Pentax ZX-30 Shines Again!

This is one of my favorite photos from the second roll of film I put through my new Pentax ZX-30 SLR (see my October 20^th post for my comments on the first roll). Of course I am partial to fire hydrants.

I recently read an article about Fujichrome Velvia slide film so I bought a couple rolls to try and this is my first experiment with the Velvia 100 film.  This shot was taken with the 28-80 zoom and once again I have no idea what the settings are since I was shooting on full auto. I guess I really should pay more attention to that but this camera continues to please with its remarkable ability to accurately read and choose the best settings for each composition. The only other camera to ever consistently do this for me is the Nikon P-300 although I am sure there are others out there.

If you have been reading my blog posts you know that I generally shoot my 35mm film cameras with everything on manual. That’s because for almost 30 years I used either an Olympus OM-1N or a Pentax K-1000 (both manual cameras) for 99% of my pictures. Of course three out of my four current 35mm camera bodies are completely manual cameras too so that undoubtedly has something to do with it.

In an earlier post I explained that my main motivation for acquiring the ZX-30 was the auto focus feature. God knows I do not need another 35mm body but my eyes are getting older (along with the rest of me I suppose) and manual focus is clearly getting more difficult since I have noticed the number of out of focus shots has been on the increase lately. 

The ZX-30 has what I consider pretty a good AF system and every photo I have taken so far has been as sharp as the proverbial tack except for a couple times when it would not work at all, presumably because I was shooting in a low contrast - bright sunlight situation that AF apparently can’t deal with.  Along with this great AF feature I also got, and am learning to appreciate, an automatic EV system and a power winder that makes taking pictures truly effortless – all to say I really like this camera.

Now, what about the Velvia film? Well I went into this experiment with the impression from the article I read that Velvia, especially the ISO 50 version was the closest thing to Kodak’s Kodachrome film which dominated the transparency film world for decades and was only recently discontinued.  I never shot much Kodachrome because it was so slow (ISO 25 & 64) but I did use it enough over the last 40 years to know it produced beautiful colors, remarkable clarity and no grain. Projected onto a screen or used for poster sized enlargements, it produced breathtaking images.  

The Velvia 100 appears to be exactly what it is supposed to be, a fine grain transparency film with great color saturation. Unfortunately the low res film scan doesn’t really do it justice. That is of course the weakness in using film in the digital era. A high res scan would definitely help. The next time I shoot Velvia I will probably pay the premium for the high res scans so I can fully appreciate the film’s capability. In the meantime I can at least appreciate the incredible color saturation.