Pentax P30t review

By Aaron Gold

“Let me count the ways I abhor you… oh, what can I say? I adore you.” – Ani DiFranco, ‘Gravel’

The Pentax P30t is a largely unloved and unrespected 35mm SLR, and deservedly so — but it’s also one of my favourite film cameras. I’ve developed a love-hate relationship with the cheap little P30t: while it sometimes frustrates me to no end, it’s also one of the cameras I reach for the most, and in this review I’ll endeavour to explain why.

Some background: 1990, when the Pentax P30t was announced, was a great time for film SLRs. Advanced features like auto-focus and matrix-metering were making their way to hobbyist cameras, and high-tech wonders like the Canon EOS-1, Nikon F4, and Minolta Maxxum 9000 shared retail shelves with soon-to-be-obsolete classics like the Pentax LX, Nikon F3, and Minolta X-700. Pentax was just about to release the bleeding-edge PZ-1, with power-zoom lenses and a 1/8000-sec shutter.

Which makes the appearance of the dumpy little P30t all the more confusing.

The P30t was not really a new camera; it was the final iteration of the P3 (P30 in Europe), the entry-level model in Pentax’s mid-1980s consumer-level P-series. Technology-wise, the P30t was stuck in a time warp: a manual-focus, manual-wind camera with full auto, aperture-priority and manual exposure modes. Size-wise, it was somewhere between the compact M-series cameras and the big ol’ Ks. The P30t looked snazzy in black and gun-metal gray, but it exuded a level of quality and workmanship one normally associates with dollar-store water pistols.

At whom, precisely, was the P30t aimed? It wasn’t exactly an entry-level consumer camera; Pentax had that covered with the auto-focus, motor-drive PZ-10. Though sometimes pitched as an alternative to the Pentax K1000 (which you could then still buy new), the P30t wasn’t great for students, as it had an automatic mode and most Photo 101 teachers insisted on manual cameras.

My best guess is that the P30t was a camera for stingy old coots, an alternative to the cut-rate Pentax-compatible SLRs sold by Ricoh, Sears and Cosina. By the mid-1990s, the P30t had a mail-order street price around $165, same as a K1000 and about two-thirds the cost of a PZ-10.

I had seen and ignored at least half a dozen P-cams at various antique malls, so how did I end up owning one? (Er, three, to be precise.) Quite by accident: in a fit of pandemic-induced boredom, I bought an $8.50 eBay bundle that included a Pentax-M 135/3.5 lens and a Pentax AF-160 flash I wanted, plus a Pentax-A 35-80 zoom lens that I didn’t. Also included: a P30t body described as “probably not working”.

I loved the 135 and the flash, but I was fascinated by the lightweight plastic-craptastic zoom lens. I never imagined it was possible to make a precision optical instrument feel so imprecise. My favourite description of the Pentax-A 35-80 can be found on a review at PentaxForums.com: “Looks a lot worse than it really is.”

The P30t in the bundle looked promising but was, as the listing predicted, rather broken. Its meter was dead and the shutter only worked at a single speed, doing so with a toy-like CLACK! that made me think its engineers had never heard of that space-age material called “metal”. The shutter CLACKed a few times then stuck half-way open.

Still, I was spellbound by the realisation that I might have stumbled upon the worst SLR Pentax ever made*. With dawning horror, I recognised the sensation that was coming over me: I had to have one.

(* Yes, yes, I know, the Pentax ZX-M is even worse. I might have to get one of those, too.)

Some Googling taught me that the hardest thing about buying a P30t would be finding one that worked. For once in my life, though, I got lucky: I found a P30t on eBay advertised as “excellent” in its original box with an instruction manual, body cap and black nylon neck strap. Price: US$14.99. I couldn’t click Buy Now fast enough.

The P30t arrived looking like new; it had obviously been taken out of its box, but probably not very often. I popped in batteries – cheap LR44 button cells, a hint of the early-80s technology within – and was pleased to hear that same cheap-sounding CLACK from the shutter, this time at all speeds. The winder lever moved as smoothly as its inexpensively engineered innards would allow. Mission accomplished – I had a working P30t!

But now that I had it, what the hell was I going to do with it?

You see, the P30t is a somewhat limited camera. It reads film speed from the DX code on the canister, with no provision to set it manually. Cheapskate that I am (back in the 1990s, I’d probably be one of those stingy old coots who bought a P30t new), I bulk-roll my film in unmarked canisters. With no DX code, the P30t defaults to 100 ASA, fine if I’m shooting Ilford FP4 Plus but no good for my beloved 400-speed HP5 Plus. Normally you can get around this by twisting the exposure compensation dial, but the P30t doesn’t have one.

Among the other things the P30t doesn’t give you: depth-of-field preview, mirror lock-up, and a feeling that it might still be functioning a week from now. How much use was this camera going to be? Had I wasted the price of two rolls of film on a lemon?

A few test photos revealed that the P30t was leak-free, so I loaded up a roll of FP4 and took it out for a day of shooting. I had the little Pentax A-zoom with me, but I primarily CLACKed about with an old classic Pentax-M 50/1.7 and KA-mount Vivitar 28/2.8 (which I bought new some 30 years ago; this was the first time I was able to use its automatic-aperture function).

I came back home, ran the film through the soup, and realised I owed my new P30t an apology.

The negatives looked great and so did the scans. The P30t, I later learned, has a gallium-arsenide diode (GPD) light meter, which is apparently better than the silicon photo diode (SPD) meter found in many manual-focus SLRs, and will beat up and take the lunch money off the cadmium sulfide (CdS) cells in the K1000. Apparently, GPDs were really advanced stuff, or at least they were when they debuted in the Pentax ME back in 1976. Gimme that old-time technology; it’s good enough for me.

The more I used the P30t, the more I was surprised by what few features it does have. It loads film like an auto-wind camera without the auto-wind part: Drop in the film, pull the leader out to the red dot, then close the back and start yanking on the winder. I have no idea how it works, but it seems impossible to mis-load the thing.

There’s no exposure compensation, but there is an AE lock button. In a tricky lighting situation, you can meter off the important part of your subject, then press the button and recompose. The P30t will remember your exposure setting for 10 seconds or as long as you hold the shutter release down halfway.

The split-screen focusing aid is set diagonally, a trick Ricoh used since the 1970s but most other camera manufacturers never figured out. That means you can use the split-ring on a subject with strong horizontal lines. The P30t has a power switch and an electronic shutter release; if the switch is off the shutter won’t fire, a useful feature for photographers who already have enough photos of the backside of their lens caps.

One of my favourite P30t features is the meter display, which consists of a list of shutter speeds running down the left side of the viewfinder. In manual mode, your selected speed lights up solid while the recommended shutter speed blinks. Turn the dials until the two numbers merge, and you’re good. Why can’t all meters work this well? (I’m lookin’ at you, ME Super.)

And while I rarely use it, I love that the P30t has a program mode that sets both shutter speed and aperture. Mount up a KA lens – a K-mount lens with an “A” setting on the aperture ring – then spin the P30t’s shutter dial to A(utomatic), and presto, you’re in Program. No KA? That’s OK; A is also for aperture-priority mode, which works with ordinary K-mount glass.

So what’s it like to shoot with the Pentax P30t? This is where the love-hate thing comes in. On an ordinary day, the P30t is perfect: though not heavy (it weighs only a couple ounces more than the featherweight Pentax M cameras), it has a nice hefty feel. The controls are easy to find and use, with a shutter speed dial that can be easily rotated with your shutter finger. The P30t is a classic manual-wind SLR at heart, and it works like one. Every time I use the P30t, I ask myself why I bother with any other camera – but just as that thought goes through my brain, I run head-long into one of its limitations.

Perhaps I’ll want to shoot indoors. My go-to is HP5+ exposed at 1600 and push-processed, but with no ASA or exposure-compensation settings, pushing is a pain (I’d have to use manual mode and remember to shoot everything two stops under). I love night shots, but here again I’m out of luck: While Pentax’s M-series automatics are rated to 8 seconds and will accurately take much longer exposures, the P30t is limited to 1 second in both manual and auto modes, period, full stop, end of chat, do not pass go, do not collect your awesome small-aperture long-exposure night photo.

Some days I have no problem working within the P30t’s constraints; other days I feel like it’s not a camera hanging around my neck, but an albatross.

But should you buy a Pentax P30t?

If you’re looking for an inexpensive manual-focus camera, you won’t find many that are cheaper. P30t prices seem to be stable; just last week (summer 2024), I won an auction on a mostly working P30t for US$7.99. They’re new enough that the light seals will likely be in pretty good shape, and the condition of the plastic body will tell you if it’s had any serious use. I suspect many P30ts were used sparingly then put away and forgotten. That said, forget about repairing them. Never mind the absurdity of spending $100 to overhaul a $15 camera; according to Eric Hendrickson at Pentaxs.com, there’s not much of a parts supply.

You’re bound to run into the P30t’s limitations, especially if you like to do creative stuff like use film off its box speed or take long-exposure night shots. There are more flexible and robust budget cameras out there (hello, Ricoh KR-10 and XR-2). And then there’s the P30t’s abysmal reliability to consider. It’s kind of a terrible camera.

But it’s also a wonderful camera – simple, honest, and good fun to use. It has an interface like an old mechanical SLR, but its electronic innards and inherent simplicity conspire to make magnificent photos. Mount up a $30 Pentax-M 50/1.7, and you’ve got a budget rig that can go toe-to-toe on image quality with a Nikon costing 10 times as much.

So I say yes: if you’re a K-mount enthusiast and looking to expand your collection, or a film newbie on a tight budget—and if you can work within its limitations – the Pentax P30t is a nifty little camera. Buy one, and I’m sure you’ll love it and hate it as much as I do.

Pentax P30t

FOR: Great controls, good looks, priced pretty damn close to free.

AGAINST: Cheap build quality, often broken, lack of manual ASA/EC limits creative control.

VERDICT: A magnificent bargain camera if you can work within its limitations.

Specifications 

• Year of introduction: 1990
• Exposure modes: Manual, aperture-priority automatic, program (KA lens)
• Focus: Manual
• Film advance: Manual
• Lens mount: Pentax K/KA
• Shutter: Electronic, metal-blade, vertical travel
• Shutter speed range: 1/1000 – 1s stepless (automatic), 1/1000 – 1s stepped + bulb (manual)
• Flash sync speed: 1/100
• Film speed range: 25 to 1600
• DX override: No (defaults to 100 with no DX code)
• Meter: TTL, open aperture, center weighted, GPD cell
• Meter display: LED (similar to match needle)
• Viewfinder info: Meter, shutter speed, flash ready, manual mode
• Focusing aids: Diagonal split-screen center with microprism collar
• Exposure compensation: No
• Battery: LR-44 alkaline (2)
• Flash connection: Hot shoe
• Self-timer: Yes
• DOF preview: No
• Mirror lock-up: No
• Weight: 17.5oz/500g

Read more:

• Pentax P30t review on 35mmc
• Pentax P30t review on The Noisy Shutter
• Pentax P30t review on Camera Go Camera
• Pentax P30t review on Matt’s Classic Cameras
• Pentax P30 Series review on Canny Cameras