Pentax El-C90 (1997)
How exciting to have added this wonderful camera to my collection, thanks to a careful owner in the United States who kindly sold it to me. It's in pristine condition and is complete and unused. I show here a large selection of photos, so you can see every aspect of this very photogenic camera.
The El-C90 was the first Pentax digital camera and came out in 1997. Having a detachable LCD monitor unit, It does have some resemblance to my Ricoh RDC-2 (see the comparative photo). In the photos, you can also see the special detachable covers that the photographer removes so the camera and monitor can be paired.
With features such as these, the Pentax is one step up in performance, manufacturing quality and appearance from the Ricoh. It's an absolutely beautiful thing.
What are its specs? The sensor is 0.41 megapixel and 1/4". The LCD monitor is 2", the internal storage is 2mb and the external (removable) storage is PC Card. That's a lot of camera for US$1,000 in 1997.
Pentax El-2000 (2000)
Look at this beautiful camera. Once again, the Asahi Optical company produced a gorgeous Pentax icon and, at the same time, a really fine photographic device.
Dwell on these photos of the El-2000. Now, imagine laying your hands on its sensational curves. Phew!
It’s illuminating to see the El-2000 on the same page as the wonderful El-C90 from three years earlier. Most certainly, the industrial designers at Pentax were at the top of their game.
By the way, this is not the El-200, which is a smaller and simpler point-an-shoot Pentax. The El-2000 is a tour de force – a large camera with permanent through-the-lens viewfinder, 90 degree tilt-up monitor and professional quality shooting options. At the time Pentax brought out this camera, there were powerful corporations which threw enormous weight behind their competing digital offerings. Yet, the El-2000 outshines the rest for its design excellence.
To produce the El-2000, Pentax had teamed with Hewlett Packard, which marketed its own identical version as the Photosmart 912.
Maybe the transition from film to digital photography exhausted Asahi Optical. Eight years later, it capitulated to the competitors when it “merged” with Hoya. Hoya was in turn taken over by Ricoh just three years after that. Miraculously, the Pentax name has survived, and is now to be seen on fine DSLR and new-generation film cameras.
