The Diabolical Dr Z wrote:
Hello,
After several weeks of newbie lurking, this seems a good moment to drop in.... (and introduce myself to the list while I go along). Anyway:
I'm a complete technophobe who generally refuses to use anything made after ~1980,
Good :-) Our modern society needs more people like you, I think, in order to maintain some kind of balance ;-/
[ ... ]
Now, for all intents and purposes, I'm an extremely bad photographer. Really, I'm complete crap. I don't consider myself a photographer at all, FTM.
Now, then... The pictures you point to below aren't that bad at all, especially for a non-photographer. (Now, I hope you weren't fishing for compliments here...)
Right, back to the MZ-6. Overall, I'm severely impressed by this thing. I've had it for slightly over a year now, and it has become my main body. Although I had never heard of the term "pentamirror" before it came up on this list a few weeks ago, for shooting with f=600/8 (or worse) lenses the MZ-6's viewfinder and focusing screen give me a lot of extra clarity compared to the MX (with standard focusing screen, I don't have a clear one) and the ME-F.
Really? Are you also comfortable with the size of the viewfinder image? I mean, the magnification factor is quite a bit lower than on the MX/ME cameras, as far as I know. Also, how about the camera controls? Some say they are somewhat counter-intuitive. Also, how easy (or hard) do you think it is to do various adjustments while looking through the viewfinder? And how about the visibility of the viewfinder (Aperture/Exposure time) display? On my PZ-20, it's hard to read in bright light.
I find I can actually focus now, where focusing on the matte parts of the M-series screens was a major pain (forget the focusing aids, they just go black). (Of course, when using faster, shorter lenses and slow-moving "targets", nothing beats the focusing aids in the MX's screen + viewfinder, but that's beside the point for my purposes.)
As far as the AF goes...well, we simply don't get along. [ ... ] I don't know if this is typical for AF in general or just for the MZ-6
Hmmm. These sound like general AF issues to me, but I haven't tried that many AF cameras myself (just my PZ-20 and a number of P&S cameras.)
About the other features of the camera.... as said, this is my only AF ever, so I cannot compare it to the MZ-5n or MZ-3. The picture functions work quite well, but to be honest it's just as easy to override them if you have time.
Yes. I think I wouldn't be using them much. In fact, I almost see the lack of such functions as a point in favour of the MZ5n.
Just for quick snapshots (the "share with friends and relatives" type) it's useful.
... and I don't take pictures like that. In fact, a dislike for wedding/christening/children-learning-to-walk/holiday/take-a-picture-or-you-may-forget-it type pictures kept me away from photography for years. But I digress...
I like the fact that the camera can operate as manually as you want it to ...it does a fair impression of an MX that way
I like that.
Finally durability... that's where I see some crimson flags going up. I really don't like the fact that the camera is made out of plastic,
I'm somewhat ambivalent in that respect. I lament the fact that nobody seems to worry about building anything really solidly anymore, but at the same time, I like the lightness of modern Pentax bodies.
although that may be unrealistic bias on my part - ample plastics are more durable than aluminium. At least the lens mount is metal.
Yep. I wouldn't buy one of the bodies with plastic mount, I think...
What worries me most is that the specs list ends with "number of exposures: 5000". Now, I REALLY hope that number signifies the number of exposures per set of batteries (it more or less corresponds with the listed number of films per battery set) and not the number of exposures before the shutter wears out. If there's a remote chance it is the latter, that would be something to be cautious about.
Anyway, this concludes my reviewette... I've left out the flash functionality, because I haven't used the flash except for snap shots, so far. I aim to dedicate a film to all that though, as I recently bought the dedicated camera adapter for my Metz flash. Let me know if you want me to look up or try out something.
Yes. Thanks... But apart from what I've mentioned already, I can't think of anything.
Damn, I was hoping to find someone who really hated this camera, to put me off from purchasing yet another body ;-)
- T
