Pentax Auto 110

This camera was a sensation when it came out in the 80's. It was a system camera with telephoto, and wide angle lens, auto winder, flash, filters, etc. The camera was really a toy because the images weren't as sharp as the consumers anticipated. It was a fun camera for its small size, and people didn't ant to carry large, heavy cameras. The entire mirror, and shutter assembly can be seen below, with the cover plate removed. The camera used a behind the lens leaf shutter, which also functioned as the aperture. This made the lenses so easy to produce because all they had to do is focus, needing no mechanical or electronic connection to the camera.

Left, Clever engineering of Pentax 110 is noticeable in this photo of the mechanism with base plate removed. The 110 film cartridge film advance gear is located on bottom left (above) while the wind lever is on upper right. The way this rotation is transferred to the charge gear is very clever:

The bottom extension of wind knob is on the right side of the camera, while the charge gear is on the left (left Photo). It uses a crank shaft like to transfer the rotation via an extension arm running across the base of camera. In most point and shoot cameras, as well as Minolta Maxxum, they use a gear train to transfer the auto rewind from the charging gear on the right of the camera to the rewind shaft on the left side of the camera.

Auto 110 is cut in half (left) to reveal the inner pentaprism, mirror, and behind the lens leaf shutter. The body cover thickness in much thicker than usual because it uses plastic instead of the usual pressed sheet metal.

Exploded view of Pentax 110 shows the injection molded plastic housing, a very simple lens construction, behind the lens leaf shutter, and the battery compartment.