Doug, I gather that you felt that the camera had a quality feel to it
unlike my brother,the photo store dealer, who said that it felt
cheap. Also did you find anything out about flash exposure compensation?
DG
At 11:40 PM 3/6/01 -0500, you wrote:
>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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