Originally posted by ChrisPlatt The MZ-S is one Pentax model I never tried, but I thought I might want to one day.
Is there any sure way to tell which ones were made with the improved (metal) motor gear?
Is the consensus that bottom cover "PENTAX Corporation is good/ASAHI OPT. CO. LTD. is bad?
Chris
That seems to be consensus. Frankly though, I've poured over every thread on this matter multiple times over these years (more than a decade) and I remain a bit unconvinced that it's the necessarily the same part. At the very least the camera is entirely different from the other MZ/ZX varieties... But more than that, simply, there's yet to be a single photo of a plastic gear, or even the gear-box itself of an MZ-S that's been torn-down. I'd do it myself but it wouldn't be definitive since I don't know my MZ-S's history (whether it was serviced or not) and more selfishly, I just won't risk putting it it up for "exploratory procedure".
(I believe mine has a brass gear even though it fall in the "Asahi 4xxx" production run. But I can't say for sure, as is usual with this topic.)
---------- Post added 06-27-22 at 05:38 PM ----------
Originally posted by Sam_I_am I just finished reading a couple reviews, looked it over, and checked out the pictures linked above. Everything looks and sounds great....then I checked ebay sold items...
Hey! I have a one owner, minty P3 and half a dozen really clean third party lenses. Anyone want to trade? 🤣 😂 🤣
Seriously, if one could get a decent deal, looks like it would be a great camera to have.
Pretty much the only thing I dislike about it, which is incredibly superficial, is its shutter/advance sound. It's rather whiny and thin sounding. BUT... for an auto-advance, it's incredibly quiet, so it gets a pass.