We’ve been here before. For many, night photography conjures up images of big tripods, cable releases, and an external meter with a “serious” instrument like an SLR, medium format camera, or even large format. I sometimes take that approach. But I often find myself out at night with a compact camera. This is not considered the ideal tool for the job. But I’ve gotten great results with my Olympus XA and XA2, so it can be done.
But it’s really bucking the trend of “professional” night photography with an all-singing, all-dancing compact zoom from the turn of the millennium. Sometimes I like to be an iconoclast. But sometimes I just use what I got.
And what I got in this case is a Pentax IQZoom 120Mi, known outside of the States as the Espio 120Mi. Pentax’s IQZoom/Espio lineup had a staggering number of models during the last couple decades of The Film Era. Many of them are just variations on the same theme of a smallish body, a big zoom, and automatic-everything features. While there’s a few duds and a lack of influencer-favored machines, most of them are good. By this time in photography history the big camera companies knew what they were doing.
Released in 1998, The Pentax IQZoom/Espio 120Mi is a great example of a Millennium Compact. The zoom ranges from focal lengths between 38 to 120mm. A lens of 7 elements in 6 groups ensures sharp results, though the middling maximum aperture of f/4.8 (at 38mm) will not inspire confidence in “available light” shooters. That’s why I’ve learned to embrace the flash. The other thing worth embracing is its diminutive size: 105mm x 62.5mm x 42 mm (4.1” x 2.5” x 1.7”) and just 205g (7.2 oz) sans batteries and film. And while not technically a “premium” compact in the vein of a Minolta TC-1, the brushed aluminum exterior is a big improvement over an all-plastic body.
But where most of the Pentax IQZoom/Espio cameras sing besides their excellent lenses is in their feature set. Yes, if you turn it on you are in full auto mode. But these cameras give a little more control than that for when you want to get creative. No, you will not be able to manually set exposure and focus, but that’s okay. (When I want that in a compact, I reach for my Olympus XA.) My most used setting is landscape mode, where the camera focuses at 10 feet (3.05m) to infinity and the flash is turned off. It’s such a useful feature, yet not all compacts of this era had it.
Then there are the features that make the Pentax IQZoom/Espio 120Mi useful for low light photography. You can put it in “Slow Shutter Speed” mode, where the flash turns off and the shutter can stay open for 2 seconds. Slow-Speed-Sync Shooting will turn on the flash at the beginning and then the shutter will stay open. To get really creative, the 120Mi has a bulb mode, which can keep the shutter open for 1 minute. (Bulb-Sync will flash first and then keep the shutter open.) Bulb mode on a camera like this is not that scientific, as I’m not really sure what aperture is set. (I’d guess f/4.8 but the manual does not shed any light.) Leave stressing out about reciprocity failure for a different camera. And since there’s not a cable release, the best way to use Bulb is with the Pentax remote shutter release, which are usually pretty cheap on eBay. Or, use the self-timer which is what I generally do for non-bulb shots. Couple this with the smallest Goby Gorillapod tripod that always lives in my bag, and I’m set for some night photography adventures!
My partner Emee and I went up to Mount Tabor for sunset on a lovely summer evening. Sitting at 636 feet (194m), this former volcano is the highest hill contained entirely in the east side of Portland, Oregon. It’s also a great place to watch day turn into night over the City of Roses. And I had my Pentax IQZoom/Espio 120Mi loaded with Kodak Ultramax 400 in my Bantam bicycle’s front bag, so I decided to have some fun and take some night photographs.
While a “real” photographer may point out some technical inadequacies with some of these photos, I think they came out well. Sometimes photography is more about feeling and having fun than technicalities. And a camera like the Pentax IQZoom/Espio 120Mi is about fun. These cameras are still pretty cheap for now, and will not last forever, so grab one while you can.
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