Good price for MZ-S and FA 20-35mm lens?

[snik75]

Hello all -

 

A shady pawn shop near me has a MZ-S and an FA 20-35mm lens for $499. I couldn't get anybody to help me to get it

out and look at it, but seems like a good price if it all works, no? Looked clean and no obvious damage while in

the case. I am not in the market for a fancy film camera, but I hate passing up a good deal. What do you all think?

 

Thanks, Nick

[michael_kuhne]

Wow!! a great compact SLR- the best ever, IMO, with a fine lens, at a great price indeed! If all is working fine, an excellent deal, from what I have seen.

[john_shriver]

The remaining stock of that nice lens is selling new for about $500 these days. The camera is a nice extra, they are selling used on eBay for about $400.

[subho basu]

Check pentax forum marketplace.

[michael_kuhne]

The smallest, lightest metal body, pro style, AF SLR ever made. Magnesium alloy, has mirror lockup with 2 sec self timer setting, the whole bit. Excellent control layout, fast control operation. I like mine a lot. A great walk around camera, especially with a compact lens.

 

Let us know if you get it. If no manual is supplied, you can download it from the pentaximaging website, customer support section.

[r.t. dowling]

Find out what their return policy is! You don't want to be stuck with a $500 paperweight if you get it home and discover that it doesn't work or is full of fungus. A lot of pawn shops don't allow returns, so definitely be sure to ask. You said it was "shady" so be careful!

[stemked]

Its an outstanding price for a lovely camera and fantastic lens.

[ed_yuen]

Hello:

 

The short answer is 'Yes', it's a great camera. I just purchased a couple the past few months for a decent price.

 

But as a couple of posters have indicated, check for fungus on the lens, check the battery compartment for

corrosion/leakage. The camera uses two (2) lithium CR2 batteries; if you're seriously interested and can justify

buying a couple fresh batteries and take them to use on the camera. I'd also check that the pop-up flash is

working, and actually will pop up, apparently the spring can fail occasionally.

 

Best idea is to go to the Pentax site and download their copy of the manual and read it through, print it off and

take it with you to test the camera out. There's a lot that is in that little machine but as far as I've

experienced it has proven itself to be a real winner. And if the shop is hesitant to allow you to test it out to

your satisfaction then I'd consider walking away. Better to hold onto your money then pick up a '$500.00 paper

weight'.

 

Best of luck.

 

Ed

[snik75]

Hi all -

 

Thanks for your help! As Javier might say, I am a proud new papa. The camera and lens are pristine, and basic functions seem to work - it'll take me a while to get it all sorted out. I even told my wife beforehand, and she was okay with the splurge. Of course my justification was based on resale value... and now I am not sure this one will leave my possession. :-)

 

Once I get a roll of film through I'll let you know how the pics turn out. Oh, and the kicker - I talked him down to $400. Whee!<div></div>

[snik75]

It turns out they only get stuff from estates, so not as shady as I thought. Or am I letting them fool me? Not asking questions to which I don't want to know the answers.<div></div>

[michael_kuhne]

OMG what a deal- and with the battery grip too!!!! That's worth an additional $100, at least. What you have is not a deal, but a steal!! It would have been a good deal at twice the price. Looks to be in beautiful condition.

 

But what accessory is that up in the hot shoe?? Mysterious, indeed. Adds more height to the camera, but must have been meant for some function..

 

I generally only use the battery grip when I have no need to go compact, and will either be using a large lens, and/or be doing a lot of shooting so I can use rechargeable AAs. Otherwise, I really enjoy the premise of having a pro style camera in a compact body, which I can shove into my sturdy-built "fanny" type belt pack with a compact prime lens. My favorite two general purpose primes for this camera, as well as my other compact film bodies, are the FA 35mm f/2 or the 43mm f/1.9 Limited, and 3rd, the 77mm f/1.8 Limited.

 

I bought the camera specifically to have such a well-built model in a campact body, having a full feature set, including mirror lockup. I sometimes ride my bike with my tripod on the rear rack, and do some low light shots at dusk, using the MLU.

 

Here are a couple of shots taken with the MZ-S and excellent, versatile FA35mm lens at a car show with friends in 2007. Notice the belt pack on my hip. Talk about a high-quality, strapless, shoulders-free, truly walkaround setup!<div></div>

[michael_kuhne]

Another shot-<div></div>

[michael_kuhne]

BTW, as we know, a good zoom lens is a fine thing, but cannot really substitute for the benefits of a good, fast prime lens. And visa versa.

 

What I would highly recommend to you for a unique and excellent zoom lens for this, the finest of compact film models, is the Pentax "F" 35-70mm f/3.5-4.5, a remarkable lens usually sold at a very reasonable cost. This lens has faster than average aperture for a zoom, and exceptional image quality, as I have found, and it is uniquely compact. I believe it is the smallest zoom lens ever made! To see it on the camera, you could easily take it to be a 50mm standard prime lens for its size! It is the only zoom lens that will fit into the size of belt pack I have, on the camera. I got a very clean sample through ebay at a very low price.

 

You can take a look at it on Bojidar Dimitrov's web site bdimitrov.de to get some idea.

[ed_yuen]

Now that I've seen your new acquisition, and heard how you've done with the overall deal, I'd say that you scored a sweet deal. I can't even find a battery grip right now for the ones I've got. So, if you ever decide to part with it, LET ME KNOW!!!! ;)

 

Seriously, I think you're going to enjoy it. I've used mine with a manual zoom and am happy with the results. It even works with my AF 400T flash with the TTL settings and 'Red Eye' reduction.

 

Have fun!

 

Ed

[snik75]

Thanks again, Michael and Ed. Nice car shots Michael, the Purple 30's looks gorgeous. And I actually have an F

35-70, I'll have to give it a shot. I like that lens on my K100D a lot, and the prospect of a getting a little

wider is appealing. Will the MZ-S allow use of a DA 40mm? Might vignette, I guess, but THAT would be a tiny

little package.

 

The hot shoe has some random pieces of plastic attached, not original - they block the flash from popping up. Not

sure why it's there, but having printed the manual for a little "light reading" tonight haven't done anything

further. I am not sure I shoot enough film to justify owning such an excellent machine, but right now I think I

will hang onto it for a bit to play. (the flash did pop up and fire when I took the stuff off - thanks for the

tips!).

[michael_kuhne]

If you already have the DA 40mm you can give it a try. Otherwise I hesitate to recommend it, You see, it has no aperture ring, which is necessary for full functioning on the MZ-S. It would function only in Program and shutter priority (Tv) modes. The 43mm Limited provides all functions, is a faster lens with brighter viewing through the VF, and is still very, very small, especially without its lens hood and using a standard lens cap. It is a very beautifully made baby! The 43mm FOV provides realistic front to back perspective and dimensionality at average to longer shooting distances.

 

The FA 35mm is also fast, and not as small but still quite compact, and its lens hood reverses over the body when the lens is not in use. It is unusually sharp wide open, for a fast lens. On a DSLR it is like a 50mm lens on a film body. The 43mm Limited becomes a short tele, good for head and shoulder portraits, scenery snippits, street shooting (also on a film body), and more.

 

If I had to pick my sharpest primes, and highest IQ, these two would be at the top of the list.

[michael_kuhne]

BTW, glad to learn you have that "F" 35-70mm! I'm sure you'll like it a lot on the MZ-S.

[michael_kuhne]

Oh, and one other important thing. When wanting to provide many prints say for a photo album, especially when supplying additional sets to others, print film is the best way to go, I have found. More convenient to just drop and pick up, and less expensive than digital when ordering multiple sets at the time of development. I like my local K-Mart's Kodak Perfect Touch service. Good processing and good prices. I usually get the 5" size, that is 5x7's.

 

I continue to enjoy shooting both film and digital. When you shoot slide film, you get the most accurate result of your exposure settings. What you shot is what you got. If you use filters, such as a circular polarizer in good lighting (often a good idea for scenery and to control reflections), the full effect will be realized with slide film.

[snik75]

Thanks for all the tips Michael. I read through the manual last night, whoa! That's a lot of camera in a small package. An upgrade from my MX, that's for sure. Although it does bring home how many of the excellent features are shared by even the K100D. I have a DA 40mm, and was surprised that I can't use it in Av and M mode, I am sure the mechanics are there, probably needs a software hack. Not that I am going to try! But may give the DA a shot in program mode when I have time to shoot a roll of film.

[mountainvisions]

First off that was a great deal. I mean a steal. The 20-35 sells (well ebays) for nearly $400 by itself (not sure if anyone buys it but clearly it must have a value near that to be listed). The MZ-S is a stellar camera, I've been off and on about buying one but the price of them is just staggering considering I truly believe that the PZ-1P is a significantly better camera, for half to 2/3s the price used!!

 

Now the downside, unlike the PZ-1P the MZ-S is a crippled camera. While the PZ-1P could use literally any lens made for Pentax with all the functionality of a given lens, the MZ-S was designed to only be used with the aperture ring.

 

The ist 35mm on the other hand was not designed this way and also had a crippled mount. The last fully functional k mount is the PZ-1P.

 

It's too bad, the MZ-S is a better built camera, and kind of a neat/unique design. Plus, the optional grip is useful, the PZ-1P despite essentially being the K10Ds older brother, never had any accessories like a grip!

 

But yeah, it's a step up from the MX, and actually works similar to the MX in that you need a lens with aperture controls on the lens.

 

Not sure why Pentax decided to cripple it's last two top tier film cameras (I consider the ist 35mm top tier since it had 95% of the MZ-S functions, + about 10% the MZ-S lacked like the ist D/K10D advanced AF system). Just a Pentax thing I suppose, especially since it crippled the ist and MZ-S in opposite directions!!!

[andrewg_ny]

That's a super deal as others said. I paid about that for the FA 20-35 alone last year, and I still think that was worth it. Basically a buy-one-get-one free deal! Whether I'd be able to sell it for that amount today, possibly not--but I ain't selling.

 

The odd aperture-ring-required arrangement is odd. I'd blame it on its MZ/ZX lineage except that half of those bodies (such as ZX-L/MZ-6) also support body-controlled aperture so its omission is puzzling. Of course, these bodies were released in 2001 and Pentax didn't delete aperture rings from its lenses until 2003 so perhaps that decision hadn't really been finalized at that point.