Hi, > So, which Pentax body do you feel is the toughest ... the one you'd take > through the rain and the mud and the Atacama desert, and toss into the > back of your rattling old pickup and not worry about it getting the crap > knocked out of it?
I bought my first LX after my first trip to Ethiopia. I had taken a couple of MXs, including my original which I had bought from new nearly 20 years before. The 2nd MX kept jamming* so I decided I needed something more reliable, and replaced it with an LX. So when I went on a trip from Ethiopia to South Africa I took the original MX, the LX and a Super A (Super Program?) I'd acquired somewhere along the way. This taught me not to mix bodies, and that I didn't like the Super A. However, the Super A was very reliable except for the motor drive, which ate batteries at such a phenomonal rate that I stopped using it. The LX developed sticky mirror. The MX went right on working all the time. The only problem I've ever had with that particular MX was the well-known one of the shutter release switching on the meter and draining the battery. Despite the sticky mirror problem I decided I liked the LX, so I sold the Super A and bought 2 more LXs. Although I never got to take them all to Africa I did take them to places like Russia in winter, and used them in all sort of other conditions. I developed a lot of confidence in them and their toughness. I covered some very violent events where the cameras took some major abuse, and they were fine. One of them was kicked along a gutter by a crowd on a cold, wet winter's day, but kept on working fine. The other way in which the LX scores over the others is its amazing versatility. On my 2nd trip to Africa I was shooting things which ranged from a wedding in Cape Town, to wildlife in Ethiopia, and seaweed farming in Zanzibar. For the wildlife it was essential to have long lenses. The interchangeable heads and screens of the LX were a huge advantage here - they made the photography so much easier and more comfortable. *perhaps it was a rasta camera and was just happy to be in Ethiopia <g> -- Cheers, Bob
