Pentax Auto 110
The Pentax Auto 110 is very cute but it’s also a functioning camera. Given its equally cute film size it does a surprisingly good job, but that’s not what it’s all about it’s just fun. What kind of camera is it specifically? It is an SLR with interchangeable lenses that uses 110 size film. That makes it entirely unique in the camera world (The Minolta 110 Zoom SLR has a fixed lens). With the smaller film if you talk about the lens focal length its easiest to equate it to the more familiar 35mm film focal lengths. It’s a straight forward 2x multiplier so the 24mm is equivalent to 48mm and the 50mm is like a 100mm. Because it is an SLR the image you see in the viewfinder is through the lens and there is no issue with parallax. You manually focus as well through the viewfinder using a split image focus screen an experience much like any other SLR it’s just so much smaller. The aperture resides in the body and the lenses have no mechanical linkage so it was necessary for all the lenses to have the same maximum aperture of f2.8. Little touches like this are what made it possible for the engineers to miniaturize an SLR’s functions. Exposure is completely automatic but given the varied situations I shot this roll of film in it works pretty well. Did I mention its fun to use?
Here is a representation of the program line or aperture and shutter speed the camera will select in combination.
As of 2016 it would seem the most viable option for 110 film is Lomography Tiger color negative film.
