What follows is a long, dreary MX appraisal from yours truely. It was asked for, but I think these folks are just "being nice." Review after their comments.
Now mind you, folks, I've ALWAYS had an unreasonable lust for KX bodies. I have 4 of them now and had 0 of them in the 70s, 80s, and about half of the 90s. I have sworn to stop buying them but some Rat Dog of a Dealer always has yet another one at the local camera swap, and yours truely totes one off every year or so. I tell myself that parts, while more interchangeable with the K1000 than, say, a K2, are scarce so I'm buing more than I need in order to cannabilize bodies. This sounds "reasonable", at least to the average wacky PDMLer, but the truth is I'm besotten by them. "My name is Lon Williamson, and I've come to this 12-step program because I am besotten by KX bodies....." Joe Wilensky wrote: > > > > Hey, Lon, > > > > I'd love to read a review of the MX through a KXer's eyes ... for a > > while, I tried both cameras as I decided what to upgrade to from my > > K1000. I initially chose the KX, but when I finally got to try a > > really nice example of the MX, I switched. My hands are on the > > smaller side, though, and that might have been a factor in my > > decision. And Keith Whaley was known to utter: > > Sure do! When can we expect it? <g> MX initial impressions By Lonnie Williamson, a besotten Fool. A longish review of my 2 "new" black MXen, followed by a couple of questions that I hope some of you experienced with the MX will respond to. Camera bodies I've logged some time with include: KM, KX, Super Program. I currently shoot 4 KXen and 2 Super Programs (hereafter called SP) bodies, so I'll confine my MX comparisons to these other bodies. I use the KX much more than the SP. SP's have TTL flash, and that's about all I use them for. Here are my impressions based on 4 months and about 10 rolls each through the 2 black MXs and an MX winder. Build quality- Seems about like a K body. No seals for weather protection; some older PDML posts suggest that the MX is sealed but the manual suggests otherwise. Shutter- Crisp and quiet. Seems to be very little lag. On the KX or SP, the mirror kick you feel on your hands is much more noticable. And the MX seems no louder than a KX - with the KX mirror locked up - when you release the shutter. Very nice. Very, very nice. This, and the winder, are IMHO the pluses of the MX over the KX, and one of the reasons I use it with longer lenses that have a tripod mount. Shutter release button: Hey, its a button. What could be wrong? Well, for one thing, my cable releases are a bit more difficult to screw into this button, particularly at night. I found that out shooting fireworks on July 4th. For another, when the meter switch is on, mashing this down always engages the meter, which means you'll drain batteries faster if you often shoot like I do, waiting for the "moment" with your forefinger already putting tension on the button. Gimme a KX for such shots any day. Body size- It's small. Tiny. An interesting tidbit from the owner's manual: When mounted to a tripod, and coupled to a long lens, you may find the "included adapter" useful. Apparently, the MX was sold with a little standoff thingie that you screw into the tripod socket to help fat lenses clear the tripod head shelf. Maybe the MX body is a tad TOO small, eh? I do not have the "included" adapter, but since I use the small Bogen rectangular plates made to fit 35mm camera most of the time, this is not a problem for me yet. DOF - Not as easy as with SP or KX. Easy enough without the winder, but a real PITA when the winder is attached. I prefer the separate "mash the button down" approach of the SP and KX. Why fix something that ain't broke? Use an SP with a winder, and DOF is still easy. The MX should have a button, not a timer lever you push towards the lens, for DOF. Meter - Centerweighted, like the KX, which is all I need. Might be nice for dim shots (LEDs), but the limited range (+/-1 EV) bothers me, particularly since the ASA setting is cumbersome, so shooting in backlighting is not where this camera shines. Gimme the KX match needles any time for reasonable light conditions. It is easy to discern under/overexposure down to 1/3 fstop with the KX, a feature I love. With matched needle you don't NEED a compensation knob unless you are at the extreme ends of the meter needle travel. I really like that about the KX. ASA dial- Much more fiddly than any body I've used. The KM/K1000 is easier: Lift and lock is easier on a shared shutter/ISO dial than a "push a little button and twist" MX arrangement. Limited range 25-1600, but, to be fair, that's probably not going to bother me. But the KX, an older camera, goes from ASA 8 to 6400. Now THAR's a range for pushing/pulling film. And the KX ASA dial is the best I've ever used: the film speed is always right in front of you, not on some little rotating window, and setting it is quick and secure. Meter On switch - Much stiffer than KX, I mean _much_ stiffer. Just like with the KX, if you set the shutter speed to BULB, mash down the shutter button and then turn this switch to the "lock" position, the meter switches off and the shutter stays open. Could be useful for that 2 minute photo when you forgot to bring a cable release. Even the SP switch is easier to use, and it's no gem lemme tell ya. I think they made this switch stiff because it's possible to stuff an MX into a bag in such a way that it drains batteries - this is something almost impossible to do with a KX. Shutter dial- Not as legible as that on the KX. Much stiffer than KX. I'm talking depressingly stiff. On 1 of my MXs, it is so stiff that I must use two fingers. Bummer. On all 4 of my KX bodies, using 1 finger to move the dial is very easy. Patented Pentax "tap the button to lock the mirror" trick- Harder for me, so far, than on K series cameras. On a K-1000, KM, or even KX (but why would you do it on a KX?), I can nail this in one or two tries. On the MX, so far, this is a dicey operation, but I probably won't take this body out for contemplative work. The KX excels at such shots. Viewfinder- Nicer than KX or SP, not as high relief as SP, but good enough. The horizontal split/collar focusing aid seems to be about the same size and quality of the SP's, and the remainder of the ground glass is brighter than the KX, and a tad less bright than the SP. The aperature window shows a bit more of the lens markings than any of my KX cameras do. The shutter speed indicator and meter leds are nicely laid out. I have the plain matte and grid screens for the MX, too, and I have come to appreciate interchangable screens. I like the matte screen the best. Focusing- About like the SP with the standard screen. I've not tried the grid screen yet. I greatly prefer the KX screen (also in the KM, but not any K1000 I've used) to either MX or SP or in fact, any other body I've ever tried. The KX has a very small microprism surrounded by a rougher and quite large circle and both serve as good focusing mechanisms. On long lenses, the outer circle funtions as an edge sensitive snap focus mechanism, even when the center microprism is completely black. And because that small microprism is just that, small, when it conks out, I almost never have to recompose to focus. I love the KX/KM standard prism-only screen, and I also like the KX split screen because the split is so small. Cocking- Cocked Indicator: On the inside of the shutter button, rather than the outside like K bodies; this is NOT an improvement over the KX. Put the MX on a tripod, and both the shutter dial and the shutter button conspire to completely obscure this useful little item. Standoff: more than KX, slightly less than SP. Throw: too much. The KX has a moderate throw, the SP a bit more, but the MX has to be twisted until it feels the cocking lever is pointed at the lens. Maybe this was done to reduce the gearing needed to move film and cock the shutter, thus improving the overall number of shots you can get before the film transport dies, but it feels like too much to me. My forefinger will leave the shutter button more easily when cocking this camera than either the KX or the SP. I think I can get used to it, though. Winder- Improves handling nicely. This is a small body. Tripod mount off axis to the right, like Me Super Winder. Problematic if you don't have a tripod head with a T-groove platform. I do have one such head, so no problem. Battery lock: more secure than MEII Winder. Controls on back rather than around shutter release. If you push the winder shutter button and keep it mashed down, winding does not happen until you release the button. This, apparently, is a concern to many photographers who shoot in "stealth mode". Overall, this winder is nicer, IMHO, than the MEII Winder, except that there is no provision for remote release. I've heard that it's capable of remote release, but had to be sent back to Pentax for a "modification" which I doubt Pentax will do for you any more. Self Timer- Slightly easier than KX/KM, and way more idiot proof than the SP. Hard to trigger with gloves on, though. I've mistakenly turned the SP's timer on so many times I'm thinking of taping the sucker shut on both my SuperProgram bodies. Meter Activation - Exactly opposite the KX's. On the KX, you must have the film advance lever out and tap the shutter button down for the meter to be on, and it remains on until the film advance lever goes back in. The MX always meters with the shutter button depressed, and the meter will stay on if, while the button is depressed, you pull the advance lever out. I prefer the KX way, being a slow old fart in no particular hurry. It's possible to shoot the KX for several minutes without ever activating the meter. I also have a habit of waiting for a shot, with the shutter button depressed almost all the way, awaiting some damned decisive moment (that is rarely decisive enough). On the KX, you're not activating the meter and therefore not draining batteries if you shoot like this, and on the MX you are. I've had KX batteries last well over a year; my guess is the MX will not go as long, particularly shooting as I describe. Film loading & unloading- Magic needles, which is OK by me. Since the rewind crank is closer to the viewfinder, I can squeeze that extra frame out of a roll of film more often than with K bodies. So far I've gotten up to 26 frames on a roll of 24. This is a nice side effect of the small body. Rewind crank is canted upward slightly, like the SP, making rewind a bit easier than rewinding K bodies. The button on the bottom plate that engages rewind appears more substantial than the SP's, but less substantial than the KX's. Over all impression- I know most of you like the MX very much, but I can only say: "This is NO KX substitue." I now see two siuations where I prefer MX to KX, though: Available light and shooting with long telephotos. The leds make available light photography easier than with KX or SP (the SP does have a hard-to-find-if-you-haven't-used-it- lately LCD back-lamp buttonm but the MX is easier). I have faith that the MX produces less vibration than the KX, so a tripod-mounted telephoto gets an MX body attached to it. I like the KX's larger size, the more convenient DOF button, the metering system, the buttery-smooth switches and dials, the MLU, the dim but sweet microprism standard screen. And the KX is, to my knowlege, the only 35mm body Pentax has _ever_ produced where mirror lock is both cancellable without penalty, and where the diaphragm is stopped down when lockup is applied. I believe this helps get sharpness. Questions: Anyone know if a CLA will unstiffen the MX meter switch and shutter dial? Also, on one MX the shutter standoff switch to keep the meter on is wonky. Is this often fixable? Thanks for wading through. -Lon
