Excellent low-cost SLR
Written: Jun 21 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: good feature set, low-cost, durable, good lense selection
Cons: no auto-focus
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| dillon2112's Full Review: Pentax ZX-M Body Only 35mm Film Camera |
I am fairly experienced in photography, working mainly with my father's equipment up until recently. I have limited funding, so I decided to get a Pentax ZX-M with a compliment of lenses. His equipment included a Minolta SRT-101 (a tank!) and a Contax G2.
I must say, assuming you do not need auto-focus (most people that use manual focus cameras can focus faster than many auto-focus cameras can!) this camera offers an amazing assortment of features for it price. It is quite fast (1/2000) and supports most any film speeds you would use.
It performs at least as well as it more pricey counterparts, up to $500 and $600. Working with several cameras from Canon, Pentax, Minolta and Contax, I found that a lot of what you pay for in amateur SLR cameras is the "automatic" features, which I find more often than not confuse the process of picture taking.
For example, the Canon Eos (as well as many others like it) support various "modes" depending on what you wish to shoot. In reality, all this does is select a group of setting most appropriate for that type of photography, a task even a moderately experienced photographer could accomplish without the help of the camera (and perhaps to a more precise degree).
Assuming you know how to take pictures beyond point-this-way-and-press-the-button, this camera offers lots of great features. To go over a few:
Exposure compensation - excellent for tough lighting situations (backlit)
Exposure lock - same as above, but more efficient in some situations
Internal display of exposure and current settings (f/stop and shutter speed)
Supports both auto-focus and manual focus lenses
Is fully automatic, shutter-priority and aperture priority modes, in addition to fully manual. Does NOT auto-focus, however.
Uses very little battery power, as it does not have motorized lenses. This is a great feature for me, because I like to take it on long trips where batteries may not be available.
It is so light!! This camera truly is of the new generation. It is almost entirely composed of high impact plastics, that while very durable also are very light. This is the lightest camera I have used to date. In addition to the recent developments in lense technology, and 200mm lense and the camera together could well be less than 2 lbs!
I highly recommend this to anyone who has some experience with photography and likes to control the fine aspects of their pictures, but wants to operate on a modest budget. I know several people who have it (including myself) and it has proven very dependable and versatile.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
dillon2112
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Reviews written: 6
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