Pentax Auto 110: worth buying?

mtnbkr · Mar 8, 2006

I've been eyeing these on ebay lately. Prices have come down significantly from a year or so ago. I've watched several with lens or lens and other accessories for prices in the high teens to low twenties.

They seem like nifty gadgets. Photographically-speaking, is it a worthy purchase?

Chris

jeffneedham · Mar 8, 2006

i've got one. actually two...one is for sale on ebay (for parts use - it never worked). kind of a fun pocket camera. you can get 110 at walgreens for 1.50. developing is getting tough.

David A. Goldfarb · Mar 8, 2006

I used to process 110. I had a stainless steel reel for it. They must still be around somewhere (though not in my possession).

bohica · Mar 8, 2006

I had an adjustable patterson reel that fit several sizes, one of which was 110. Don't know if they're still available, this was in the early 80's

removed account4 · Mar 9, 2006

i've on too - wish i had the pan-lens!

Steve Roberts · Mar 9, 2006

mtnbkr said:
I've been eyeing these on ebay lately. Prices have come down significantly from a year or so ago. I've watched several with lens or lens and other accessories for prices in the high teens to low twenties.

They seem like nifty gadgets. Photographically-speaking, is it a worthy purchase?

Chris

I've got two - a straight 110 and a Super version. They are great fun to experiment with. I've cut down 35mm FP4 and loaded it into 110 cartridges then processed it in a 16mm reel. Although you needn't look forward to huge, grain-free enlargements, results can be surprisingly good. Commercial processing of colour print 110 film in the UK is no problem, but results are very variable depending on the care taken. There's a good section on the 110 Pentaxes on the Sub Club website http://www.subclub.org/shop/pentax.htm

Buy one and have fun!

Steve

mtnbkr · Mar 9, 2006

Thanks guys. I think I may pick one up if I can get it for less than $25 shipped. I need to see if I can get 110 developed locally though...

Chris

jeffneedham · Mar 9, 2006

mtnbkr said:
Thanks guys. I think I may pick one up if I can get it for less than $25 shipped. I need to see if I can get 110 developed locally though...

Chris

I'll be inviting LOADS of comments (spare me please) about this, but...i use clark color labs, or one of the similar style places for 110 developing. You can get 100 film from them for 1.99 and they'll develop it for 1.99. I guess it adds to the retro fun of using the pentax auto 110. crappy looking prints never were this much fun...

reellis67 · Mar 9, 2006

plate o' shrimp

Funny that you should mention these! I was just talking about them before lunch with a buddy here at work. I've seen whole kits go for reasonable prices in the past. They look like really neat little cameras. I always wanted to add one to my 'photographic museum' as my wife calls it. Post some images if you end up getting one.

- Randy

reellis67 · Mar 9, 2006

jeffneedham said:
...i use clark color labs...

Man, I used to use those guys all the time back in the early eighties for all my color prints. They used to do a halfway decent job if I remember correctly and the price was always lower than anybody else. I didn't even know they still existed...

- Randy

jeffneedham · Mar 9, 2006

almost forgot...in the same realm (110) i can also highly suggest the holga 110. i got one on ebay for 1 penny, plus 5 bucks shipping form Hong Kong. It is merely a shell fro some 110 film. the viewfinder folds up, it has a plastic lens and the tiniest shutter release ever made. really simple, smaller than a pentax auto 110. weights little more than the roll of film.

mtnbkr · Mar 9, 2006

jeffneedham said:
almost forgot...in the same realm (110) i can also highly suggest the holga 110. i got one on ebay for 1 penny, plus 5 bucks shipping form Hong Kong. It is merely a shell fro some 110 film. the viewfinder folds up, it has a plastic lens and the tiniest shutter release ever made. really simple, smaller than a pentax auto 110. weights little more than the roll of film.

I had one of those back when I was a kid (or something very similar). I think I ran one roll of film through it, but I'm not sure I ever got it developed...

Chris

donbga · Mar 9, 2006

mtnbkr said:
I've been eyeing these on ebay lately. Prices have come down significantly from a year or so ago. I've watched several with lens or lens and other accessories for prices in the high teens to low twenties.

They seem like nifty gadgets. Photographically-speaking, is it a worthy purchase?

Chris

I've been think about getting one or two bodies to use for a project where I can get maximum grain. I thought about cutting down 1600 Fuji but there are limited exposure controls with the Pentax as I understand the camera's functions (seems like it only knows 2 film speeds 100 and 400).

Perhaps a Minox 8x11 might be a better choices but I like the idea of having interchangeble lenses and an SLR.

Don Bryant

mtnbkr · Mar 10, 2006

For better or worse, I just won an ebay auction for an Auto 110, 18mm, 24mm, 50mm lenses, the flash, and a motor drive with broken battery cover (common problem I hear).

Off to buy 110 film...

Chris

reellis67 · Mar 10, 2006

The battery cover is very common, and to my knowledge, there is no replacement available. That does no rule out a homebrew fix though...

- Randy

127 · Mar 10, 2006

The motor drive is a bit of a waste of space anyway - it's huge, and winds on more slowly than you can do it by hand!

IF course you will want to get the 70mm and the zoom lens (again both bigger than the camera, but great lenses).

These are a lot of fun - my wife (mandy) more or less has the whole system now, including a two regular, and one super body, a full set of lenses (minus the 18mm panfocus), motor drive, both flashes, and various filters and close up lenses.

The results are pretty great! Check out the abstract stuff in her gallery which was shot on the 110, using respooled cartriges.
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Ian

Mike Lopez · Mar 10, 2006

I think you can probably get 110 processing here, too. I'm pretty sure these guys even do Minox:

http://www.bluemooncamera.com/

donbga · Mar 10, 2006

mtnbkr said:
For better or worse, I just won an ebay auction for an Auto 110, 18mm, 24mm, 50mm lenses, the flash, and a motor drive with broken battery cover (common problem I hear).

Off to buy 110 film...

Chris

Chris,

How much $$$. Just curious.

Don Bryant

donbga · Mar 10, 2006

127 said:
The motor drive is a bit of a waste of space anyway - it's huge, and winds on more slowly than you can do it by hand!

IF course you will want to get the 70mm and the zoom lens (again both bigger than the camera, but great lenses).

These are a lot of fun - my wife (mandy) more or less has the whole system now, including a two regular, and one super body, a full set of lenses (minus the 18mm panfocus), motor drive, both flashes, and various filters and close up lenses.

The results are pretty great! Check out the abstract stuff in her gallery which was shot on the 110, using respooled cartriges.
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Ian

Well damn - I'm real impressed! Were these print scans or film scans?

Thanks,

Don Bryant

craigclu · Mar 10, 2006

Many years back, I decided to get my very young daughter inspired in photography and spent quite a bit accumulating a full Pentax 110 system for her. She was very young (about 8, I think.... she's 26 now!). She was very mature and trustworthy and I could just let her loose with that rig and was surprised at the results she would get. Her feminist mother felt it was better for fine motor skill development than Barbie doll play but she went through a period of tirelessly posing Barbies in their Corvettes and dream apartments, etc and she quickly developed a good natural eye for lighting and composition. She's kept these skills all these years and is a good photographer (not passionate like dad but has good fundamental skills). Countless rolls of cheap film went through that system for her and it never gave any trouble and she learned to respect and care for decent equipment. I was always glad that I took the chance and spent the money on that little project.

127 · Mar 11, 2006

donbga said:
Well damn - I'm real impressed! Were these print scans or film scans?

I think they're scans of prints - not 100% sure. A set of about 15 were printed at about 7x5 for an exhibition, and I think those were scanned from those prints. We have scanned some 110 negs (they go in the 35mm film scanner no problem ;-)), but I don't think these were scanned.

I think they were shot on hp5 (though a couple might be delta 3200).

Minolta make a 35mm enlarger lens, and I bodged a carrier together for the durst 601. However we've now got a 5x4 enlarger (well two actually!), and irronically it's easier to get real 110 carriers for the bigger enlarger.

And of course don't forget the ultimate 110 accsessory - the Kodak Pocket Carosell 110 slide projector! You can pick them up dirst cheap, but I've no idea where to find 110 slide holders (as opposed to full size holders with 110 size holes). The results are remarkably sharp.

Ian

p.s. re exposure control on the 110 - you can lock the exposure at (I think) something like 60th 2.8 or 120th f/4 by attatching the flash, and turning it on WITHOUT BATTERIES. The camera thinks it's in flash mode so disables it's auto features. Also the super model has 1 stop exposure compenstation. For more control check out the Minolta mk2 zoom - not as cute, absolutly huge, and no interchangable lenses, but you do get aperture priority, more exposure compensation, and a zoom lens.

$

mtnbkr · Mar 11, 2006

donbga said:
Chris,

How much $$$. Just curious.

Don Bryant

$39 shipped.

Chris

removed account4 · Mar 11, 2006

if you drop the film off at a walmart / sam's club, they ship to fujilabs.
that is where i get all my 110 processed - costs something like 1.79 for double prints.

whenever we visit family overseas the 110 is the camera i use the most. i think last time i has about 30rolls processed. the shutter is very good, and slow handheld exposures are a piece of cake. i wouldn't have thought so, but the shots i took of "the black door" (roman ruin ) in besancon, france came out better with that camera than with a yashica t4

have fun!
john

donbga · Mar 11, 2006

mtnbkr said:
$39 shipped.

Chris

Man what a steal!

Don Bryant

gr82bart · Mar 11, 2006

I have two Pentax 110s. In the last Toy Camera Print Exchange, I sent a pic taken from that camera.

I have several lenses - 18mm, 24mm, 50mm, 70mm and the 20-40mm Zoom - several filters and all the accessories including a Pentax 110 aluminium case to carry everything.

My friends call it my spy camera. The zoom lens is neat!

It's definitely worth the buy and THAT price you paid, that is a steal. You will enjoy it. Take pics and post some of them when you get them processed.

Regards, Art.

Pentax Auto 110: worth buying?

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