Pentax Espio 90MC – The everyday carry

Pentax will forever hold a special place in my heart since it’s the first DSLR camera brand I owned. So when choosing between the Pentax Espio 90MC and the Minolta Riva 110 zoom on which compact camera would remain in my collection it was a no-brainer, the Pentax has to stay. Well, it was NOT a no-brainer, I wish I could have kept both. Both cameras are good looking and “pocketable”, and offers an almost similar focal zoom range, but I guess I was sold with the sliding lens cover design of the Pentax. I’m also a fan of the boxy design the Pentax Espio 90MC have which for some reason is very reminiscing of the 90’s for me.

As mentioned, the Pentax Espio 90MC has an autofocus zoom lens with a range of 38mm-90mm. A pretty good range but I wish it was a little wider. Another thing that amazes me with most 90’s autofocus compact cameras are the design of their lens, they are freaking awesome! You just have to watch out because they might just poke you.

Being a widely marketed camera for enthusiast and the general public, the camera gives little to no control over exposure. It only allows you to choose from different flash and scene settings which could be handy on some scenarios. Though to be fair, the camera gives good exposures most of the time. Also, since the optical viewfinder is tiny and doesn’t give you any information watsoever, focusing correctly can be tricky as you are only relying on a small status light near the viewfinder. A steady green if you are in focus and a blinking green if you can’t catch focus. Though knowing where you’re actually focus at is where you need some getting used to.

I think where this camera truly shines much like the Minolta Riva 110 zoom is in its accesibilty and ease of use. It’s truly a bring anywhere type camera that has all the functionalities you need to capture any scene. And because of its size and look, most people wouldn’t be conscious when their photos are taken with this camera. Though they might be surprised with the flash because it does fire most of the time specially indoors.

Again, since you do have some controls over the flash setting, you can get some interesting photos indoor specially if there are some interesting lights available. By the way, the photos here are all taken with a single roll of fresh (not expired) Kodak Color 200 film.

In the end, the Pentax Espio 90MC is a great little camera and will definitely get a lot of use from me. I guess more use than any other cameras in my collection which is a shame really because if I can, I’ll shoot with all of them at once 😂 Anyhow, thank you once again for checking out my blog, if you want to read or even watch more materials like this, please don’t forget to follow me on my socials. For more photos follow me on my Instagram.

Maraming Salamat!