jim kerr Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 Just out of curiosity, do you have a favorite Pentax, and your reason(s) that you feel that way?...Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmack Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 I had the pentax LX with the sportfinder that could swivel and used as a waist level finder and wasn,t reversed like the nikon waist level . The camera with finder was fantastic for street shooting especialy shooting verticals with the camera facing one way and me looking sraight ahead but the shutter was very loud . John mac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roy_des_ruisseaux Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 Sure My favorite Pentax was the H3. I spent time in the army 1959- 1962 including 14 months in Turkey. the summer before entering when I was in High School I bought a Pentacon an East German slr. It was a rebadged Contax D the first 35mm pentaprism camera. I had several lenses that I bought which were the M42 size same as the Pentax.I came back from Turkey to Ft. Hamilton NY. The Pentacon was pretty beat up with the advance knob having come off and it couldn't be put on right. I got a few hundred bucks when I was discharged and went into NYC to a small camera shop across the street from Willoubys (sp). They were $199.95 with 50mm lens. They gave $60 trade in. I also bought a 300mm Komura lens. A few months later I sold my first ever pictures of a sports car race at Vineland NJ. I later added a H1a Pentax. Sadly in the spring of 1964 all this gear was stolen,and with the help of my father I went with the Nikon F system. The H3 was a really nice camera well made with a very nice rapid advance lever and instant return mirror (Pentax invented that) the Pentacon had neither. While not quite the system camera as the Nikon they were used by a numbeer of pros I knew.The weakest point was the screw mount lenses as they were a bit slow to change. I've thought of picking up an H3 or H1a off of e bay as they are quite cheap. more for nostalgia than anything else.to me they are still a nice looking camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochen_S Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 KX; a nice, reliable camera, offering enough features. A tuesday LX could convince me of this model, my one was surely monday. I loved the full micro prism screen, fast motor, metering during exposure interchangeable finders... but to much money for unreliable gadgets. The KX holds the same lenses. At the moment I'm mainly using *istD, but the KX should life some other decades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_chow Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 The *ist film camera. Cheap, light, small and very capable. Quite disposable, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_aitken Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 MX: a great camera with exactly the features you need and no more, accuracy, elegance, simplicity. I recently sold mine (my second one, the first having been used to destruction over the years) to a friend, then regretted it afterwards. Then a few weeks later found another, like new, in a kind of garage sale for 20 euro. See, God is a Pentax user. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gib Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 sorry has to be two.....Spotmatic 1000, my first 3mm SLR, bought in university in 1975; and my PZ-1, bought when it first came on the market, have taken it on many trips and got great shots with it....upon rereading the manual recently I was amazed at how much it offers and how little I had used....I have been using old screwmount lenses on it with an adapter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumo_kun Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 Well, since I only have the MX and P67II, I can't really say "of all time" but I would say my favorite Pentax is the 67II. Solid, quality lenses, and just and all out workhorse. Not to mention it kinda looks beautiful in a strange way, especially with the 75mm AL and hood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_mcinroy Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 Another vote for the *IST film body. A highly functional camera which I can batter about without worrying about it getting damaged. The black camera brigade might titter when they see it, but stick a prime 28mm FA on it and load it with velvia and you'll have them laughing on the other side of their faces when the see the slides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stemked Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 I'm going to cheat: Screwmount-Spotmatic F. The tank that I took everywhere and never let me down (was I ever suppose to change thge battery?). Give me a 50mm f1.4 SMC Super Takumar and I'm a happy person. Pentax LX- Some Pentax engineer looked into his (I assume his)crystal ball, saw ME and said (and of course this is translated from Japanese)"Doug's a nice fellow. We should engineer and build a camera for him". And they did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard_oleson Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 Okay, here's a weird spin: The Auto 110. Its 24/2.8 lens is so close to a human eye that the camera can be used on any optical device made for the eye. I've made stereomicrophotographs with the camera that would be extremely difficult and costly to duplicate with a larger camera. I can use even a nonworking one to determine the optical focus distance of an SLR viewfinder to determine the proper eyeglass correction to be used with it. it surpassed all other attempts in its field by orders of magnitude in terms of versatility, precision and compactness.... a truly remarkable little camera. it's a real shame that its film supply dried up so badly, so early. :)=<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
titrisol Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 The Spotmatic family, have used and abused some of these bodies and they are light, relatively small and well amde. The takumar lenses are outstanding Pentax 645, just a piece of heaven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandeha Lynch Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 Favourite is my FA 1.8 77mm Limited lens. On any body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameron_traviss Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 I've owned dozens of Pentaxes. I'll always have a soft spot for my first one- a Spotmatic. A great camera to learn on. However, I have to go with the LX as my favorite. It's one of those cameras that makes the photographer better. I have the 50mm f1.2 glass on it, and this combination,along with its incredible metering system, makes it my fave Pentax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim kerr Posted December 3, 2004 Author Share Posted December 3, 2004 I've had several as well these past 35 years, each had something a little special about it,even my old workhorse K-1000. As much as I like all of them, the LX is really my favorite even the 2 AF's are not are no substitute.Since the *ist has been the favorite of some, I'm considering one. I've got a question: Will the *ist maintain say f16 for manual exposure the same as a ZX-30 does when using a varible aperture zoom is zoomed?...Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken_schroeder Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 The H2. (c.1960) This was the first SLR Pentax, and sported an automatic return mirror, quite a deal it its time. The shutter range went from one second to 1/500. Longer was handled with the usual bulb or time. Shorter? Who needs anything faster than 1/500? No meter. At the time I used a hand meter. For the past dozen years I rarely bother with a meter, relying on my eyes and experience. The lens was a 55mm f2.0 semi-automatic diaphram. There was a cocking lever to open the aperture wide open. Tripping the shutter automatically closed the aperture to the set number. The screw mount lenses were reliable. The camera was well designed and fit the hands well. It was a trooper. It didn't have the bells and whistles of an Exakta or Nikon, but was a solid, reliable performer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard_oleson Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 Actually Pentaxes were around for a while before the H2 - I think the first had no model number, just "Pentax", in 1957. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roy_des_ruisseaux Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 Yeah I think their first camera was the Ashaiflex which if I remember had a waist level finder but instant return mirror. Not sure if these were brought into the US or not. I remember the H2's with the cocking lever,but never saw or handled one. But it along with the H3 & H1a were really nice handling cameras. I think the early Spotmatics were probably the same frame with a meter but if you learned without a meter this didn't seem like that big of a deal. I worked as a pro for several years before I bought a Nikon FTn in about 1970 or 71. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameron_traviss Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 My big problem is that I actually feel sorry for broken-down Pentax bodies when I find them! It's weird! Then I usually drop 150.00 to fix the thing, and send it on its way via Ebay! I certainly see no profit from this, but I DO get to play with a lot of cameras! I found a black MX at a yard sale a few years ago. It was in sad shape. Paint badly worn, lots of scratches, but it looked like the meter and shutter were OK. I got the camera for 2.00. I took it home and put in a new screen, then took it to VanCam here in Vancouver. New foams and a full CLA later (150.00), it was ready. It was no beauty, but I took that camera to Mexico and it rewarded me with stunning pictures. Has anyone ever had that "feeling" that the camera they had was just "better" than others they had used? That was the feeling I got from that MX ! I sold it on Ebay to someone in Toronto, and they sent back glowing reports. I just enjoy seeing these wonderful machines restored and put back in use. It's my hobby-albeit a weird one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terry_scott Posted December 4, 2004 Share Posted December 4, 2004 Yes! It's the Pentax S1a (a.k.a. the H1a). Special camera to me in 1963 - bought a chrome one. Then, in 1967, I purchased a black one. Both got traded-in eventually. But, in the mid-90s, I found a chrome one in great condition, which sits four feet away as I type. It has the unmarked 1/1000 sec and the 55/2 lens has the unmarked f/1.8. BTW, I also have a Pentax MX, chrome and black ME Supers, several 50/1.7 and f/2 lenses plus a 28/2.8, 100/2.8 and 200/4, as well as other accessories. Great stuff. Compact, with good handling qualities, all of it. But that S1a has something special. There was an advertising slogan that the importer had here in Britain in the early 60s that said it all: "Just hold a Pentax." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_m Posted December 5, 2004 Share Posted December 5, 2004 Pentax MX. Its small, light and has LED metering. It just feels good and exudes quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_rasmussen Posted December 5, 2004 Share Posted December 5, 2004 Even though I like the KX a lot, my favorite has to be the Asahi Pentax 6x7 with MLU. A solid, well built professional quality camera that my KX could not compete against. The Asahi 6x7 and the later Pentax 67 are the only cameras from Pentax that can compete against the likes of the Leicaflex SL2 in quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_chow Posted December 6, 2004 Share Posted December 6, 2004 Jim I am not sure I understand your question. I just tried my 17-28 f3.5-4.5 on my *ist. In A mode, when I set to f16, it remains at f16 even if I zoom from one end to another. When I set to f3.5, it changes from f3.5 at 17 to F4.5 at 28. In M mode, f16 just remain so when I zoom it. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim kerr Posted December 6, 2004 Author Share Posted December 6, 2004 Chris,thanks very much.What I need to know is: does the *ist(film) maintain(when set to manual)the set F-stop.In other words,if I set the mode dial to M and set the f-stop at say f16 with the shutter speed at 1/125 on the screen,will it stay at the manual settings when using a variable maximum f-stop lens,as you zoom it from end to end,as you spoke of.You are exactly right as to what I was needing. Thanks again...Jim, P.S. sorry that I'm so confusing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franka t.l. Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 I've had many Pentax over the Years, but the one I really prefer is the MZ-3 and the K2 .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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