How I Shot ‘Toy Camera Fire Truck’

by | May 11, 2022

Today’s Post by Joe Farace

Note: You might consider this part of a series that also included Photographing “Yoga Truck” with an Epson RD1, In this case I’m photographing a vintage firetruck with an equally vintage Pentax K-30.

How I made this shot: One of the digital filters that included in the Pentax’s K-30’s menus is Toy Camera that produces a Holga-like effect that worked quite well for this image of a vintage fire truck. With the DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL WR lens at 42mm, the exposure was 1/640 sec at f/9 and ISO 400. The white glow behind the truck’s red light is actually sunlight reflected on the windshield and not part of the effect. It was clearly visible in the viewfinder so I positioned myself to be in a spot where it produced this look.

Snapshooters should appreciate the K-30’S Auto Picture mode, which analyzes a scene and selects the most appropriate shooting mode from Portrait, Landscape, Macro or one of the others. The camera also offers 19 scene modes, including Night Scene Portrait, Pet, Backlight Silhouette as well as a Custom Image function, which lets the user add the final touch by choosing from 11 settings including Bleach Bypass and Cross Process. The K-30 includes a choice of 19 creative digital filters like the one used to create the above image. Most photographers either love or hate these kinds of features but I had lots of fun using them.

About the camera: Yes, this is another old camera and it was announced on my birthday May 21, 2012. The K-30 had a 16-megapixel APS-C sized CMOS image sensor along with a 77-segment multi-pattern metering system that produced accurate measurements under all kinds of shooting conditions. The sensor has a “shake your booty” dust removal system to shake debris from the sensor’s surface. The K-30’s three-inch LCD screen neither swiveled nor flipped. Also atypical is the camera’s ability to accept interchangeable focusing screens with optional AF Divided Matte and Scale Matte types.

  You used to pick up used cameras for around $200 but people—especially Pentaxians—seem to have figured out that these are pretty cool and useful camera so prices have jumped and now you can expect to pay from $290 to $390. Keep in mind that this camera works with all the 24 million Pentax K-mount lenses that have been manufactured since 1964.

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