Artur, Having owned and used the PZ-1p for quite some time and now owning and using the MZ-S, I feel that I can give some insight.
There are several things to consider. First, there is a difference between easy to learn and easy to use. The PZ-1p is easy to grasp the general concept of manipulation because everything is controlled through a consistent set of buttons and wheels. But for photographers coming from older style bodies (shutter speed dials and aperture rings), it can come across as confusing. Pentax users have typically come from the older style so the new PZ interface seemed different to them. Once I got the hang of the system, I found it to be very fast to work with for certain operations. For others, however, it was very tedious. Notably changing drive modes back and forth was cumbersome. Not hard to find in the interface, just cumbersome. In some ways it was very much like the N70 from Nikon. No matter what you want to do, push button, spin dial, etc. The areas of weakness of the PZ-1p are: Build quality (just doesn't feel as good as a metal body) Lack of vertical grip Lack of alternate battery source Very outdated AF Electronic DOF (my personal pet peeve - screws up the rest of a nice, consistent interface) Lack of HSS, wireless flash The thing to remember about the MZ-S is that Pentax has specifically stated that it is the flagship of the MZ line only - not the flagship of the entire 35mm line. I believe this to be marketing hype to attempt to sell more bodies. It is NOT the flagship camera. At this stage of the game, Pentax has no flagship in 35mm. If you are used to a traditional interface, then the MZ-S feels very comfortable to use. This does not mean that it is any faster, necessarily than the PZ interface, just more comfortable. Coming from any of the older Pentax bodies (MX, LX, SuperProgram, etc.), it handles just about the same as them. Not much too learn unless you want to. But, as has been pointed out over and over, it is lacking features that the market deems as important in a high end body - mainly, high shutter speed, high FPS rate and advance AF. There are other system issues that also hinder it as well as the PZ-1p - lack of some lenses, lack of USM, and lack of IS. The real appeal of the MZ-S is more to traditional Pentax users rather than users of other systems or new users. Can/will Pentax build an SLR that will attract significant numbers of users from other systems? Not very likely. They would need to come out with something as significant as SMC originally or Image Stabilization when Canon brought it out. Any other minor differences or improvements in the bodies is not going to have enough impact. Here in the US, Pentax is a non-player in 35mm above entry level. If any stores carry it, it is only the bottom end - not even the ZX-5n. Nobody knows or cares. The things you hear from Bruce Rubenstein are a pretty accurate portrayal of what it's like here. I wish it wasn't, but that is the way it is. So I see the MZ-S as a stop-gap to keep more Pentax users from leaving the fold, rather than an enticement for non-Pentax users to join the fold. At least in the MF world, things don't look so dismal. There is some respect and acknowledgement given to the 645 and 67 systems. One of the most difficult things to deal with is the slow reaction of the company to the change and competition. They seem to take many years to respond and usually too late. Bruce Monday, August 19, 2002, 11:56:10 PM, you wrote: AL> Alan Chan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>Different opinions are expected, as always, just don't take it personal. :) AL> Sometimes it's very hard not to take it personal. AL> I wonder if I'm really the only one PDML'er who thinks that Z-1p is user friendly and easy to master, the only one who feels that MZ-S is not as good as it could and should have been. I wonder if AL> all those loads of user's good opinions on Z-1p written on the Photography Review, Camera Review, PhotoZone and the similar sites are worth nothing. AL> Regards AL> Artur AL> - AL> This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, AL> go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to AL> visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org . - 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 .
