Rollei Prego 100 WA

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The Prego 100 WA is a compact autofocus 35 mm camera made by Rollei. It has an HFT-coated 28-100 mm f/5.8 - 10.5 Vario-Apogon zoom lens. This has six elements in six groups (in contrast to the Schneider Variogon on some Prego 90 cameras, which has eleven elements in eight groups, despite covering a shorter zoom range). The Prego 100 WA has considerably less capabilities than the 90, and other cameras in the Prego compact series, in other areas as well.

Most of the earlier Prego cameras have an LCD screen on the top of the camera to display the settings, and these are selected with a number of buttons arranged on the top, rear and front of the camera. The 100 WA has a larger LCD screen on the back of the camera, and all settings are selected using a single 'mode' button, surrounded by four navigating 'arrows'. The zoom is controlled with a thumb-switch. There is a zoom viewfinder, with parallax-correction marks for close-up use, and a frame for the focus and exposure-metering area. This does not have dioptric correction.

The camera has autofocus, with a focus lock feature, and a setting to force infinity focus. In normal use, it focuses down to 0.65 metre, but there is a macro mode, with a focus range of 0.5-1.0 metre. The camera does not have the 'snap' mode (fixed focus with a large depth of field) of the earlier Prego models, or the more sophisticated 'portrait zoom' or 'step zoom' functions of some models.

Exposure is automatic, with shutter speeds from 1 to 1/500 second. Film speed is set automatically (between ISO 50 and 3200) with DX codes on the film cassette; whereas earlier models had a default speed if un-coded film was loaded, the manual for the 100 WA does not mention one, stating simply that DX-coded film must be used. There is no exposure compensation facility.

Film advance and rewind are automatic and motorised. There is a recessed button to rewind the film before the end of the roll.

The built-in flash has typical features for a compact of the time: there are modes for automatic flash operation in low light, for flash with red-eye reduction (by a series of pre-flashes), for forced fill-in flash, for synchronisation with a slow shutter speed, and a setting to disable the flash.

There is a ten-second self-timer function, and the camera can be set to take up to three pictures after the countdown (to photograph more-relaxed subjects in the second and/or third picture). Like the earlier Prego models, the camera has a receiver for infra-red remote control, and it appears from the manual that one was supplied with the camera as standard. This has a range of about five metres, and there is a two-second delay before exposure. The camera does not have the 'interval' facility of some other Prego models.

There is a date imprint facility, with several optional date formats.

The Prego 100 WA is considerably smaller than other Prego compacts: it measures 107×60×36 mm (width×height×depth) and weighs just 175 g. It requires one CR2 battery.