Originally posted by HomeMadeSin 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.