Pentax bodies

[anyte]

Hello people, this is my first post here at apug.

/Henri

Welcome to APUG. I hope you enjoy your stay and will share some photos with us. And thank you very much for your input.

 

[Woolliscroft]

"Any Canon FD or Olympus OM defenders care to offer a take on their current viability? Nothing wrong with the Pentaxes, but there are a lot of good choices out there today, which have suddenly become affordable."

From that era, I can recomend the Olympus OM2n. They are as light as the ME Super but better featured and have TTL flash metering. The glass is at least as good and the range was huge, but they often go for similar prices now. I have two, the older of which was bought about 1980. It must have taken 50,000 pictures since, mostly on muddy archaeological sites where it has been bashed, soaked, dropped and let loose with students, and it still works as well as it did over 20 years ago. I still use OMs most of the time for 35mm, because in my job (archaeologist) SLRs are vital, as are depth of field scales, but autofocus is a nusiance.
Don't get one of the contemporary Nikons if, like me, you are left eyed. Many of them switched on with the wind on lever and I found that whenever I brought one to my eye I just bashed myself on the forehead and switched the camera off. The OMs had a nice safe on/off switch on the top plate, and defaulted to auto if you forgot to switch on. I always found the Cannons of the period, like the A1 and AE1, to have too much of an air of male jewelry, but Minolta made some nice cameras then.

David

 

[Carol]

Chuckling here David. I used to think camera designers were crazy until I discovered I had lousy eyesight in my right eye and that I've always automatically focussed using my left eye. It means the winder always sticks in the middle of my forehead. Okay people stop laughing. I'm an old lady.

 

[bmac]

My name is bmac and I am a left eye focuser too. LOL

 

[Brac]

"Any Canon FD or Olympus OM defenders care to offer a take on their current viability? Nothing wrong with the Pentaxes, but there are a lot of good choices out there today, which have suddenly become affordable."

From that era, I can recomend the Olympus OM2n. They are as light as the ME Super but better featured and have TTL flash metering. The glass is at least as good and the range was huge, but they often go for similar prices now.
David

In the UK the Olympus range seem to still go for appreciably more than Pentaxes of the same era. And equally Pentax lenes are much cheaper & more frequently found. One of the problems with the early Olympus cameras seems to be battery drain plus they required the 1.3 v mercury battery which these days means the expensive Wein replacement. I would go for a Pentax or maybe a Ricoh rather than an Olympus nice though they are.

 

[Melanie]

HI
I love the Pentax too, have been using them for years, I have the PZ-70 that is still going strong. one other camera you might think abought is the russian Zenit there are a bunch of them on e bay and there price is very low, but they are a excallent camera. and they take the same lens as the older Pentax. there kind of like the old K-1000 but they do not have a threw the lens meter, there meter is on the top of the camera. I have the 11 and the 19 Zenit and use them daily.
have fun with what ever you get.
Melanie

 

[anyte]

I wonder what determines whether a person focuses with their left eye or right. I'd never really thought about what eye I stick to the viewfinder but it turns out to be the left. I am (mostly) right handed. But all the primary functions of the camera are on the right hand side of the body.

I think I'm babbling now.

 

[Woolliscroft]

In the UK the Olympus range seem to still go for appreciably more than Pentaxes of the same era. And equally Pentax lenes are much cheaper & more frequently found. One of the problems with the early Olympus cameras seems to be battery drain plus they required the 1.3 v mercury battery which these days means the expensive Wein replacement. I would go for a Pentax or maybe a Ricoh rather than an Olympus nice though they are.

I have OMs back to a fairly early OM1 (not a 1n) and all use cheap standard 1.5v batteries that can be got anywhere. There were battery drain problems with the early OM4's and I think the OM2 spot/program, but the others are all fine. My OM2's and OM4Ti's only need a battery every two years or so and they get a lot of use (about 4,000 pictures a year between the four of them). It used to be possible to get the problem OM4's "re-chipped" to solve the problem. There may still be people who can do it.

David.

 

[badoix]

ZX-M

A suggestion: Pentax ZX-M

I have been using this camera for last two years. This camera has a little more automation than a K1000 and that may be helpful sometimes. Of course, you can turn all the automation off.

Pros (over the K series)

- is capable of full AE and exposure compensation with exposure lock
- has a motor drive and DOF preview
- is capable of 2-segment metering (apart from center-weighted)
- split-image focusing screen

Shortcomings

- plastic (but very solid) construction
- can't spotmeter
- viewfinder small (0.77x) and not too bright. The K series is better in this respect (0.88x) but the best is the M series (0.95x!)
- lens aperture not optically piped through to viewfinder as in, say, MX (i.e. you have to look at the lens barrel or remember what aperture you set the lens at)
- no TTL flash and low flash sync speed, 1/100s (this is also true of the K/M series bodies)

another little quibble of mine is that this camera has no LCD illumination. But I think it is worth considering.

Best
Badri

 

[csandlund]

Hi everyone!
This is my first post here!
My first SLR camera was a Pentax Super A - think its called Super program in the US. And thats a really fine camera but it can be a bit dificult to use manually and it needs batteries to function.
Eventually I sold my Super A to buy an LX, and I really love that camera, when u pick it up u can really feel the biuld quality And the viewfinder is beautiful!
I also use a MZ-5n which is autofocus but it has very good manual controls, and it looks very "retro".

So if u can find an LX for a good price - go for it!!!

carl

 

[mfobrien]

Well, if you want new -- Cosina "Voigtlander" is selling the Bessaflex, and it uses the 42mm threadmount lenses, such as the Spotmatic. Nice thing is -- the meter really works... Gp to cameraquest.com for more info

 

[Nick Zentena]

For people looking for a user body then various Ricohs are hard to beat. The things are almost free usually selling for 1/2 what a similar spec Pentax would sell for. Down sides are few.

 

[roteague]

Nikon MF as in Manual Focus... I use DOF preview a lot. Actually I use it with my Mamiya 645 too. Maybe I'm weird!

I've got a Nikon N80, which is a fairly new camera, reasonally priced, but one of the few consumer cameras that has a DOF preview. The DOF is invaluable. It has help up well, the past 4 years I have had it; although I may have killed it yesterday - I was shooting the surf and got drenched by a big wave. Fortunately, I didn't have my LF gear with me.

 

[elekm]

One of my first cameras was the MX. Very solid and very reliable. I'm trying to buy it back from the guy who bought it from my brother who in turn bought it from me.

I doubt you could go wrong with any of the cameras that you've mentioned.

I rarely use the DOF preview. And these days I shoot mostly with a RF, so DOF preview is moot. When I did use it, I strugged to see anything in the darkened viewfinder.

 

[chenick]

I have a Pentax ME Super, which I really love.
Fully Manual mode, plus the Aperture Priority if you want to grab a quick shot.
Also, it is really tiny for an SLR. (like the MX)

-Nick