I've been following the rumors and release of this camera for years now. While the rumored price was up around $1200 or more I convinced myself there was no way I was going to spend that kind of money on a camera. So I took my camera fund and bought a Super A, a Motor A (new friends to play with my SuperProgram and ZX-5n), and a Sega Dreamcast (the camera fund is very flexible). The Pentax Rep. was at SBI Photo in Providence this weekend. He brought along the MZ-S w/24-90 lens. What a sweet machine! The sales people (actually highly qualified staff) were all very impressed. I asked one of them the price and was told $850. Was that their cost or retail? After asking the rep in the back room, the sales person said it was their cost, so my cost would probably be between $950-1000. Another from SBI's staff was impressed by the price and said if the camera had a Nikon lable on it they could easily add another $200 to the price tag. No one had any comments regarding a lack of features, In fact they were impressed with the Hyper-Program functions, flash synch speed, and data imprinting. Handling (light weight and dial controls), design (top-slant), and build brought in the most positive comments. The Pentax rep. also confirmed May avalabilty. Brochures have been printed, but he forgot them at home. Damn! The rep unfortunatley could not answer whether the new flash unit offers on-flash exposure compensation with ZX cameras. I assume, since this funtion has been moved from the MZ-S body and into the flash, it will. Overall I was very, very impressed. More importantly, so was the sales staff. SBI does carry the full ZX line as well as 645n and 67II. They are the most professionally oriented photo store in Rhode Island. The MZ-S looks like it will fit in well here and hopefuly recieve sales support. Now that I hit the reset on the camera fund, and my wife does not see fit to hand me a $1000 (reasons sited: mortgage, investments, kid's college funds, and the fact I own 3 cameras already)I begin the slow build process again, and with some cannibalization (the ZX-5n will go), I will own a MZ-S. -Mike - 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 .
