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11-24-2009, 06:24 PM   #16
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QuoteOriginally posted by stevebrot Quote
You [*]Accurate metering
Again, fat chance!
Of course you are saying accurate metering with K and M lenses like the LX!
I think that fat chance is a misnomer - obese chance is closer to the mark.
Regretfully.

Luc

11-24-2009, 09:46 PM   #17
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QuoteOriginally posted by lesmore49 Quote
This is a question that would go back to the film days...for the most part.

What was your experience ? Was it durable ? Picture quality great ?

Would you use it again ...or do you think you would of gone with the equivalent Canon (F1) or Nikon (F ) if you had to do it all over again ? Why ?

BTW...I've always been a fan of the LX. Almost got one, back in the '80's. Instead went medium format and got a Mamiya 220Pro F with 3 lenses.

But I've always wondered if I should of got the LX instead.
I did use the Nikon F3 a lot and the Pentax LX, though I'm not a pro. Both are nice cameras. But I prefer the LX. The F3 is quite heavy and clumpsy, and the LX have more sex appeal.

Durable? I took it to the north pole and back. I dragged it around mountain hikes, even fell in a mountain river with it. It was pretty cold so I got fast up again, so water hadn't got any time to penetrate the seals, but most cameras would have died there. The LX still worked. It got the sticky mirror syndrome half a year ago, after two decades of use. I really need to have it serviced, I miss using it.
03-31-2010, 11:16 AM   #18
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I was talking to an old photography dog at the camera store this weekend and he got excited to see me shooting Pentax. He said he owned tow LX's back in the day, but they had to be serviced often, which he found to be a big issue and eventually switched to Nikon. But he did say he loved the finders for the LX (he owned a few different LX viewfinders) and that the LX had the best metering system he'd EVER used (he was emphatic about this). He waxed lyrical about its exposure capabilities and how the Nikon he replaced it with sucked.

My LX? It sits at home next to my computer. It's in dire need of a CLA, but I can't bring myself to dish out the $150 it'll cost. I fondle it every now and again, look through the VF and fire the shutter a few times. If Pentax ever release an LXD (it would have to be manual focus or AF focus with SDM lenses only), I'll buy it at almost any price. I would sell all my lenses but 3-4 to finance its purchase.

Shame Pentax isn't brave enough.

...
04-01-2010, 06:18 AM   #19
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QuoteOriginally posted by Miserere Quote

Shame Pentax isn't brave enough.

...
A bit harsh? I think the 645D shows they're pretty brave. Maybe they're just too small to develop lots of cameras at once.

04-01-2010, 09:24 AM   #20
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QuoteOriginally posted by artobest Quote
A bit harsh? I think the 645D shows they're pretty brave. Maybe they're just too small to develop lots of cameras at once.
Harsh? No, just realistic and practical. Yes, they released the 645D after years of stalling, and I'm surprised they did. I really hope it does well and doesn't lose them any money.

But do you know what the ironic thing is? An LXD would sell in much higher numbers than the 645D will. For every landscape photographer out there who wanted a MF digital he could take into the wilderness and not have to sell his wife to buy, there are several street photographers who want a small DSLR (with an LX, MX, ME Super type body and size) that they won't have to sell their wives to buy either. I truly believe the demand for an LXD would be higher than for a 645D, and it would be cheaper to make.

That said, the demand won't be as high as for autofocus, plastic blob shaped DSLRs like the K20D or K-7. A street cam would be more specialised, which means it appeals to a smaller group of people. The only specialised digital camera being made today is the Leica M9, and look at how it's priced. Even if they made them in an Asian factory they'd still be expensive compared to your average DSLR. And by the way, this may come true sooner than we think: A "cheap" Leica is coming...

...
04-02-2010, 08:01 AM   #21
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Yes, I did

I used an LX professionally (exclusively) for a number of years as someone shooting PJ, wildlife and nature. Got many many years of hard use out of my first before it needed repairs-- extremely rugged camera when you start with a new one. I've also dunked an LX briefly with no water intrusion.

Very contemporary and competitively priced with the F3, but the LX being better constructed, I bought it instead (for $375, in the mid 1980's, new). The yen spiralled out of control in the late 80's and the price of bodies got to as high as $1400 USD, as I recall. They were never as popular in the US as elsewhere, with a couple of exceptions being it found a loyal following among macro photographers and backpackers. The FB1/FC1 finder combination used with a SMC-A 100mm f/2.8 Macro is a very sweet macro rig. My Nikons don't continuously meter with the mirror locked up as does the LX, which makes it great for long macro exposures where I'm waiting for a lull in the wind on a bright cloudy day.

A system camera is only as good as the lenses available for it. High-end lenses for Pentaxes were rare and expensive and the line-up of professional grade ones was not too comprehensive until well into the LX life-cycle. Some pro standards like the SMC-A 300 f/2.8 EDIF were considerably heavier than Nikon and Canon counterparts. Even when new and when there were regional reps, sourcing and special ordering in the US could be problematic.

The LX was professionally obsoleted in PJ by fill-flash capable cameras like the FE2 with 1/250 sync. I bought a PZ-1 the day it came out for this feature alone, and found that I'd really been missing out with the LX not having a spot meter (being that I shot chromes exclusively then). With Ektar 100 today, the metering would be beyond good enough, but CW only just didn't cut it a lot of the time. Also, there were only 1/2 stops available on the lenses, whereas in manual metering mode the PZ-1 allowed for half step shutter speeds and was continuously variable in Hyper Manual mode.

An LX follow-on film model with weather-sealing a Seiko bladed shutter for the faster sync, a 100% finder, and spot-metering would have been exquisite. Alas, it was never to be.

Used LX bodies tend to be well used, and they have a number of issues over time. I've had mixed luck buying used ones. There are internally complex. A number of components and circuit boards are no longer available new and if you need one of these your only hope if is a donor camera. Beware that new top and bottom plates have been added to numerous older cameras. If you don't know the provenance of a used LX, probably best to avoid it.

Last edited by Ivan J. Eberle; 04-02-2010 at 08:35 AM.
04-06-2010, 07:54 AM   #22
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QuoteOriginally posted by Miserere Quote
I was talking to an old photography dog at the camera store this weekend and he got excited to see me shooting Pentax. He said he owned tow LX's back in the day, but they had to be serviced often, which he found to be a big issue and eventually switched to Nikon. But he did say he loved the finders for the LX (he owned a few different LX viewfinders) and that the LX had the best metering system he'd EVER used (he was emphatic about this). He waxed lyrical about its exposure capabilities and how the Nikon he replaced it with sucked.

My LX? It sits at home next to my computer. It's in dire need of a CLA, but I can't bring myself to dish out the $150 it'll cost. I fondle it every now and again, look through the VF and fire the shutter a few times. If Pentax ever release an LXD (it would have to be manual focus or AF focus with SDM lenses only), I'll buy it at almost any price. I would sell all my lenses but 3-4 to finance its purchase.

Shame Pentax isn't brave enough.

...
One does wonder why someone does not simply make a digital back for some of the classic cameras. At some point the technology will become so ubiquitous and cheap that an aftermarket company could fit the same unit into backs of various sizes.

04-06-2010, 09:40 AM   #23
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LX still usable?

I used two LX's professionally throughout the 80's, for all kinds of adventure work, with the LX Motor Drive and Winder, and both still work fine. But as I'm mainly using the K7, I reserve the LX's to shoot star tracks, as which film is still superior. I'll never part with these two bodies.

Kerrick
04-13-2010, 10:02 PM   #24
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As some from the old days of this forum know I used an LX for concert photography back in the mid to late 80's, usually with the SMC-K 200/2.5 lens.
Also used the LX for astrophotography at the time which is where I used the optional finders.
Kent Gittings
04-14-2010, 12:01 AM   #25
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At the time, I was a heavily addicted LEICA shooter, mostly M5’s and a bunch of lenses, among them the lovely modified Super Angulon. But I needed a 35 mm SLR to comply with the demanding assignments coming in. So, I checked them all, the N’s, C’s, M’s and the O’s, even the Leicaflex SL2 but this one was to expensive, you know, two parallel lines of Leica gear…
I set the Leica as the reference and came out wit the LX!
The size, wight, construction, sealing, lenses, shutter system, budget, accessories and the superb TTL/OTF metering system. This last item was what pulled me over the line, it is really great!
Then, while working with the LX, I started to appreciate the whole Pentax ‘doing’, so I ended up with three bodies, mine lenses and some other stuff, and I still use them.
Last but not least, what I also did appreciate was Pentax’s lack of stinking arrogance what the ‘others’ continuously demonstrated, provoking nausea…
04-14-2010, 06:09 PM   #26
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I can't honestly say I used my LX professionally but I did use it for wedding photography. I bought it used while still under warentee as an upgrade to my MX, which I also still have. I simply loved the LX and can't get myself to part with it at it's current market value. The only real issue is the mirror lock-up which I have read that all LXes have this problem.

I'm going out on a limb here with a prediction that Pentax will reserve the LXD name for it's first FF DSLR. It will have interchangable viewfinders, but not compatible with our old LX viewfinders.
04-14-2010, 08:49 PM   #27
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I'll go out on a limb to suggest that in the next couple of years someone will come out with cheap digital paper that instantly obsoletes the Amazon Kindle, wireless digital picture frames, and Epson printers. A few years beyond that, a digital sensor using similar technology, in the same form factor as a canister of 35mm film and which will cost less than $100 US.

Because this will be wirelessly linked not only to your Flicker cloud server, but also to your hi-def 3D heads-up display for continuous Live View, we will finally be able to leave our LX's mirrors locked up 24/7, thereby bypassing sticky mirror syndrome once and for all. Before long LX's will become hot collectibles once more.

The downside is sort of grim, however, because unfortunately by then there also won't be any professional (e.g. paying) photography gigs left at all. (No, not even weddings.)
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