It's been a couple weeks (and 16 rolls of film (thank-you data imprinting)) since I got the Mz-S, so here's an update on impressions and comments about this camera. Handling: This remains a strong point. I can't believe how quickly and easily I've gotten into using this camera. My initial concerns about bumping the little switches for drive mode and metering have not been validated. In fact, I'm happy to note that the switches can be easily set with the right thumb to make changes on the fly. Though not directly tied to the Mz-S, I'm very pleased with the 'kit' I've managed to build around this camera. My 'walk around' kit with the LX consists of the LX, A50 f1.4, A 28 135 f4, Vivitar Series 1 19 35, Tokina ATX 100 300 f4, and AF280T. The Mz-S kit consists of the Mz-S, FA 50 f1.7, FA 28-105 (power zoom), F 17 28 fisheye zoom, FA 80 320, and AF500FTZ flash. The latter kit, while generally slower (aperture wise) is a fraction of the weight of the former and fits in a much smaller bag. AF: Fast and accurate. I've never been much of an AF user and if the camera is on a tripod I switch it off. I went to my wife's class reunion last weekend and shot a few people shots, and the AF worked well. The placement of the sensors is great sufficiently far apart and the ability to lock one sensor comes in handy. It was especially nice to lock in a side sensor using the F 17 28. The 'missing' bottom center AF sensor, while offending my sense of symmetry, has not proven to be a problem. Metering: After a few beers last weekend I got tired of thinking and flipped the camera into evaluative metering. It worked quite well. For spontaneous one-time-only shots, it's a great feature. I shot a fair amount of slide film with the camera (generally in CW metering) and the exposures look to be spot on. I struggled with the mandatory half or full stop bracketing (I usually bracket in 0.7 stops) but have not found it to be a practical problem. (If anything, this camera is teaching me to quit wasting time on specmanship, and make fundamental decisions about shots quickly.) Film Imprinting: This is a great tool for learning what's going on. Flash: Surprisingly, the Mz-S and AF500FTZ make a great pair. I'm surprised because the flash is a big hefty unit, and I expected it to not go well with the rather small size of the Mz-S. But they work together beautifully. I do miss a separate flash exposure setting. I have not used the Mz-S for handheld macro shots, where I would really want an X Synch of 1/250, but for general shooting the 1/180 X-Synch is fine. Battery Usage: I was surprised to see the low battery indicator kick in on the last roll. Granted, I've done a lot of fiddling and filmless shooting with the camera, but I've shot few flash shots. The batteries I used were Duracells from the local drug store, and though the expiration date is 2010, my experience with the copper-tops has generally not been good. I'm waiting for the batteries to die for good, and will try a pair of Sanyo's as replacements. But this did prompt me to order the battery grip. Overall, I remain very happy with this camera, though it is a bit of a paradox. It is very feature rich, but in a way very spartan. I'm reminded of a parable: A guy sits down in his living room and looks outside. The window is dirty and he thinks 'What an ugly window!' He washes it and comes back in. He looks outside and thinks 'What a beautiful window!' but then realizes that the window is beautiful only because he doesn't notice it any more. Cameras are a window to the world, and the Mz-S does everything to give you the tools you need, but never screams 'Look at me and all my gadgetry!' Rather the counter point to some other SLR's on the market these days. - MCC - - - - - - - - - - Mark Cassino Kalamazoo, MI [EMAIL PROTECTED] - - - - - - - - - - Photos: http://www.markcassino.com - - - - - - - - - - - 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 .
