Review of the Pentax IQ Zoom 140M with Sample Photos! | 5 Reasons Why It's the Perfect 35 mm Panorama Point and Shoot Film Camera

August 27, 2023

I sort of bought the Pentax IQ Zoom 140M on a whim one day. I’d been using the Vivitar IC101 for years as my go-to 35 mm panorama camera whenever I traveled, but I was curious what other panorama film cameras were out there. While I love the grainy, low-fi quality of the Vivitar IC101, I was really looking for a camera with a bit of a sharper lens. I came across the Pentax IQ Zoom 140M while browsing KEH Camera and it was only $20 so I went for it! I’ve been using it for years now and it never disappoints. It has so much more to offer than just the panorama feature. I’ve noticed this camera has started to go up in price quite a bit too, so I’d snag one soon if I were you! There are many different versions of this camera, but they all essentially do the same thing. Pretty much any IQ Zoom will get you about the same results. They have different zoom lens lengths available, so it really depends on your preference. I purchased the IQ Zoom 140M which has a 38-140mm zoom lens. I wanted to share 5 reasons why I love this camera. It’s become a necessity when I travel and it packs quite a punch into such a tiny camera!

5 Reasons Why I Love the Pentax IQ Zoom 140M

The Lens is Surprisingly Sharp!
The Pentax IQ Zoom 140M is a pretty standard point and shoot camera. It really doesn’t look particularly cool or impressive, but I’m always pleasantly surprised by how sharp this lens is. Especially if you’re using an ISO 100 film or similar, you can get some incredible images! I took this camera to Japan with me and I’m obsessed with how the images turned out. It’s perfect for snapping some quick street photography and the lens is wide enough that you can get entire buildings and landscapes.

2. You Can Easily Switch Between the Panorama Mode and the Standard 35 mm Frame Size

This is the best part of this camera and ultimately, why it has become one of my favorite travel cameras. With the Vivitar IC101, I could only take panorama photos. It made me feel very limited when using the camera and it didn’t really have any use other than that. With the Pentax IQ Zoom, you can switch mid-roll between the panorama frame size and the standard 35 mm frame size, as many times as you want! This is a game-changer. Most of the time, I just want to use the standard frame size. But when I’m traveling and I find myself at the top of a mountain or bell tower looking out onto a beautiful view, I always want that option to take a panorama photo. Sometimes, I like the leave the black border around the photos, so I included two different presentation versions below for you. :)

3. It has a Flash!

This is another necessity for me when it comes to travel cameras. You just never know what lighting situation you’re going to find yourself in when you’re traveling and I always feel more secure when I have the option of using a flash. Especially if I’m out at dinner and I just want to snap a few candid photos with my friends or family, the flash makes all the difference.

4. It’s Super Tiny and Weighs Nothing!

Again, this is another important feature that I look for in a travel camera. Traveling is exhausting. The last thing I want to do is lug around 20 pounds of cameras. The Pentax IQ Zoom is small and lightweight and can always find a home in my camera bag. I usually end up squeezing it in a tiny spot amongst my other cameras. It takes up no space at all. And at the end of a long day, when I drop off all of my big, heavy cameras in the hotel room and want to have a night out, this is the one camera I’ll bring back out with me. It can fit in my purse, it’s inconspicuous and it’s cute!

5. It has a Ridiculous Zoom Lens!

The 38-140mm lens is definitely a surprising feature of this camera. When you first look at the camera, you’d really have no idea it was even there! When I’m traveling, I usually prefer to shoot wide shots, so I don’t use the zoom lens often. But if you’re someone who likes to zoom in on your iPhone to get tighter shots of animals, people or landscapes, then this will definitely come in handy for you!

I hope this review gives you a better idea of what this incredible little camera is capable of. It has tones of other features, like a self-timer, red-eye reduction and bulb exposure mode. There’s really nothing that it doesn’t do! In my opinion, this is the perfect, affordable point and shoot 35 mm film camera. If you’re on the hunt for one, you should try out these sites:

PENTAX IQ ZOOM 140M:

Amazon

eBay

KEH Camera

If you’re interested in reading about my personal favorite 35 mm color films to use with this camera, check out my blog post here!

I’ve included sample photos below, but you can also check out my full YouTube video about the Pentax IQ Zoom 140M here!

If you found this post helpful or if you’d like to see more of my work, I’d love it if you considered signing up for my Patreon! For as little as $1 a month, you’ll get early access to all of my YouTube videos, plus tons of photos that I don’t post anywhere else. Depending on which tier you choose, you could also receive seasonal prints and/or discounts! I always use all of the proceeds towards film & processing. Find out more here!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Feel free to leave any questions or comments below. :)

<3 Myles Katherine

Contax T2 35 mm Camera Review with Samples Photos | Is the Contax T2 Really Worth the Hype?

June 25, 2023

Here we go - the famous Contax T2. I was one of the lucky ones and picked up a Contax T2 before they became one of the most sought after point-and-shoot 35 mm cameras out there (thanks a lot, Kendall Jenner)! I think I paid about $500 for one in near mint condition, but now they’re going for anywhere from $750-2000 depending on the condition. The question is -

Is it Worth All of the Hype?

The Contax T2 has a lot of amazing features that many of my other 35 mm point-and-shoot cameras do not have. It has a sturdy and beautiful titanium body, a SUPER sharp and crisp Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 38 mm f/2.8 lens and features such as aperture priority, flash, exposure compensation and manual and automatic focus controls. It has many of the features you’d expect in a larger, professional camera, but is small enough to fit in your pocket. When it first came out in the 1990s, it was created to appeal to the professional and luxury camera market. And personally, I have yet to come across a 35 mm film camera that can create images as sharp as the ones I’ve gotten with the Contax T2. It makes sense that once the secret was out, this camera blew up. There’s a reason all of these celebrities are using this camera and it’s because they want the best and this is it. It automatically makes everything look high fashion and amazing because of the sharp lens. Plus it’s small and inconspicuous, yet beautiful to look at.

But is it Worth the Expensive Price Tag?

Personally, the Contax T2 is a missing a key function that I NEED in a camera - a multiple exposure function. While, yes, you can rewind the film and shoot over the images you’ve already taken, I prefer to have more control over my multiple exposures. Because of this, I don’t end up using the camera very often. It’s just a personal preference that I’ve discovered about myself as a photographer over the years. However, my Contax T2 was having a bit of trouble at one point with the battery connections and would occasionally lock up in the middle of taking a photo. Because of this, I’d shut down and restart the camera and it would accidentally shoot over the same frame, causing accidental double exposures. I’ve included a few of these images below. However, they were not planned and don’t necessarily count as a positive attribute of the camera. Since then, I’ve figured out a loophole for stopping the camera from freezing mid-shot, by pushing down the shutter button very slowly but firmly. I’ve been meaning to send my Contax T2 off for service, but when I discovered that it was a minimum of $400 to repair it, I decided to hold off for the moment (Nippon Photoclinic was the only professional camera repair store I could find that I would trust with my Contax T2). Plus, I don’t really mind these accidental double exposures. However, it’s important to keep in mind that the Contax T2 is expensive to repair. The camera itself isn’t getting any younger either, as they were initially released in the early 1990s and are now around 30 years old. The reality is, if you DO want to try this camera out, it’s better to do it sooner rather than later. They aren’t going to last forever and in today’s world, they’re probably just going to get MORE expensive. If you’re desperate to try it out, I recommend keeping an eye on the Ebay listings for a few weeks to get an idea of the price point they’re going for. Sometimes, one will pop up that might fly under the radar and end up getting yourself a good deal. You can also set a price watch on Amazon and watch for fluctuations in price. KEH camera also gets them in every once in a while and have a thorough testing and rating system for their used items.

Would I Purchase a Contax T2 Today?

Probably not. It’s an incredible camera but without a multiple exposure function, it’s hard for me to justify spending that much money on a camera I just wouldn’t use very often. However, I am glad that I had the chance to experience the camera because it is pretty amazing. I love how sharp the photographs are and I especially love how small and easy it is to travel with. It packs a lot into a tiny little camera body. Plus, the titanium body is truly beautiful and makes the camera feel and look expensive when you’re holding it in your hand. As a Japanese camera brand, you can expect attention to detail and quality. Even the protective camera case it comes with feels soft and amazing in your hands. I’ve considered selling my Contax T2 many times, since I don’t get around to using it very often. Even with the battery issues I’ve been having, I could still probably sell it for more than I purchased it for. But there really is something special about the Contax T2 so I’m finding it hard to let it go. If you have the money and are willing to invest, you won’t be disappointed by the camera quality and sharpness of the photographs. Just make sure you get one that doesn’t have any previously known issues and that comes from a reputable seller. I think the Contax T2 is worth all of the hype, as long as you’re not breaking the bank to purchase it. Sure, there are other high end 35 mm cameras out there that are more affordable, but I have yet to come across one that beats the quality of the Contax T2.

Where Can I Buy a Contax T2?

Amazon

Ebay

KEH Camera

#ad

I’ve included a few of my favorite images I’ve taken over the years with my Contax T2. I also posted a review on my YouTube channel, so be sure to check that out too!

Feel free to leave any questions or comments below. Thanks so much for stopping by!

<3 Myles Katherine

(click to enlarge images)

Why the Canon Rebel K2 will always be one of my favorite cameras | The Best 35 mm Travel Camera

January 10, 2023

I feel like I say this a lot, but I’m obsessed with the Canon Rebel K2. So much so that when my sister asked if she could borrow mine for our family trip to Italy, I had a brief freak out and then somehow convinced her to buy her own instead! It’s only $30-60 so it didn’t really make sense that I was stressing out so much about something happening to mine, except for the fact that it was my very first film camera and changed the whole trajectory of my life (no big deal). The first photographs I ever developed in the darkroom were taken with my Canon Rebel K2 and I’ve been a photographer ever since! I suppose I have quite the sentimental attachment to it that I wasn’t fully aware of until my sister’s inquiry.

I don’t typically bring my Canon Rebel K2 with me on trips because I have so many other cameras that are technically “better”, but I recently took it with me to Italy and France. On my first trip to Paris in 2010, I used my Canon Rebel K2 and Neopan Acros 100 film. I’m still in love with those photos so I decided to recreate that same camera set-up during my recent trip. I brought a few rolls of Neopan Acros 100 (version II - they don’t make the original version of this film anymore) and once again, this camera delivered. I think it’s going to be hard to leave this camera at home when I go on future trips - there’s just something special about it.

The Canon Rebel K2 has all of the features you’d want in a travel camera: a SUPER lightweight body, automatic and manual settings, a flash, a multiple exposure feature and an option for a zoom lens ( I use the 28-90mm f/5.6 kit lens). It’s also incredibly inconspicuous and is great for street photography. I’m quite a shy person, so the idea of bothering someone or making them upset with me if I took their photo would be my nightmare, so the fact that this camera doesn’t stand out or look expensive or distracting is a positive feature in my book.

I’ve included a few of my favorite photographs from 2010, followed by a few of my favorites from my recent trip. I still think that there’s something beautiful about the original version of the Neopan Acros 100 film - it seems sharper and better at capturing detail in the highlights and shadows. The new version of the film is still beautiful but just doesn’t seem to bring that same moodiness that I loved so much in the original version. I’d love to know your thoughts and if you notice a difference in the two films!

If you love this camera as much as I do, make sure to check out my YouTube video and review for the Canon Rebel K2 below, or you can purchase your own:

Purchase a Canon Rebel K2 on KEH Camera

Purchase a Canon Rebel K2 on eBay!

Purchase a Canon Rebel K2 on Amazon!

FILM RECOMMENDATIONS:

Neopan Acros 100 35mm B&W film

Kodak Gold 200 35mm film

Lomography 100 35mm film

Thanks so much for stopping by!

<3 Myles Katherine