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.[1]

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.


Notes

  1. User's manual for the Prego 100 WA and Prego 130 WA on Butkus.org; the source of most detail in this article.