Steve Jolly posted: > Seriously though, in this entire thread, nobody's yet mentioned a Pentax > camera that *didn't* stand up to abuse. Is there a body that anyone > *wouldn't* be prepared to take somewhere unfriendly?
Funny, I just posted another reply to this thread, in which I mentioned in passing that I find my ZX-5n a bit of a wuss. If I'm going on a trip or an assignment, no way I'm taking that camera as the only one. Thirteen months after I bought it, it started overlapping frames (OK, this reliability issue isn't abuse-related). Had it repaired and it's never done that again. Fine. Couple years after that, I was shooting a wedding rehearsal dinner. Partway through, the pop-up flash stopped popping up. Also, I think, not abuse related, but again not inspiring trust. Finished shooting the rehearsal dinner with the WR-90 I happened to have in the car, and kept the ZX-5n in the bag during the wedding as worst-case backup for the PZ-1 and the LX. After which, sent it off for repairs (yea, extended warranty!) and it hasn't done THAT again. Couple years ago, so I guess that was a few months after the wedding incident, I foolishly abused the camera by using my shirt-tail to flick some dust off the viewfinder window. The resulting scratch in the viewfinder introduced so much flare that I couldn't use the camera. So, off to the repair shop. Last summer I took it and the LX on a trip. During the trip, first the viewfinder eyecup disappeared for a while; eventually I found it in my camera bag and secured it with a small black rubber band (sorry, don't recall which PDMLer had recently posted that hint, but thanks!) That's hardly major, but annoying, especially in light of the next item. A day or so later, the lens release button also disappeared, causing me great concern for a few hours until I found it in the van. I still am not sure what casual abuse caused the lens release button to detach from the camera, but that really strikes me as something that should be more secure! Well, if all these little things can go wrong when the camera is actually being treated nicely, I can't imagine expecting it to behave in an "unfriendly" environment. I had an ME Super which accidentally fell from an open backpack and BOUNCED on a limestone boulder; when I picked it up, it had a dent on the prism and refused to go into Auto, but it worked fine in manual the rest of the day (then off to the repair shop). Just after that, believing that having a second camera is a good idea, bought a P30t. Didn't like that camera much, but will have to give it credit for continuing to work in, and after, a severe downpour in which I was shooting a soccer match. The rain was coming down really hard -- only the officials, the players and I were still out in the open. The PZ-1, which I've had for 8 years now, has been exposed to fog, mist, cold, heat, two delivery rooms and a couple of weddings; it's still working like a pro.
