Pentax IQZoom 170SL Date Camera

I was recently forced to shop for a new camera when my Vivitar PZ8000 broke down after years of clear, quality pictures. My main goal was to find a camera that could produce consistently clear pictures. Plus, it has to be simple. I don't like to spend a lot of time analyzing the light, etc. I want to be able to grab the camera, turn it on, and quickly take a picture. So when I saw the other reviews for the Pentax IQZoom 170SL, I thought I had found the camera I was looking for. Everyone raved about the clarity, the zoom and the simplicity of this camera. It seemed perfect, so I bought it.

Now I'm left wondering if I got the same camera as the other reviewers. I've taken 5 or 6 rolls of film with very mixed results. Maybe 25% of the pictures are beautifully clear, as I had hoped and expected. Landscapes turned out better than the rest. About 50% of the pictures were average and basically acceptable. But then about 25% of the pictures were terrible, especially those with people as the main focus. I took an entire roll of film at my brother's wedding, and all but a handfull are so blurred that the people are almost unrecognizable. And I don't just mean that the people were blurring, the entire photo was bad.

There are a lot of flash options, etc. on the camera, and maybe I just haven't figured out when to use the features. And I'll be the first to admit that I'm not especially careful at setting everything up. But I've never had this problem with other cameras. Unfortunately, I waited too long to return the camera because I kept hoping that the pictures would improve. I'm planning on selling it. This camera left me so disappointed that I don't trust it to capture the memories of my vacations, etc.

I bought this camera just in time for my son's birthday party. I don't even have to see the manual to use this camera.. it's just a breeze too operate. The camera felt just right on my hand, lightweight and just at the right size (compared with my previous Pentax IQ-200 which is too bulky and heavy looking).
I used the Kodak 400 spd and the result came out absolutely beautiful.. the color is vibrant and not blurry at all. No more red eyed and dark picture. Definetely worth the money spend!! I will recommended this camera to everyone..
Thanks Pentax..

Pentax point and shoots are extremely reliable cameras, and this one has more zoom than many SLR zoom kits come with! They are also very durable. While playing with one at the camera store that I work at, I dropped it on my foot! I picked it up, dusted it off, and still worked just fine. Just be careful not to knock into things when you have your zoom extended!

One word of warning: with so much zoom you have to be careful not to outshoot your flash. Zoom in to your heart's delight outdoors in bright sunlight but under low light keep in mind that your flash is only good for up to about 10 feet. You should be fine shooting with a nice 400 speed film in most lighting situations, I recommend Fuji.

This camera is amazing!! The zoom range is more than adequate for amateur use and is perfect for taking pictures of my kids. I can get those close ups without getting so close up that they stop what they're doing to look at me like with other cameras. I've taken pictures of them across the room and I've also used it at a football game to zoom in on my nephew scoring a touchdown. I can see the expression on his face all the way from the stands! All of the pictures are beautiful, and the zoom helps eliminate photos that have all that unwanted "junk" around the subject. This helps the pictures look more professional and less amateur like. I use Kodak 800 Speed film because using the zoom with lower speed films can sometimes make the pictures darker than I like.

Some of my favorite photos of my kids are when they weren't expecting me to take their pictures--this camera is worth the money for the memories it will keep.

I bought this camera from Sears for my honeymoon. I used Kodak Max Versatility Plus film 800 spd and the photos came out absolutely incredible. Every shot was crystal clear and almost professional-like.

The only downside (if you can consider this a downside) is that it doesn't have a multi-snapshot mode. I quickly got over that though.