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Canon Prima 4

Reviews
Posted by Bengt Köhler Sandberg 2013-09-25

Canon Prima 4

Have not been able to find any spec info on this camera.
So I only know what one can read out on the camera and test myself.


Specs:

Lens: 35mm f/4.5
Closest Focus: ??
Aperture: f/4.5 to ??
Shutter: ??
Leaf shutter
Light meter: yes
Battery: One 2CR5 lithium 6V (or similar)
Flash: Yes, built in only
Weight: 255g (without battery)

Self-timer
Auto focus and exposure
Can take up to 4 pictures in a row with one shutter press

Takes 135 film
24×36 mm negative size


Viewfinder:

Very small but good brightness and work fairly well.
This don't have any info in it at all and you can't se where the focus will be set.


Image quality


Analogue B&W film

Canon
                                                          Prima 4
Canon
                                                          Prima 4
Canon
                                                          Prima 4
Canon
                                                          Prima 4
Canon
                                                          Prima 4
Canon
                                                          Prima 4
Canon
                                                          Prima 4
Canon
                                                          Prima 4
Canon
                                                          Prima 4


Bokeh

Canon Prima
                                                      4
Canon
                                                          Prima 4


Flare / Backlight
Canon Prima
                                                      4
Canon
                                                          Prima 4




Build quality

Very plastic and toy like which make this to have very poor feel.
 
Operating
Canon Prima 4


Conclusion


First impression of this camera was not very impressive.
It feels like a toy and it only have a on/off, shutter button and a self-timer.
But it do have AF, auto exposure and a fixed 35mm lens.

The flash is totally auto and you don't get any indication is it is needed or not.
You can half-press the shutter button which locks the exposure but not the AF.
So if you have a subject fairly close this need to be somewhat in the middle in the frame to be in focus.

The lens is a bit slow for a fixed one at f/4.5 but these can sometimes also be quite nice.
This however is not one of those and the image quality is poor.
It's soft all over and gets even worse towards the edges.
But it do renders quite well with quite good contrast.
Flare and backlight is no problem and bokeh looks good even if you can't get much of it.
My roll that I tested did get quite a lot of scratches but I can't say it that common problem.

But there are few things I like about this one.
It is fast to work with and when you press the shutter button and keep it pressed is will only take a picture which makes a small click sound.
Then after you let it button go it will advance the film which is very noisy.
It has a quite good grip but this also makes the camera a bit bigger than other similar.
And next to all my test shots have a good exposure so the light meter works fairly well.

Can be a good camera where you have 2 sec to capture that moment and you don't mind that its a bit soft.


Thumbs up:
Image render
Fast to work with

Thumbs down:
Image sharpness
Plastic / Feel
Slow lens
Noisy
No AF lock



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Technical Info
Scanner: Plustek OpticFilm 7600i
Film: Kodak Tri-X 400
Developer: Kodak D76

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