Easy Eight Gets A Second Date. (update of Easy Eight Not So Great)
Written: Oct 03 '03
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Pros: Affordable, neat looking, not too small... easy to hold, infinity focus.
Cons: Slow f/6.3-f/12.5 lens, no separate focus lock indicator, red eye appears w/flash every time.
The Bottom Line: At $59.99 this camera is a good deal. Easy operation for 'grabshots' and a nice little 2nd camera for B&W when #1 is loaded w/color.
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| roger1250's Full Review: Pentax IQZoom EZY 35mm Film Camera |
This camera is easy to operate as it's name denotes, what with it's four main function buttons total. That's right... only four buttons, one is the on/off button another is the shutter release. The other two main buttons control the camera's flash and focus settings.
These two buttons are located under the camera's LCD panel located at the top center of the body. First, the one on the left controls the flash modes. Push the button once and the camera sets flash with red eye reduction, which doesn't actually work and I think it's because the camera sends out an infrared beam to try to close your subject's irises instead of pre-firing the flash which seems to work a lot better on other cameras. Push the button a second time and you get fill flash or forced flash and the flash will go off even if it isn't needed. Push the button a third time and you get flash off, which in my opinion is a risky thing to do unless you are using at least ISO 400 film on a sunny day. Push the button a fourth time and the camera sets flash with red eye reduction and slow sync for night scene portraits. A fifth press of the button sets the camera back to the factory default of programed auto exposure.
Now the button on the right sets, with the first push, the self timer which is more useful than any of the flash modes. And a second push sets infinity focus, useful when shooting through a window or when you want to shoot a far off subject but want to get the camera to meter the light off a certain part of the scene or your hand/gray card without also focusing on it. And pushing the button one more time sets the camera back to it's default mode.
This camera is a "QD" (Quartz Date) model and has the standard date/time imprinting buttons to set how you want it to put the date or day and time on your pictures MM/DD/YY, DD/MM/YY, YY/MM/DD, DD and time or imprinting off, listed in order of button pushes. Of course actually setting the numbers requires a pen or the peg on the sliding plastic piece of the wrist strap included with the camera. The peg is also used for the mid roll rewind button and to open the battery door.
The viewfinder is big and noticeably distorted. But this is a minor flaw and is negated by the ease of framing the large viewfinder provides. There is also a green LED to the right of the viewfinder to indicate that the camera is focused and flash, if being used, is ready. Why Pentax didn't put a second LED under the green one to indicate focus lock or flash ready instead of just using one for both I don't know and they do it with all the P&S cameras I've seen from them too.
The knob that extends and retracts the lens is big and easy to find when the camera is at your eye.
One of the better things about the camera is that it "remembers" what you had it set to do after you shut it off and back on again. Or rather when it shuts itself off after about two minutes of non use and you turn it back on again. Some may find that little feature annoying but it is almost necessary with a camera that uses as much flash as it does. What I mean is this camera needs the power saving feature because it has such a slow lens even wide open at 38mm it almost can't set an exposure without factoring and utilizing the flash at least half of the time unless you are using ISO 800 film.
This brings me to the lens, which is what is really the not so great thing about this camera. Starting at f/6.3 at 38mm and going down to a tiny f/12.5 at 80mm it seems like this camera was born to lose. It also lacks an aspherical element which would greatly improve the image rendered by the lens on film. And with the amount of aspherical elements Pentax must have laying around for their numerous but similar P&S camera lenses you have to ask why didn't they just throw one in?.
The lens has also shown evidence of chromatic aberrations in 4x6 prints with purple halos around dark objects in front of bright backgrounds. The lens is obviously not coated either, I can tell because the reflections of my cat's eyes in a flash picture of her actually flared the lens. And yeah, the red eye reduction was on too. Now I'm not asking for Pentax's excellent SMC (Super Multi-Coating) lens but come on!
Pictures made when the lens was set at 80mm came out "soft" or rather un-sharp. However, I have found that the best pictures from this lens are made when it is set at it's second "focal length stop" which if I had to guess, is somewhere between 50mm and 65mm. The pictures made at 38mm are acceptable as well but not so sharp either.
Light metering is for the most part accurate when it is set to it's default program auto exposure. However I have had some pictures come out under exposed when I had the camera set to it's flash off mode. Flash exposures, besides the red eye, also look under exposed even with ISO 400 film.
The price of the Pentax EZY-80 has been reduced from $79.99 to $59.99, this makes the camera worth the money. Despite the negative things this camera has going for it, it isn't incapable of producing sharp and contrasty prints. Once the EZY-80's limitations are recognized this camera can be very useful. After more than a year with the camera I have found that it can be a reliable tool in a pinch. And the lens in combination with Kodak Black and White + film can really produce some great results even with the 'softness' I indicated at the lens' focal length extremes. I have found that the flash is useful in 'fill' situations and if you don't get too close to your subject, the red eye reduction is useful but still doesn't eliminate red eye all together. I haven't had any other problems with lens flare since the flash picture of my cat. And having seen chromatic aberrations in prints made with SLR zoom lenses that are considered 'decent', I guess that is an unavoidable characteristic in a lot of lighting and subject specific situations that have a bright background and a dark subject.
The infinity focus remains a very useful feature and the trick I mentioned of setting the camera to infinity focus then using your hand or gray card to get a spot meter type of exposure setting really works well. The camera's durability is really great, I have dropped this thing three times on hard flooring but not concrete, the camera practically bounced back into my hands every time. The EZY-80 has really grown on me and has become part of my regular kit usually loaded with the B&W film I mentioned earlier, I am changing this review from not recommended to the opposite because of the price reduction and it's usability with B&W film as well as it's durability.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 80.00
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Easy Enough for Anyone to Use
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Epinions.com ID:
roger1250
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Location: Minneapolis, MN
Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 0 members
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