Conrad wrote;
<snip>
>A while ago there were several posts on this group
>about the viewfinder of
>the MZ-M to the effect that somehow it was not all
>that good. From what I
>can recall, nothing much was said about what the
>defects actually were. I
>have had a look at an MZ-M with the view to getting
>one as a replacement for
>my Spotmatic-F (in case it should pack up). This
>means of course that I
>will use the screw adaptor on the MZ-M a small price
>to pay for the lens
>quality which I already have. But what is the actual
>problem with the MZ-M
>viewfinder?
<snip>
Hi,
I think that the gripes with the MZ-M/ZX-M finder have
to do with a fairly poor eye relief, small
magnification, ( .77x ) and a design that seems to
favor the use of moderate aperture lenses. In other
words, even thought the viewfinder is quite bright, it
is harder for me to focus a fast lens, ( > f/2.8) than
a slow one. It is the easiest camera I have to focus
a f/5.6 lens with. It is ok with faster lenses, just
not as good as Super Program, ME, etc. I wear
eyeglasses, and haven't found the eye relief to be a
major problem, but it is rather disappointing given
the magnifation. Pentax probably had to cut corners
here to keep the finder bright while using a mirror
prism design.
I think that if I was buying a K mount body to use
with a bunch of m42 stuff, the MZ/ZX-M would be the
one. The reason is that for most of my pictures, I
rarely stop down past f/8, and am usually around
f/3.5-6.3. I could use screw lenses at working
aperture much easier vs. focus and compose wide open,
and then manually stop down to shoot. I do have one
m42 lens, a Super Tak 35/3.5, and it is quite easy to
focus at f/5.6 or f/6.3 on the MZ/ZX-M.
Hope this helps,
William in Utah.
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