By John Enman
Last week I wrote about the large format Linhof Tecknika Master camera with it’s 4x5 inch sheet of film. There are also cameras available that use 8 x 10 plate film. As I finished that article I got to thinking about the many interesting film format cameras that were once available for photographers.
That Linhof is a big heavy camera, but for those not wanting all that size and weight, in 1978 Pentax Camera introduced what they claimed to be the world’s smallest SLR camera, the Pentax Auto 110.
The Auto 110 looks like a miniature version of a normal SLR from that time with interchangeable lenses that included a 18 mm (36 mm equivalent), a 24 mm (50 mm equivalent) and 50 mm (100 mm equivalent) and photographers could also purchase an auto winder, flash and an assortment of specialty filters.
The Pentax Auto uses tiny 110 format film that is still available. I checked at my local Kamloops London Drugs camera department and 110 film is included on the list of films they will process and make prints from. 110 film comes in cartridges that are quickly and easily inserted in the camera and after exposed, handed to a lab for processing.
The tiny 3.5x2.5x1.5 inch camera is fully automatic with an in-camera exposure program that goes from F2.8 at 1/30 to F13.5 at 1/750 of a second. I remember that little Pentax causing quite a stir with photographers that enjoyed hiking or just liked having a convenient, lightweight travel camera. I also remember regularly seeing the Pentax Auto 110 at parties.
During the 1970s there were other 110 cartridge cameras like the Rollei A110 and Minolta 110 Zoom. Photography magazines would call those cameras “sub-miniature.” I think there might have been more, but the Pentax was the only one that offered an external flash, auto-winder and interchangeable lenses.
The little Pentax produces reasonably sharp images. However, users found that the prints were always limited to 5x7. Enlarging them any more than that reduced the quality. Having said that, most photographers’ home enlargers offered 110 film holders and if one didn’t care to much about the quality, prints as large as 8x10 could be made.
The photograph I included with this article is of a Pentax Auto 110 from my friend Jo’s collection. A couple of years ago she found an advertisement which had that little camera for sale and said lets go get it. I knew that she would be excited to own and try out such an unusual camera.
It came with one lens and the flash, but it wasn’t long before she found two more lenses. It is not unusual to find complete kits or odd pieces for that camera when we go to the Vancouver used camera sale. The picture only shows two lenses, but I am sure there is another hidden somewhere. When last summer’s wildfires were circling our homes in Pritchard, things got put everywhere.
I found a fun-to-watch YouTube video by Kyle McDougal, Shooting With The World’s Smallest SLR. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q29dU6Dr7AQ
I will again, as last week, say that this is a pretty special time for those of us who enjoy photography. We have access to so many wonderful working cameras from the past as well as the fast-moving, exciting technology of the present, and we can easily mix those photo technologies in so many creative ways.
Stay safe and be creative. These are my thoughts for this week. Contact me at www.enmanscamera.com or emcam@telus.net.