B&W in a point-and-shoot??

greenspun.com : LUSENET : B&W Photo: Creativity, Etc. : One Thread

Hi guys, I am about to buy a P&S camera (no cash for an SLR), and one of the things I am considering is how it will perform with black and white film. P&S cameras, as you may all know, do not always do so well with B&W film. I am closely considering a Pentax 115M or a Pentax 928. The 928 has (manual) exposure compensation, which I understand would be useful with B&W, although with a P&S you don't know what the exposure is set at -- so how helpful can this really be (for a semi-novice like myself)? On the other hand, the (newer) 115M has an asperic elements in its lens group -- is this really going to make a difference to picture quality? If there are specific P&S models that will work particularly well with B&W film, please let me know. Thanks, Mike Gray

-- Mike Gray (mgray@chat.carleton.ca), January 23, 1998

Answers

I know nothing about P&S cameras so I can't give any advice about the ones you mentioned. However you should be able to buy a good used SLR for the same amount or less than a half-decent P&S. Last year I purchased a used Olympus OM-10 with a 50mm lens at a swap meet for $90 CND ($60 US) and the optical quality of the lens is superb. If you are unfamiliar with SLR brands find a good camera store and ask them for their advice. Chances are you will be able to find a good camera with one or two lenses for a very reasonable price.

-- Andy Laycock (aglay@interchange.ubc.ca), January 27, 1998.

I agree with andy -- go for an SLR. Both P/S cameras you mentioned are about $200 each. For that kind of money you could get into a Nikkormat w/ lens, or a Minolta SRT 101 w/ lens, or a Pentax K1000 w/ lens. There are many good used cameras in Shutterbug magazine. Definitely try to go with the SLR -- you'll learn much more about evaluating light when you control the shutter speeds and aperature. I wouldn't worry too much about aspherics. If you can get ahold of a solid optic (like those mentioned above), you probably won't even be able to tell the difference. I have a Nikkor 85/1.8 that's over 25 years old and it's sharp as a tack.

-- John Galbraith (bristol@minot.com), January 28, 1998.

The fact that you have an interest in black and white as a medium makes me really wonder why you are not gonna buy an SLR . I'm sorry but if you are serious (you seem to be or you wouldn't be here) than go out and spend the same amount of money on an older used SLR. In two years a plastic camera will be in the trash. Buy any manual Nikon, Pentax, Canon, or Minolta. In two years you will still be shooting with it. The cameras you mentioned are excellent for certain venues, even some very important ones, but IMHO they are not serious photographic tools. Mike go buy an SLR and take photographs.

Regards, Peter

-- Peter Thoshinsky (camerabug1@msn.com), February 05, 1998.


Mike,

The Pentax 928 P&S has a variable aperture of f/3.5-9! The 115M probably no better. What type of photography are you going to do with a slow lens like that. These zooms are practically uselss except with fill flash on sunny days even with 400 film. Your B&W shots will come out too contrastly under these conditions, unless you use XP-2 (but that's another thread). Take the advice of the above posts and buy a used SLR with a standard lens. I'll bet you can get a nice Minolta X-370 with a prime 50mm or 35mm lens for under $200.

-- ray tai (razerx@netvigator.com), February 10, 1998.


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