> Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 14:33:30 -0500 > From: Joe Wilensky <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Which would you keep > Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" > > I would also say keep both, or even decide on one or the other and > then pick up a backup body of the same type so you have two! As all > these cameras get older and older, it seems having a backup makes > sense either for stepping in when something on the more-used body > fails, or simply as a source of parts eventually. They are two very > different cameras, but if you are going to keep just one, perhaps > pick the one with less "mileage" on it, if one is significantly more > "used" than the other. It's no guarantee of longevity, but a 20+ year > old camera that has had an easy life of light use seems to have the > edge over a heavily used body that may have taken thousands more > exposures. > > Both the MX and Super Program were built well, I think, and even > though the Super Program didn't have a 5 fps motor drive, it was able > to handle the 3.5 fps Motor Drive A and had "professional" > aspirations, so it may be fairly durable as far as shutter cycles go. > > Joe
I know I'm coming to this thread late, but here's my two cents. 1) keep 'em both. Not enough resale value in either to be worth selling 2) I've never had a SHUTTER failure with a Super Program. With motor drive A, however, ALL of my Super Programs (4) eventually had their film advance gearing go out due to the load from the motor drive. The symptom is that the winding tension gets unusually high and the film advance shuts off before the end of the roll. You can't get the gears any more as replacement parts. It was this exact problem that caused me to ditch Pentax for Nikon, since the top-of-the-line Pentax body at the time was the SF-1 which was a non-starter in the motor-drive department. 3) Motor drive A itself is not particularly robust, nor is the Super Program. Both of my motor drives and most of my Super Programs are suffering from broken parts. Nothing is reparable (no parts), although they are availible on the used market. 4) MXen are hard to repair and very hard to get parts for. My personal experience with MXen is not positive in terms of durability/longevity. OTOH, MXen are pretty much all gears and levers rather than circuits, so theoretically they should be easier to maintain. My tech says they are too fiddly inside for him to touch, but YMMV DJE
