[Baard-Einar]

....I would have expected better quality from china as they are basicly the same race as the Japanese it was china that conqurered Japan long ago....

Hi

As far as I know, Japan was never conquered by China, but there were a lot going on the other way. Some examples are First and Second Sino-Japanese wars, and the pirate attacks from Japan during the Ming dynasty, and the invasion of Korea by Japan in 1875.

The OP wanted really know if the MX was a pro camera or not.. Maybe it was sold to the serious amateur, looking at the large number of accessories available, along with a whole new line of lenses, the smc Pentax-M. Accessories were data backs, 250-film backs, timers, flash equipment, interchangeable focusing screens, and a real motor drive (the K2DMD has a “motor”). The MX also boosts a large viewfinder area despite its small exterior measurements.

It was announced at Photokina in 1976, alongside the ME. ME being electronical and the MX being mechanical, fully manual camera. Most other camera makers were producing cameras moving toward fully automated, this was another direction.

See this ad posted by Nesster Pentax MX ad 1979 - PentaxForums.com

[Ken Ford]

I used a pair of motorized MXes that I bought new in the 70s professionally as a stringer, but when I got my first job I had to convert to Nikon to have access to pool lenses and the support provided by NPS. To be honest I only knew one full time PJ shooting Pentax at that time, and only a very few shooting Canon - Nikon ruled.

[Kombivan]

Well after looking at a picture of the MX its very similar to the K1000 but the k1000 does not have a provision for a motor-drive, depth of fields preview or a Shutter timer to enable the photographer to take a photo with his family possibly whilst on holidays this accessory is a give away as to the market Pentax was targeting. The shutter speed with flash is also different 100 for the MX and all other M series cameras and only 60 for the K1000 this was due to the old shutter curtain in the k1000 and the M series had the new faster shutter blades / metal curtain and when the . The ME super had the 125 flash shutter speed. The MX camera I would say was made for the Family that has a keen photographer that is looking for the bees knees for the era with the addittion of a motor-drive so he can look super cool and also for the Photographers that want portability and auto film winding to get more shots in a short space of time so I would say this is the first motor driven Pentax but the thing that fascinates me is the fact its a manual camera exposure wise so when the subject would change position in relation to the sun and yourself the exposure would need to be reset...OK The rule of thumb my Father told me was sunny day 11-16f, overcast 5.6-11f, into the sun above 16f, then set your shutter speed to the needle in the meter or if no in-build needle like the early Praktica use a light meter using those f stops then find the shutter speed. Slide film was very popular and the asa was 60 kodak that we used thats another thing the professionals used slide film not prints somthing to do with the processing methods for the magazines and newspapers used black and white prints. My mother worked in a chemist at port macquarie in the 50's processing film and never told me till just a few years ago.

I think Pentax had a stratergy sell the Dad a pentax and his kids will also buy a Pentax now stop and think did your dad own a Pentax all you youngins of course. My Farther Had Praktica and they were very similar to the early Pentax. I actually have a Praktica that doesn't have a in-built light meter and it still works I think I only have one camera that doesn't work and thats how I purchased it for parts a ME. I will insult alot of people now the ME and the MZ-50, MZ-10, zx-50 and zx-10 were produced for people to just point and shoot in Automatic mode I knew photographers that used the MZ-50 I wouldn't dare say anything to her, the MZ-5n/zx-5 it was either auto or manual you could use it either way and also aperture priorty or shutter priority unique to this model Pentax and the sfx I think. The aperture priorty you could use with any of the automatic cameras Note this article is only for the kids here Just so they can understand a little more about their passion.

[stevebrot]

See this ad posted by Nesster Pentax MX ad 1979 - PentaxForums.com

Bravo! Jussi (Nesster) also has camera store ads on his Flickr stream from the same period showing the street prices of the various cameras available at the time. Those are quite telling and provide clues as to how competitive both the amateur and pro markets were at the time.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nesster/albums/72157594578815656


Steve

[monochrome]

I used a pair of motorized MXes that I bought new in the 70s professionally as a stringer, but when I got my first job I had to convert to Nikon to have access to pool lenses and the support provided by NPS. To be honest I only knew one full time PJ shooting Pentax at that time, and only a very few shooting Canon - Nikon ruled.

As always, lenses are forever; bodies are transitory.

[ChrisPlatt]

As always, lenses are forever; bodies are transitory.

I'm trying to make my bodies as forever as possible by choosing mechanical models and sending them to Eric.

Chris

[Kombivan]

Bravo! Jussi (Nesster) also has camera store ads on his Flickr stream from the same period showing the street prices of the various cameras available at the time. Those are quite telling and provide clues as to how competitive both the amateur and pro markets were at the time.

Photography Ads Brochures and Manuals | Flickr


Steve

Good one there Steve.

[tim60]

There were always a few pros who used the OM cameras, and Pentaxes because of the smaller size. I remember Pentax ads showing the MX against the silhouette of what was obviously a Nikon F2 with motor. But obviously, the MX was no F2.

Still, I do remember one fellow who ran an agricultural magazine, and did some of the photography for it. Unfortunately, he wasn't called upon to do much more than photograph the latest tractors and other equipment out in the fields. He bragged to me that his main photo kit was his MX with 50mm stuffed in one coat pocket. The other coat pocket had his 28mm, and extra film. He couldn't have done that with a bulkier F2 or similar. He could have worked twice as hard taking a wider variety of shots more creatively, but his trade magazine readership likely couldn't have cared less.

But he was a working pro (at least when out of the office on assignment), and he chose an MX for its simplicity, compact size, and ruggedness.

As an owner, from new, of an MX I would agree that it is the kind of camera that well suited that kind of 'low level' professional use - engineering works records, labs, factual record work (like the tractor magazine) and it provided all the features to enable control of good pictures in adverse situations. The small size and ability to operate without batteries (using sunny 16) made it easy for people whose primary role was something else but needed pictures as part of their work.


So what is a professional photographer:
A person who does photos as part of work OR
A person whose only work involvement in situations is as a photographer, not a participant.


BTW, its relatively low price and ruggedness would have made it good for people at risk of breaking it - treat it as a disposable in conflict zones etc. Hopefully recover the current roll of film on failure.

[LesDMess]

The MX was released as a pro camera and therefore is regardless that a pro or amateur used it. This is not uncommon as amateurs who have the means would tend to buy the most expensive pro camera to use. Does it make the pro camera an amateur camera in that case? Of course not.

[Mikesul]

I purchased my MX in early 1978 in anticipation of the birth of our first child. I had used a Yashica Lynx Rangefinder whose lightmeter did not work from the mid '60s so I was comfortable with all manual. Although the ME had been introduced I decided I preferred the all manual MX (the exposure needle in the MX seemed a great luxury) I had no regrets as that camera recorded our family, friends and world for the next 25 years. It still works and I occasionally put it to use beside my K-1. I am particularly pleased by the subtle similarity of style of the silver K-1 to my old silver MX.

[leekil]

Nice essay. I had never really thought of the Chinese and Japanese that way.

Steve

Me neither, but maybe that's because race isn't really relevant to manufacturing quality.

[Lord Lucan]

Well after looking at a picture of the MX its very similar to the K1000 but the k1000 does not have a provision for a motor-drive, depth of fields preview or a Shutter timer to enable the photographer to take a photo with his family possibly whilst on holidays this accessory is a give away as to the market Pentax was targeting.

Are you trying to say that the MX was aimed at the family market on the grounds that it had a self-timer ("shutter timer"), and the K1000 was not? And the MX was therefore not a professional? If so you are way off mark. The K1000 had no self-timer because Pentax created it to be the cheapest big-brand SLR on the market. To do this they took the existing Pentax KM camera and stripped out everything that was not basically needed to take a picture, including the self-timer. The market for the K1000 was the guy who went into a shop and picked the cheapest camera with a name that he had heard of; that included a lot of family men and also art school students. It was also sold to serious photographers who had a more up-market K-mount film camera (K2, LX perhaps), but who also wanted an emergency back-up camera in their bag and naturally did not want to spend a lot on it.

Don't get me wrong, the K1000 was a quality-built camera, but it was basic in functionality. It was not similar to the MX other than it used film and was fully manual; it was similar to the K2, KX and KM (as I have mentioned), and was the bottom member of that K-series range. The MX belonged to the next generation, the M-series, and was similar to the ME, MG etc. Professional 35mm cameras DO tend to have have self-timers - for one thing they are useful for static tripod shots.

The MX camera I would say .... this is the first motor driven Pentax

No, the K2 DMD of 1976 had a motor drive (that is what the "MD" at the end of the name means).

[LesDMess]

The MX camera I would say was made for the Family that has a keen photographer that is looking for the bees knees for the era with the addittion of a motor-drive so he can look super cool and also for the Photographers that want portability and auto film winding to get more shots in a short space of time so I would say this is the first motor driven Pentax but the thing that fascinates me is the fact its a manual camera exposure wise so when the subject would change position in relation to the sun and yourself the exposure would need to be reset...

First motor drive Pentax would go back to the screw mount Spotmatic Motor Drive from 1964. There were other Pentax screw mount cameras released with motor drives after that.

The first Pentax K mount with motor drive could either be the K2DMD or MX as both had motor drives and were released in 1976.

Of course there were motor drives available to cameras long before built-in meters. In fact there were non-electrically operated film advance systems that were introduced earlier. This ad from 1958 Modern Photography magazine shows a Praktina FX with what is called a spring drive.



I am certain there were others that were released even earlier than 1958.

[LesDMess]

Hand holding a big heavy lens on a MX is not fun, as it's too small. Also it's missing MLU, aperture priority and has a slow flash sync speed. The MX's coloured LED meter lights are also too "unprofessional" in my opinion.

I've put a Canon EOS3 on a Canon 1200mm lens once. If you are a pro shooting pro lenses you will be used to the fact that sometimes a camera is put on a lens and not the other way around . . .

The professional Canon F-1 and Nikon F2 of the era didn't have aperture priority either.

Just the other day I dropped my AAA maglite flashlight and for a minute I remembered that it was guranteed to break the xenon bulb as I've done a few times in the past. But I remembered that I replaced that with an LED and of course it won't break. This is the main reasoning for the replacement of needle movement in cameras with LEDs. If professionals misuse their cameras - for hammering nails and such, clearly this is an advantage . . .

---------- Post added 01-06-18 at 10:35 PM ----------

The metering system of the LX was also state of the art and the body had some weather sealing (but the lenses did not).

The metering system of the LX is even today unequaled by any brand or model of camera professional or otherwise. It is the only camera ever that can aperture priority autoexpose a scene for as long as it takes - or batteries die, all the while monitoring the scene for changes in lighting and adjusting exposure accordingly.

[ChrisPlatt]

Professionals were using Nikon F series cameras since the 1960's.
Already many were heavily invested in Nikon glass.
Nikon cameras had a reputation for durability and reliability.
These are qualities particularly valued by photojournalists of the time.
Add to that NPS or Nikon Professional Services, unmatched by any competitor.

Olympus offered a smaller lighter alternative with the OM System, adopted by some pros.
Some used the Canon F-1 System as well.

But the Pentax MX and later LX offered nothing new the working pro needed
that wasn't already available in other professional 35mm camera systems.
No matter how much we love and admire Pentax and prefer "the Pentax Way",
they always seem to have been a day late and a dollar short.

Chris