With reference to John's iconic cameras posting and seeing as this is the general chat forum for this site, I was wondering what innovations (not just photographic) that members would also consider to be iconic.

Photographically, such things might be the pentaprism, off the film plane metering, thyristor flash, auto-focus and the birth of digital.

I'd be interested to hear of others too, my example would be;

Some bright spark at Daewoo incorporated a 'page' button on the front of a vcr.
We all know where the video machine is but how often do we misplace the remote?
Pressing the page button causes the remote to beep, signalling it's whereabouts - pure genius

Thanks ShotGun,

I think I'll use the SFX, it's the only one currently not loaded with film and it'll be nice to pull it out of retirement - I've not used it for ages!
Didn't really fancy the idea of covering the lens on one of the compacts anyway.

Cheers and a Happy New Year to you.

Recently, I had a rewinding problem with my Espio120 and it has been repaired by Pentax and is back to full working order.
The camera had been rewinding the film after exposing just a few frames.
The 120 (and my 280-P) offer mid-roll rewind but is it possible to reload and continue using the same film in either of these cameras?
I also have an SFX and a Z1-P and I know that the procedure with SLR's is to reload, select a manual shutter speed (flash sync.) and with the lens cap attached, fire the shutter until a frame or two after the last exposed shot.
Is it possible to safely achieve the same thing with a compact?

I have one 36exp. film that I wish to complete (only 6 frames exposed) and I really don't want to lose those shots or pay for processing 30 blank frames.
Should I just use one of the SLR's?

Thanks
Kimbo.

Zal,

you've double posted, please see my reply in the troubleshooter section!

Zal,
an H error message means you have a problem with the shutter mechanism. Send the camera to Pentax for repair - should cost approx £50 and includes a full service and six month warranty.
I've just had a 120 repaired (rewinding problem) and it's now as good as new.
It was a bit of a toss-up as to whether or not it was worth it, as a new Espio 115V (roughly equivalent in terms of specification), is now readily available for £79.99 from most suppliers or £69.99 from Jessops.
I'm glad I got it fixed though as my 120 is the DATE version and is a lovely little camera.

Good Luck.

A standard blower brush available from any photo store should do the trick.

If I remember correctly, the Centon mirror lens uses a T-mount (like my Ohnar slide duplicator). My T-mount has no electronic contacts whatsoever although I believe there may be an AF version which I guess would have.

Hope that's in some way relevant!

John,
there must be many worthy competitors for that title, but surely the Pentax Zoom70 must rank among them.
Who hasn't got or at least used a zoom compact?
For many years fixed focal length cameras were the only option for those that couldn't afford or lacked the motivation to go to SLR photography.
For the "happy snapper", SLR's were just too demanding and cumbersome and even today's auto everything models are, for many, just too much to lug around.
The Zoom70 heralded the arrival of pocketable cameras with some of the versatility and advanced features that only SLR's had offered and today's shelves are still full of compact cameras (35mm/APS/digital) that follow very closely the design philosphy of the original Pentax.

In terms of advanced photography for the masses, the Pentax Zoom70 gets my vote

ps. I wonder how many of us 'cut our teeth' on the 110 and 126 instamatic cartridge cameras of the 1970's, not to mention the Kodak Disc cameras!

I would try removing the battery and replacing with a brand new one (unless you know the current battery is fully charged) - that may reset things for you.
Failing that, the U message means a zooming fault (you probably guessed that!) and that means sending to Pentax for repair.

Probably not worth it, as a new Espio 115V can be bought for around £70 these days.

Good luck.

H codes mean there's a shutter fault - Pentax repair job I'm afraid!