light in the viewfinder, and can control the aperture for you when the flash is in auto.

<p>

The metering is good old center weighted. That is what you should expect from the age. Spot metering was just about to become standard on the high end models (Pentax Z1, Nikon F4 etc.) aroung 1988-1990 where your P3n was manufactored, so you won't find it on the low end models from that age.

<p>

You can use AF lenses on it. You will not get AF of course, since most of the AF system is in the SLR not the lens. The metering could not care less if the lens is AF or not, that is one of the beauties of the Pentax K-mount line - compatibility going back tot he start 3-4 decades ago. <br>

You can mount MF lenses on the AF Pentax bodies as well. The camera will tell you when you have the focus right, but you will have to turn the focus ring yourself of course. You can even do trap focus with some of the AF cameraes and manual focus lenses, where you focus the lens on a spot, and the camera makes an exposure as soon as something moves into that spot. Nice for fast moving subjects like athlets, animals in the wild etc.

<p>

 

Go to http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/ for more technical inormation on the Pentax K-mount equipment