Better than I expected.
Written: Apr 02 '02
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Pros: Nice exposure meter display. Light body. Metal K-mount bayonet ring.
Cons: Plastic body, slow (1/60) flash sync, low quality zoom lens, noisy shutter and mirror.
The Bottom Line: If you like to have full control, low price, and do not need all automatic - this might be a good camera for you.
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| deminder's Full Review: Phoenix Gold P2 Film Camera |
Cheap plastic body, simple controls, light and noisy, almost no automatic, manual focus, poor zoom lens - who would buy such a camera these days? Well, I did. And I got myself surprisingly good camera after all. I own Minolta X700 and I just wanted to have a spare camera, so I bought P2.
Plastic body - yes, that is a problem, but at least bayonet ring is metal. I do not travel a lot so I can live with it. Simple controls - I mostly used manual or aperture-priority on X700 - that's exactly what I have on P2. Light and noisy - I can live with it as long as pictures are sharp and they are. No automatic - come on guys, who need automatic anyway? Definitely not me. Poor zoom lens - that is a major problem. But I got myself nice prime Pentax 50/1.4 and cannot complain anymore. And by the way - 15 leds exposure indicator is much better than +/- on Phoenix P1 or Vivitar Vxxxx cameras.
Pictures are sharp. In fact they can be VERY SHARP. I did several enlargements and I did not see a big difference between pictures taken with P2 and X700. Despite of all the nose of mirror going up and down and shutter noise - there is a very little stress of the camera body.
And if you have a good K-mount lens - give it a try. You will be amazed how good this camera can behave if you know what you are doing (you should, if you are picking manual camera anyway). And do not stick with original zoom lens (it was Phoenix 35-70/3.5 in my case) - in fact you can pass it right where it belongs (to the garbage can). Put a good lens on and shoot a roll of film - then decide what you think.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 180
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deminder
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