Tanya Mayer wrote:
> I myself have THREE PZ-20's. I love them. I love the feel, and the
> simplicity of the controls.
I might get more used to the PZ-10 over time. But I'm glad it
won't be my only camera.
> I VERY rarely use
> the powerzoom function and to be honest, find it to be a pain in the you
> know what, too complex for me to fiddle with in the middle of a wedding
> etc....
*nod* I can see that. But I wanted to play with it as much to
simply understand the system as anything else. (But it seems I
have a piece of bad hardware; I'm guessing it's either the switch
or the button on the lens. After following the directions in the
manual (which were among the things I did in trial-and-error mode),
I still can't get it into either of the special power-zoom modes.
Oh well. It'd be more frustrating if it were a feature everybody
said was nifty-keen instead of one people pretty much ignore anyhow.)
> You are very lucky to have inherited this body, right at a time that you
> needed it, and also very lucky that you have a family that cares about you
> enough to try and offer you the best that they can in a sad situation...
True. And my _complaints_ about the camera really mostly boil
down to, "it isn't as good a match for me as some other Pentax
bodies are." I'm not complaining about _having_ the camera, and
at some point I'm sure I'll find myself in one of those "gee,
autofocus really makes this a whole lot more do-able" situations
and be really glad to have a post-1985 camera available ... I
*did* react to it with, "Oh thank goodness; I can really use this
right now." It's after really looking at what it will and won't
do, and how it fits with my shooting style, that I'm examining
what it is and isn't good for as a part of my kit. Right now it
looks like it'll be a walking-around camera, a special-purpose
camera, and a backup for any "normal" work.
But reading the manual suggests more that I have to try. One
complaint was that I didn't feel I had enough information or
control to react quickly to backlighting situations. Now that
I've read the section in the manual about the six-segment
metering, and how, according to Pentax, one of the things it's
designed to do is automagically correct for backlighting, I'm
thinking I need to see how that roll came out and maybe I'll
decide that despite my personal very strong preference for
being in control, it might just make such situations _easier_.
If it works as advertised (or if I can learn to use it in ways
that make it effective). And if I get another TTL flash (my
AF280Ts were stolen, and dammit, I miss those), it looks like
it might be a pretty reasonable wedding (and similar event) camera.
A big part of my problem with it is simply that _I_like_control_.
I have to remind myself that even the PZ-10 gives me more control
than my first SLR, an Olympus OM-10. (Only worked in Av and bulb.
An add-on gizmo allowed full manual, but I never got one.) Another
problem is that I'm _accustomed_ to working with the K-series
and the Super Program (I liked the features of the Super Program;
I liked the user-interface of the KX, K2, etc.), and the PZ-10
is rather different.
But none of those problems are enough to relegate it to a closet
shelf; it'll be used, it'll come in handy, and I'll be glad I
have it. And yes, inheriting it _now_ is lucky timing.
> Merry Christmas.
Thanks. And to you as well.
-- Glenn
