Hello all... I am new to the list so I want to say hello to all of you and introduce myself.
My name is Brendan MacRae, 32 yrs, live in Northern California (bliss)...Pentax nut for many, many years. Owned K1000, P30t, Zx-5n, MX, and LX. Last night my Dad was over. He's a Canon guy since the 1970's. He's been a photog since his army days...well, actually since his Eagle Scout days at the Philmont Ranch in New Mexico. Later, he shot with a Speed Graphic and Yashica D for a couple of tiny LA papers in the late 50's and early 60's. Anyway, like I said, he's a Canon guy and he used to love his A-1 bodies. He had a T-90 that he sold about a year ago when it died and he loved that body, too. He won't switch over to the EOS system because he doesn't want to give up his FD lenses (and says he'll never forgive Canon for the switch!). He really admires my LX and thinks the SMC lenses are works of art. When I told him that Canon had a similar body to the LX in the F1n he was intrigued. He bought one and he loves it. He just got his second body last night with a power winder and another AE prism. I had a chance to really fumble around with that body and here are my impressions of it versus the LX. Firstly, it is a very stout body. It feels very solid and is no doubt a rugged photographic tool. It's easier than the LX to change screens since they drop in from the top under the prism. The layout of the controls is nice, and the matte black finish is attractive and unique but harder to keep clean than the LX. The DOF preview is not as easy to use as the LX's and the camera is heavier and larger. The prism has a viewfinder blind which I can take or leave. The viewfinder the LX is the shure winner. The exposure information on the F1n is analog and sometimes hard to see. I've never had that problem with the LED's in the LX viewfinder. The winder is nice and is a bit more featured than the Winder LX. Although it does feature it's own frame counter it seems redundant to me. It counts down from 36, or 24, or 12...or wherever you want but I found it tricky to set as the wheel is small. It has it's own shutter release which is a plus over the LX Winder plus another release for portrait orientation (nice!). Also, unlike the LX and the Nikon F3, the Canon can be used in Shutter Priority AE with the Winder or Motor drive attached. For those of you who have the SMC-A lenses and an LX body you may be hearing a Beach Boys tune right now..."Wouldn't it be nice..." Overall however, the design of the F1 is clunkier than the LX. It's not nearly as intuitive to use and although the Canon FD lenses are numerous and very well made, I can't help thinking the LX can handle anything the F1 can. Let me know what you think. Brendan - 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 .
