[Marados]

I was wondering if one would be so kind as to give me any information on this camera?

I found it around my house, and although I'm considering taking up photography as a hobby, I don't know anything about this camera.

The camera itself:

Pentax P30N

The lense:
Trontec TZX-320

Anyone know anything about either the lense or the camera? I'm curious to see if it's good, or at least acceptable for a (more or less) ubergreen beginner.

 

[Marados]

Anyone?

 

[dj_mocok]

Just take some picture, develop it, and see yourself if it's any good.

Some people like to use manual (so it's good for them), but some people hate it (or doesn't know how to use it), so it's relative. Just play around with the cam and see if you like it or not.

 

[Marados]

Thanks for the advice.

 

[beerguy0]

http://www.pbase.com/cameras/pentax/p3n

Manual on E-Bay UK.
http://wantitnow.ebay.co.uk/Pentax-P...dZ150043654154

Google came up blank on the lens.

Bottom line: It's a film camera. Buy some film, take some pictures. It's certainly good enough to practice with. You can probably get Pentax lenses pretty cheap on E-Bay, if you want to go a little further. You may need a new battery as well. Try taking the camera to a camera shop and see if they can tell you anything. (Try to get an older person - younger sales people likely won't have a clue.)

 

[infinitesymphony]

I have a handful of Pentax cameras from the '70s and '80s courtesy of my grandfather. I used one from '83 (Pentax ME Super) exclusively until the winding lever locked up. Anyway, as others have said, the only way to test the camera is to take a picture. It has an automatic light meter, but it's powered by a battery placed into the camera's underside, and there's a good chance that by now the battery is dead. My Pentax cameras took a Sanyo brand replacement from Radio Shack. There are various ways on the internet to determine which replacement battery your camera needs.

When the light meter is working and the camera is in auto mode, the camera will display the amount of exposure when you look through the viewfinder and lightly depress the shutter button. Change the aperture settings on the lens so that the light in the camera turns green and take a picture.

Assuming the light meter is working and accurate, this should be a great camera for a beginner, just as my Pentax was for me.

 

[thefinder]

Some specs of P30n:

http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/bodies/P/index.html

You may also look around Bojidar Dimitrov's Pentax K-Mount Page linked above for more information.

 

[oic929]

Since its a film body, the quality of the lens and the film would be more important towards the picture quality, that and the person using the camera of course.