Spent a couple of hours examining the MZ-S this afternoon, and thought I'd share a few
impressions with you. First, here's Ed Sullivan: "Tonight we have a rilly big shoe."
Thank you, thank you. Now, on to the camera. Some points in no particular order.
1.) It's =small=. Sure, I read the specs, but I was still surprised. To put the
features this camera has into a package this small, those guys at Pentax did their
homework. I can see that I would need to have the battery pack/grip attached
semi-permanently, to have a good grip on it. For reference, I have the grip strap on
my PZ-1p and a winder on my LX because they improve the holdability for me.
2.) It was also lighter than I expected, and yet...
3.) It is well put together. I was especially impressed with the way the back fits to
the body. There are a series of ridges-- I believe there are two on the body and one
on the door, but I may have that backwards-- that go together to form a seal. The one
ridge fits between the two. Very well done. I also noticed a foam square around the
inside of the film window. That could be a common thing on cameras, but I don't recall
ever seeing it before. The magnesium shell feels solid. I squeezed it and there was no
give whatsoever. It feels like it should be around for a while.
4.) For Alan Chan, I examined the finder window and, for the life of me, I couldn't
determine if it was glass or plastic. My money is on glass, though. It's that kind of
camera.
5.) Okay, the controls. It took me all of five or ten seconds to get the feel of total
control. To leave it in program mode, set the lens to A (if the lens has the A
setting). To move to Av priority, take it off of A. Then, if you want to go to full
manual, shift the shutter speed by turning the dial. If the lens is still set at a
preferred f/stop, you can go back to Av priority by touching the green button on the
front. To run in Tv priority, just leave the lens on A and turn the dial to select
your shutter speed. It's incredibly simple.
5a.) The Hold button seems to be a mystery around here. It's for the shutter speed.
If you set a shutter speed you want to stay with, you just use the hold button. If you
then turn the control dial, the shutter speed doesn't change and "HOLD" flashes on the
LCD. I forgot to check if there's is also on indication on the viewfinder.
5b.) The DOF preview is right there at your index finger. Way cool. You just put your
finger on it and sort of pull it. It's more like a little slide action. For those of
you, like me, who are accustomed to =pushing= DOF previews, this takes a little
getting used to. I must have turned the camera off five times trying to activate the
DOF preview. Once I got the hang of it, though, I thought it was pretty cool.
5c.) Selecting the AF points is simple as well. Using the middle finger of my left
hand, I slid the switch up, then turned the control dial until the point I wanted lit
up at the bottom of the viewfinder. To return to letting the camera choose the sensor,
I just clicked the selector switch back down.
5d.) I was a trifle disappointed that the exposure compensation system of the PZ-1p is
not on this camera. It's a really great feature of the PZ-1p. Fortunately, using the
exp comp dial on the MZ-S is a breeze. I was able to do it with just my left thumb;
push in the lock release and turn the dial in the same motion. The over/under
indicator off the right side of the viewfinder stays invisible until comp is used
(and, I assume, though didn't check, when you're using metered manual), which I liked.
Which brings us to
6.) The viewfinder seemed bright to me, and well placed. By that I mean that there is
almost a tunnel effect there. The viewfinder is surrounded my a bit of black all the
way around, and none of the indicators inside intrude on the viewfinder itself. I even
dug out my glasses to have a look and I was able to see all of the viewfinder and the
indicators with minimal effort. I should note here that I =never= wear my glasses
while photographing, but I was curious how people who wear glasses all the time would
see the viewfinder.
7.) The AF is quick and decisive. To test it, I used my FA*80-200/2.8 (keeping an eye
on that focus scale window in case it decided to leap off the lens), and it had no
trouble with either the camera-selected or user-selected sensors. I got it to hunt,
but really, it was a tough scene, some thin branches with a brightly colored BP
station in the background, and I was using a single sensor. To be fair, since not
everybody has a 80-200/2.8, I also mounted the new 24-90 on there and pointed it
around the place. Though the viewfinder was noticeably darker, the camera seemed to
handle it just fine.
8.) The AF button on the back (this could be numbered 5e, if you're scoring at home,
or even if you're by yourself) is a nice touch. I'd have to really work with it for a
while to be comfortable using it, as I'm accustomed to the shutter-button-half-press
method, which the MZ-S also has.
9) The shutter has a distinct "snick" sound, much less clunky than the PZ-1p shutter.
The action is positive and certain, and I noticed very little lag between pushing the
release and the shutter firing. It was very responsive.
10.) The rear-angled top plate is pure genius, and anyone who has ever had to tilt a
PZ-1p backwards to look at the LCD screen, I'm sure, would agree. The controls are
clear in their intent, simple in execution, and there is absolutely no clutter.
Did I find anything I didn't like about the camera? I mentioned earlier being
disappointed that the exp comp from the PZ-1p wasn't on there. I don't know if anyone
else noticed this, but the advance side strap lug felt a little bit awkwardly placed
to me. Again, I'm used to my PZ-1p, and it could be that the shutter release on the
MZ-S is not quite as far out in front as it is on the PZ-1p, making the lug feel a
little low. After handling the camera a bit longer, it didn't seem as awkward, so it
may not have been that bad.
I guess that's all I can think of right now. I'd be glad to tackle any follow up
questions.
Doug
--
Douglas Forrest Brewer
Ashwood Lake Photography
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.alphoto.com
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