MX vs LX or MZ-3 vs. MZ-S or ? (Long Boring Ramble!)

[Thomas Haller]

Hello Folks,

I am an enthusist photographer, not a professional, but I take a lot of 
pictures. Landscapes, autos, and lots of close up to macro stuff, like 
flowers, knives, and bits of machinery.

I prefer inanimate objects, but have taken good pictures of people if 
they forget I'm there and I can take many shots of them. If I "love" 
the subject (again usually inanimate objects) I often get what I 
consider awesome photos.

I "never" use flash (okay maybe a little fill-in if I absolutely _have_ 
to, but it makes me feel like I've failed somehow). I usually use ASA 
400-3200 unless I'm shooting for detail where I'm "forced" to use ASA 
25-100. I like low light, night and early morning.

I like small compact cameras. I could never get used to a F3HP, it was 
just too big and clunky!

I typically use a metered "manual" mode even if AE or SE or a program 
exposure mode is available, but I'd use AE if I needed to. I want to 
compose and set exposure with the lens wide open, then have it close 
down when I shoot.

I prefer the, oh I don't know what  to call it, the drama or focus of 
B&W photography and I "see in B&W" but I have a really good color sense 
(like matching colors, using complimentary colors - I even taught 
ceramic underglazing) so if I take my time I've made good color 
pictures, but usually of slower moving subjects like flowers ;-).

Once I bought a Epson Color 800 and now my new Epson 2200, I've taken 
to having my B&W negs or color slides scanned (PhotoCD and a friend's 
Nikon CoolScan). Then I use Photoshop and make my own prints. I'm in 
the market for my own film/slide scanner.

I started with my Dad's Leica IIIg with a 50mm Summicron (if I remember 
correctly) , which took "magical" pictures where the subject somehow 
stood apart from the rest of the picture. I remember a remarkable roll 
of casual shots I made of my little brother in his sandbox that came 
out like I was a pro at LIFE magazine.

But when I was old enough to realize what I was holding, I got scared 
and bought a Konica Auto S2 rangefinder, with which I created some my 
best pictures, albeit after hours of cropping and exposure experiments 
in the darkroom. (I will still take it out for barbecues or other 
occasions where I don't want to bother with the SLRs.)

Then I was convinced to buy an SLR to use different lenses, and found a 
whole world of close-up pictures, wide angle and telephoto. My tool was 
a Minolta SRT-101 with a few MD lenses. I bought the body and the 50mm 
lens and my Dad bought a 28mm and a 100mm, When I left home, I left the 
Minolta behind.

When I could afford another SLR, I found the Pentax MX (with 50mm 1.4 M 
lens) and felt like I had found the "perfect" camera. Bright viewfinder 
with good coverage, unobtrusive LED metering and shutter speed 
indicators and even the aperture showed with that little prism window. 
DOF, mechanical shutter, that 1.4 lens, oh gosh I could go on and on, 
as I'm sure most of you can imagine. :-) Soon came more lenses, 
filters, macro, shades, a couple more MX bodies, winders and so forth.

I even played with an LX for a while, loaned to me, and I really 
appreciated the more sensitive meter, and of course the quality of the 
body, but I actually preferred the viewfinder of the MX. (I could not 
afford an LX then, anyway!)

Now I seem to be at a crossroad, one you have probably travelled past 
already, and I am hoping you can help me choose a path. As much as I 
love my old Pentax equipment, it all seems to be getting awfully old, 
and I keep having to send bodies out more often for repair and 
adjustment, breaking those winder battery door screws, and even my baby 
1.4M doesn't mount like it used to.

One response (as it seems to me) is to buy more MX bodies and Pentax 
SMC-M lenses, in the best condition I can find, and just keep going the 
way I have been.

Another way to go seems to be to "move up" to a used LX body, as the MX 
bodies are what is getting the most expensive and troublesome to 
maintain, and keep collecting SMC-M or -A lenses.

But I can imagine circumstances when AF would extend my domain, for 
pictures of fast moving objects that are difficult to keep in focus 
manually. (Can you say Laguna Seca?) And I've made plenty of "metering 
mistakes" that might have been prevented by the newer matrix metering 
systems.

So, another way to go seems to be to step up to the plate and buy 
either an MZ-3 (black) or an MZ-S, then start buying FA lenses. From 
what I've read online there are some _fine_ FA lenses. I'm thinking the 
35mm FA f/2, 50mm FA f/2.8 Macro, 100mm FA f/2.8 Macro and 200mm FA 
f/2.8 would make a good shopping list. But which body? Is the added 
expense of the MZ-S worth it compared to the MZ-3? Remember I'm a 
simple man, and not all that concerned with "Hyper" modes and so forth, 
I'm just looking for a modern replacement for my MXs.

But do you think I'll be able to live with the newer bodies? I _read_ 
that the viewfinders are no-where-near as bright as the old MX/LX and 
if I found the LX finder a bit busy, I can imagine what I'll think of 
the MZs. I live in sleepy Santa Cruz CA, so please don't advise me to 
head down to my "local" camera shop and look at both of the MZ cameras, 
there ain't no such thing. I haven't seen an MZ-S even in the "big" 
camera shops in San Jose, and of course we don't get the MZ-3 here in 
the United States. I did see an MZ-5n on the shelf, but they were "too 
busy" to let me play with it. >8-[

And then there's the D word! :-) It seems a bit early to me, but my 
older brother has been using a C*n*n D60 and now a D10 with a bunch of 
C*n*n lenses and swears by them. And since I'm scanning my film and 
printing to an inkjet out of Photoshop, I certainly can't get on a high 
horse about film resolution and so forth can I? Is this really the 
answer? Move to digital rather than spend more monry on film based 
bodies?

So what do _you_ think?

[  ]  Keep buying used MXs ?

[  ]  Buy a used LX?

Or do I move on to an AF body? And if I go AF, which MZ?

[  ]  An MZ-3 (black)?

[  ]  An MZ-S?

Or,

[  ]  Move to digital (either now, C*n*n with RAW output, or wait for 
the mythical Pentax D)?

Sorry for the rambling tale, but I thought the background might help. 
Thanks for listening!

- THaller