>I know it's been mentioned on the list many times, but it was cool seeing >Ringo wandering around with a lovely black pre-Spottie (was it an H3 or >something?). I know I've seen many photos of them with silver Pentaxes >(both Spottie and pre-Spottie), but it was fun seeing it in the movie.
"S" type of some kind, according to Gerjan's book. Alan said of the MZ-S, in response to somebody's post: >>Except it doesn't share the popularity of the Spotmatic, or the >>longevity of the LX enjoyed. >In the future, when film SLR's are a rarity, the MZ-S is going to be >remembered along with the Spotmatic and LX as one of the great Pentaxes. It's not that old, so it's longevity is yet to be proven or disproven. It is never going to have the popularity of the Spotmatic at its price. I may never find out if I'd have liked the MZ-S. My local camera store, probably the biggest dealer in Minnesota, does not have one in stock at any of their 5 locations. In fact, they say they have a SKU but have NEVER ordered one. They also say that they no longer accept manual focus gear as trade-ins because they can't sell it, so I get the impression that many savvy buyers shop online and the stores are forced to carry only the high volume sellers. I doubt they'd have had an LX if I went in there looking for one 15 years ago. They DO have the $1000 N and C models, but perhaps not the top-of-the-line ones. Rob was nice enough to send me good pictures of the MZ-S. Judging soley by that and the price, it does appear to be well built. I'm not sure I like the tilted top idea and I definitely don't like the cluster of fiddly controls at the top right (where the main dial, probably shutter speed and mode, is). I MIGHT believe that the main dial is as omni-directionally accessible and manipulable as an old-fashioned shutter speed dial. I WOULD believe that it is easy to run with the thumb, kinda like the Canon back-of-camera wheel. My ideal camera would have front and back half-embedded spinner wheels (like Nikon, sorta like Canon) if it didn't have a traditional shutter speed dial. It's intriguing how much the control layout on this camera looks like a Maxxum 9000. The camera definitely looks like it is designed for autoexposure shooting. The AE-Lock button is where I'd want the AF button and there is a huge exposure compensation (and apparently ISO and other multifunction) knob squatting where a manual film rewind should go. In days of yore, there was room for all these functions on one control thingie. I realize that I am the only photographer alive who still wants a manual film rewind option on a motor-driven camera. The idea of a pop-up flash on a $1000 camera still amazes me, but I'll admit that there are times when its availibility is more important than the quality and quantity of light that it produces. The N and C mid-level digitals have pop-up flash too, but that's because they are built on mid-level film cameras not $1000 film cameras. I'd assume that the nifty sculpted-to-match vertical grip has additional controls for vertical-oriented operation. I don't know if the grips would fit well in my hand (I've always liked the beefy Nikon grips and motor drives) but that isn't really a valid critique unless they don't fit ANYBODY's hand very well (like the Nikon F4, apparently, except for me). DJE
