I'll recount my ZX-M story, as it's been a while. I bought a ZX-M in 1999 and almost immediately relegated it to "hazard" duty. Two of my daughters are fairly interested in cameras and at the time were less than delicate around them. By myself, I subjected the camera to rain, snow, ice, I fell on it twice (it's not soft) pop spills and a dunking at an amusement park. However, my daughter's provided the real tests. Drug across boulders in our west desert, kicked along a gravel road (accidently), swung into a wall by the strap (like a cheerleading baton), splashed in the bathtub, dropped on the driveway and subsequently kicked down to the road (I live on a hill, and my daughter was hurriedly trying to pick it up so I wouldn't notice she dropped it *again*, kind of humourous really) and then the real icing on the cake, dropped one story from the roof to the concrete patio below (I guess light weight has an advantage). End result? No cracks or dents, and works fine, but of course, lots of scrapes, nicks, and gouges.(*)
Would I want to take it as my only body on a once in a lifetime trip? No. Does it feel cheap? Yes. Does it inspire confidence? Not really. But a tough camera? Yeah, it's a tough camera. William in Utah (*) Not recounted but implied is the overall rough "normal" handling (changing lenses, setting, etc.) by overeager prepubecsent offspring. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Roberts" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 8:55 AM Subject: Re: The "Toughest" Pentax > Steve Jolly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > >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? > > I believe the LX has a reputation for being less hardy than most > metal-bodied Pentaxes. > I don't think any of the MZ series (other than the MZ-S) is likely to > garner any acclaim for ruggedness. > > -- > Mark Roberts > Photography and writing > www.robertstech.com > >
