[jopenmx]

I had Nikon FE-2 with the MD-12 motor and Nikon F-601 AF, when I switched in 1999 to Pentax , because at that days , a good second hand Nikon F-4 , was more expensive than a marvelous brand new Pentax Z-1p.
In my oppinion, and after getting and using LX and MX ( both still I own ) the LX , that is a system camera , is equivalent , ( and all 3 were released the same year ) to Nikon F-3 and Canon F-1 new.
By the way , Pentax MX and Nikon FM have similar light sensor , the GPD.
Concerning the Pentax MZ-s , I never have tested it , but have read some articles and think it isn´t better than Z-1p . The roughly most equivalents to Z-1p in Nikon were F-90 or F-100 .

[UncleVanya]

I was a Nikon fanboy as a teen. I shot an F2a and borrowed and used quite a few FM and FE bodies. I shot the F3 some but liked my F2 better. However the LX blew me away. The off the film plane metering was great but reciprocity failures meant it was of limited value except for flash. There it worked very well unless my memory is misleading me.

The LX was small and capable and paired well with M series primes.

My first foray into Pentax ownership was a PZ-1 however.

My dad was a Canon dealer sale rep, and later Pentax. His best friend was a Nikon rep and the later Pentax. Dad also was sales manager for a regional retail camera store chain and worked for a larger few chains early on. (Wolf, Ritz). I spent a lot of time with those cameras.

Perhaps most telling is that Dad’s best friend (the Nikon rep turned Pentax rep) liked the MX most of all over everything except the 645 and the Nikon F. Those three had a special place in his heart.

[leekil]

Concerning the Pentax MZ-s , I never have tested it , but have read some articles and think it isn´t better than Z-1p .

It kind depends what you are looking for. It's somewhat more compact than the Z-1p, and probably has better autofocus.

[UncleVanya]

It kind depends what you are looking for. It's somewhat more compact than the Z-1p, and probably has better autofocus.

Reminds me of the KP vs K-3ii battles. Both have winning features over the other. Both have proponents. I’m in the Pz-1 and KP camp. But I thought I was in the pz-1 k-3 camp...

[leekil]

I like the MZ-S styling and feel better, but I think the dual wheel controls are so far the pinnacle of shutter speed/aperture setting.

[johnha]

I like the MZ-S styling and feel better, but I think the dual wheel controls are so far the pinnacle of shutter speed/aperture setting.

+1 the Z-1 introduced HyperProgram, HyperManual, the green (IF) button, all making the user interface we know today. When SDM lenses needed power contacts, they were already there from the PZ contacts first used in the Z-1.

When I bought my K-5, I'd been out of photography for a while and was looking for a mirror less. Handling the K-5 brought back my memories of the Z-1 and brought me back to Pentax.

[ChrisPlatt]

I soon sold my PZ-1P when I saw the instruction manual was 100+ pages.

I long aspired to a Pentax LX. Eventually I took the plunge; I bought one and had it overhauled by Eric Hendrickson. However after a time I sold it.
I liked the snazzy FB-1/FC-1 finder option, but otherwise it didn't do anything useful for me that my KX, K2DMD and other Pentax bodies don't also do.

I also continue to use the awesome Nikon F4, along with several F2 and FE bodies.

Chris

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Last edited by ChrisPlatt; 04-17-2021 at 06:26 AM.

[UncleVanya]

I soon sold my PZ-1P when I saw the instruction manual was 100+ pages.

So wait... you were upset it had a comprehensive set of features and a well written manual unlike modern cameras that have terrible manuals?

[LesDMess]

So, honest question. I’ve had several Pentax film slr cameras over the years but never really found the love for them as much as I have the digital set (started with D200 in ‘08 which I still have and will always have). I was given an FM and F3 several years ago and have them professionally CLA’d. Wow, what a difference! Night and day. No contest...the Nikon felt superior (my opinion only) and I posted about that in 2017.

But I’ve seen the LX and MZ-S get a lot of love generally everywhere. I’ve since sold the F3 and my daughter has claimed the FM for herself, but I do have a clean F4 now, which is a tank. But I don’t really want to spread the limited glass $$$ across brands and definitely can’t shake the Pentax DSLR fix. Oh, I do have a Zx-7.

How would the LX compare to the FM or similar? The MZ-S to the F100 or F4? Aside from specs - I’m talking feel and use in the field. Apples and oranges? And those Pentax models seem rare.

Thanks,
Z

Since you have used the F3 and FM as a point of reference then how do you feel about their viewfinders? Did you use any of the other viewfinders available on the F3? Which did you use more often - the FM or the F3?

The LX is amazing compared to it's peers in that a compact body with full interchangeable viewfinders and is the first weatherproof body more the size of new smaller form factor.



One of the biggest difference between the LX and most all others is the bright/contrasty viewfinder with most having built-in diopter adjustment. And, there is a widest range of magnifications from 0.55X, 0.84X, 0.9X, 1.0X and 1.35X. For me this is important as I can easily achieve critical manual focus with the larger magnifications. Nikons typical have viewfinder magnifications of 0.83X in the FM/FE series and 0.8X on the F3 except for an even smaller one in the sports finder and high magnification DW4. If you're used to the even tinier magnifications in DSLR viewfinders then the gigantic view from the LX can be eye opening. But if you wear glasses, then you may prefer the tiny screens as they do offer more eye-relief when wearing glasses. To me this is more important since all you have is manual focus with no autofocus.



Although the F3's meter is in the body, without a viewfinder attached, you cannot see the shutter speed selected while in AE mode using that tiny LCD screen. Also, the F3 requires a viewfinder blind as light coming through the viewfinder will affect the meter. Sure the LX LED meter may be a little hard to see in a very bright scene, but in any other setting it is far superior to the F3. And in dark settings, that LCD light switch is a pain to use.



The LX has no viewfinder blind as it's meter is unaffected by light coming through the viewfinder or if you remove the viewfinder as a "poor man's" waistlevel finder and of course the speeds are all visible. Don't get me started on the ultra goofy Canon New F-1 system.



Now if you like the FM's ability to have all shutter speeds available without batteries - but no meter, compared to the F3's one manual speed then the LX's offers sync speed and all higher speeds when batteries die. The Canon New F-1 shares this same functionality. The only camera todate that has aperture priority mode and have all it's shutter speeds available when batteries die is the Nikon FM3A.

Of course the FM3A does not have interchangeable viewfinders but finally corrects Nikon's over step in not allowing shutter speed control on the F3 until the film counter reaches position 1. The Nikon FM3A does have interchangeable focusing screens and they have a a split image version that will never black out regardless of slow lens or combination of lenses. I thought at first this must be the ultimate focusing screen and wondered why it was only available on the Canon New F-1 and Nikon FM3A. Turns out that in a relatively dark setting with a relatively wide lens that it is impossible to focus as everything looks in focus. Not as cool as I thought!

The NIkon F3, Canon New F-1 and Pentax LX all have horizontal travel titanium curtains which have much slower sync speeds then the FM2/FE2/FM3A which have 1/250 which is helpful for fill flash use. BTW, these titanium curtains are not prone to damage when directly pointed at the sun in MLU mode whereas all the modern cameras you are directed not to do this.

The NIkon F3 has a separate multiexposure mode control while the LX doesn't need it as you would just do what you've always done with these cameras that don't have a separate control. Except that the LX has a frame accurate counter that allows you to multiexpose any frame based on the counter - forward or backwards.

[johnha]

The Nikon FM3A does have interchangeable focusing screens and they have a a split image version that will never black out regardless of slow lens or combination of lenses. I thought at first this must be the ultimate focusing screen and wondered why it was only available on the Canon New F-1 and Nikon FM3A. Turns out that in a relatively dark setting with a relatively wide lens that it is impossible to focus as everything looks in focus. Not as cool as I thought!

The angle the prisms are cut in the split-image affect the point where they blackout, but this also affects focus accuracy (akin to the baseline length of a rangefinder). The less likely to blackout ones have the least accuracy and vice versa. Some models had special screens for faster, average and slower lenses.

When slowish AF zooms were used as kit lenses for manual focus cameras in the 90s, many focussing screens used prisms cut to avoid blacking out with f/5.6 ish lenses. The MZ-M is probably an example, its screen is better for blackout but probably less accurate compared to a Super-A with the same lenses.

As an aside, the MZ-M had a great feature set, had it been built better and with a better viewfinder, it would have been a really good film camera today.

[womble]

As always, personal preference, what you photograph and lots of other things come into play. I have deliberately stuck to getting only Pentax SLRs (with one slip which was a gift) but I did use an F3 on an excavation alongside my Pentax many moons ago. Both the F3 and the LX are extremely capable cameras. Despite the online chat, I have found my LX utterly reliable over the last 15 years. It is a good size for me (small hands) and I have never used AE Lock on any camera, film or digital, in 40 years. That is merely a quirk of how I learnt photography, i.e., on a camera without AE Lock... I just use the exposure compensation dial or manual. So much so that I find it really annoying when I accidentally touch the AE Lock button on my K-3 and wonder why the exposure is doing something odd!

I found the F3 in comparison a heavily built tank. If I was a press photographer working somewhere dodgy where I needed my camera to occasionally beat off muggers, I'd buy an F3. But I'm not. I want something I can carry on hikes in my backpack with too many lenses. That is not to say the F3 isn't a really good camera, it is just not the really good camera for me.

Fun story. When I was in college I was ask to cover a demo at the Debating Society. When I turned-up a second chap was also covering the event. I had my Pentax ME Super with a Boots flashgun (Boots is a chain of drug stores that used to sell lots of cheap photo related gear). He had a F3 with the attachment to put the flash over the ?rewind crank and a flash which was like the second coming every time it went off. When I took my prints to the paper they were really happy. The chap with the F3 had failed to load his film onto the developing spool correctly and hadn't got a single image. Yes, I was feeling smug (even 36 years later!).

With film cameras now being a niche interest, find what you enjoy using and use them. If you don't like using it, sell it on. Surely the main motive for most of us who have film photography as a hobby is to have fun?

K.

[Baard-Einar]

Surely the main motive for most of us who have film photography as a hobby is to have fun?

K.

Yes I second that.

[aslyfox]

. . . Surely the main motive for most of us who have film photography as a hobby is to have fun?

K.

wise words and a great goal

whether using film or digital

[Lord Lucan]

The LEDs in the LX fade/are difficult to see in daylight/bright light. The F3 LCDs are not,

The LEDs on my LX are fine after nearly 40 years. OTOH I have heard that the F3 LCDs fade; I don't own one, but from Wikipedia [Nikon F3 - Wikipedia]:

The LCD is one of the few problem areas of the F3 design, since with age, LCDs lose contrast, blur, and become inoperative after a number of years.

The F3's meter is in the body not in the interchangeable prism. The F and F2 had the meters in the prism.

Indeed. Additionally, I understand that the metering of the Canon F-1n (the third member of the directly comparable trio) is in the focussing screen.

n the case of the LX, the winder at 2fps is easily enough (runs on 4 AAs and offers powered rewind) rather than the 5fps motor which requires separate and now 'mostly expired' proprietary NiCd battery packs.

The LX motor drive can also be powered by the pistol grip battery holder, which takes AAs. This is mine :

[ProfessorBuzz]

Hey that Minolta in the middle looks pretty nice. :-)
The plaid LX made me laugh. I'm not keen on the red/white lettering, but that plaid leatherette is mighty original. Love it.