On Fri, 29 Mar 2002, Bruce Rubenstein wrote: > It would be interesting to know how many people would stay with > Pentax, and try to duplicate what they have now, if every piece of > their gear disappeared and was replaced with an equivalent sum of > money. This is the place that new camera buyers basically start from.
A Pentax list is hardly the place for an unbiased representative sample, is it? :) For me, the answer is both yes and no. For manual focus, there's no way I would use anything except for Pentax. Not because of brand loyalty... simply because I've tried pretty much everything out there and nothing feels as comfortable to use as the Pentaxes I've tried. I love the idea of Nikon's FM and FE cameras, but I always found them a bit awkward; they don't fit my hands as comfortably as Pentax's models. I *might* be able to get used to an F3, but the LX is so much smaller, and its 1/75 sync speed is outweighed (for me) by its low-light metering capabilities, since I almost never use flash. I love the feel of the focusing on the K-series MF lenses, and I love the design of the screwmount bodies. I also like being able to shoot in all four program modes (from manual to fully automatic) on a small, light MF camera with manual film advance and rewind. Does anyone else make a camera like the Super Program? Canon's A-1 would be close, but I don't like Canon lenses in general. In general, if I'm shooting 35mm I want my cameras to be small and well-built... no complaints there about the LX. When it comes to AF, it's a whole 'nother story. I have the MZ-5n with the FA28-70/4 and FA80-320/4.5-5.6 and I'm not at all happy with the focusing. It's quick enough when it can find something to focus on, but it's F*****G loud! If I had to start over again, I'd think seriously about the F80. I love the F100, but it's too large and heavy for a 35mm camera. I like the F80 because (1) its focusing is quieter than Pentax's, (2) the grid screen is pretty cool, and (3) I prefer using a wheel to change shutter speeds on an AF camera instead of a dial or a toggle switch. I'd have to think twice about it because (1) I prefer setting the aperture on the lens instead of the body, and (2) I like being able to take MF and AF bodies and lenses and interchange them freely (F80 has serious metering restrictions with MF lenses). For MedF, I'm using the 6x7 because I found one for cheaper than cheap. I love the feel of it, and I'm very happy with it so far, but I'd have to look at more MedF's before I'd say that I'd choose it over all other MedF cameras. chris - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
