Chinon Pocket Dual-AF-P

[Nesster]

This Chinon is an interesting cheapie. It has a dual range lens - 28mm and 52mm you can flip between. The lens sticks out further at 52mm.
The AF part is a fairly simple and typical for the time zone affair. Don't know how many focus zones, doesn't seem like there are a ton.
The P part is where the fun comes in - there's a panoramic mode that simply masks off the top and bottom of the frame (and viewfinder). Makes everything cinematic.

There is what looks like a light sensor in the film chamber. I don't understand what that is for - surely the camera doesn't have real time off the film metering!

Nice touch: there's an infinity focus lock on the front. Less nice: the camera turns itself off, the buttons can be too close (I've turned the thing off when wanting to push the shutter, I've switched lens length when trying to do something else...), and I don't think there's any way to turn off the flash, or to set flash mode. However, with ASA 400 film, the flash stays off till it's pretty dim out.







this last one is with the 52mm, the first are at 28mm. Full frame, the lens isn't quite as good looking as in this panoramic mode.

[Katastrofo]

How do you switch it to panorama? I'm trying to find how to set the Canon
I got, must be in the menu buttons somewhere, haven't found it yet.

That Chinon has a nice lens!

[Nesster]

There should be a lever or a slide switch, one side would have a P or a narrow bar, the other a fat bar or nothing. The two I have - a Pentax pz-10 slr is the other - do the panorama mechanically. The switch/slide slides or rotates two sets of curtains - one in the vf, the other in the film chamber