C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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The Pentax PC35AF Date is a 1983 variant of the original PC35AF, differing from its 1982 predecessor solely by the addition of an integrated quartz-crystal date-imprinting module. The camera shares the same fixed SMC Pentax 35mm f/2.8 lens, single-point active autofocus system, and fully programmed electronic shutter as the base model. The date back imprints the date - year, month, and day - directly onto the frame in amber numerals during the exposure. Exposure control remains entirely programmed; the user selects only when to release the shutter. The PC35AF Date sat alongside the plain PC35AF in Pentax's 1983 compact lineup as the premium variant for buyers who wanted annotated records of travel or family events.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
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Kodak UltraMax 400 is a versatile consumer-grade ISO 400 daylight-balanced color negative film with T-grain emulsion, delivering warm Kodak colors, fine-for-speed grain (PGI 46), and wide exposure latitude. Currently in production and available globally as a single-roll and multi-pack.
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Before you buy used
About this camera
The PC35AF with a quartz-clock date imprinter: the same SMC 35mm pocket camera, now printing year, month, and day on frame.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm |
| Lens | SMC Pentax 35mm f/2.8 (fixed) |
| Year introduced | 1983 |
| Focus | Autofocus |
| Exposure | Program auto only |
| Flash | Built-in |
| Date back | Quartz date imprint (Y/M/D) |
| Mount | Fixed (non-interchangeable) |
Pentax introduced the PC35AF in 1982, its first autofocus compact, arriving after Konica's C35 AF (1977) and Canon's Sure Shot (1979) had already established the category. By 1983 date-imprinting was becoming a common feature differentiator in the Japanese and export compact market - Nikon, Canon, and Olympus all offered date variants of their leading AF compacts by this point. Pentax followed with the PC35AF Date, adding the quartz module without altering the optical or mechanical specification.
The date-back equipped variant appealed to the same consumer demographic as the base PC35AF - households who wanted a reliable, low-skill camera - but whose primary use was travel and family documentation where a date annotation on the print had practical value. The PC35AF-M followed in 1984 as a more substantially revised platform, and the Date designation did not carry forward to that model. The PC35AF Date was quietly retired as the M rendered both its predecessors obsolete.
The PC35AF Date has no particular cultural or photographic significance beyond its role as a period data point in the rapid commoditization of the autofocus compact. Date imprinting had a brief moment of consumer popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s, viewed at the time as a useful documentary feature; by the 2000s it had become associated with snapshot aesthetics rather than professional practice and largely fell out of favor.
For collectors the camera is a minor curiosity: a variant that preserves exactly the original PC35AF formula while adding one feature that dates the camera culturally as much as it dates the photographs. The SMC 35/2.8 optic still performs well on color negative film.
C41
Kodak ColorPlus 200 is an affordable, consumer-oriented daylight-balanced color negative film at ISO 200. Known for warm, slightly muted color rendition, fine grain, and wide exposure latitude, it is currently in production and widely available in Asia and select global markets.
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Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
View profile →Pentax PC35AF Date
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