Originally posted by gofour3 I only have "old" Pentax cameras (over 30), my newest camera is my *ist (film) from 2003.
My original SLR was a Pentax KX purchased in late 1975.
So to answer the OP's question, yes I prefer the older KX, even though the *ist is way more advanced. The *ist is a little piece of plastic junk compared to the KX and the handling is awful as well. I do however appreciate the *ist's advanced functions occasionally and treat it as a specialty camera for specific shooting.
Phil.
Surprised you think the *ist DL ( or DL2) is a piece of plastic junk! I have used Pentax cameras for photography back to the Spotmatic ( the KX is very like a Spotmatic with a K-Mount), and collected almost every Pentax back to the days of the Asahiflex. Beautiful cameras up to the LX, and then downhill through the plastic era of the 1980's, with a couple of exceptions. However I was pleasantly surprised when I picked up an *is DL2 in Jessops shop when they first came out, and bought it on the spot! It felt again like a 'real' Pentax again, and under the plastic skin is a lot of metal, so hardly plastic junk. Images were, and are,very acceptable for the modest sensor megapixels available, 6.5 if I recall correctly. I've still got mine, but it was relegated by first a K-7 ( good camera, but bettered by the K-5), then a K-S1 ( a bit plasticky outslde, but underneath......metal!), and because that was hit by the dreaded aperture solenoid syndrome, I now use a KP, hewn out of solid rock, by the feel of it! If it hadn't been for that *ist I wonder if I would still be using film....
Yes, I would have loved a Spotmatic with a digital back, but sadly it never happened, and the start-ups that have come and gone , most have looked ungainly and felt very impractical. So i'll stick with my KP, probably as close as you'll get to a Spotmatic, or KX, as you will find for digital use. Loved using a darkroom with all the magic you could create, but digital is much more convenient in so many ways.....