| PZ-1: What the K10D wishes it was
I've only shot a couple autofocus film bodies before, and in addition to that my only AF body is a K10D, so there is your perspective.
Upon picking up a PZ-1 you are immediately aware of several things. The first is the footprint...PZ-1s are large. The second is that it's fairly light for its size. The third, is that it fits your hands beautifully. PZ-1s are amazingly ergonomic. Not only that, but the shutter sound is beautiful. Very crisp and positive, with just a hint of motor whine. It's like the camera sound they record that point-and-shoot digitals play through their speakers.
The PZ-1 has several features going for it that even the K10D can be jealous of. First, is the fact that the Hotshoe is off to one side. Makes one-hand handling with a flash easier and reduces red-eye. Also allows you to pop up the built-in flash and use a flashgun at the same time.
Speaking of the integrated flash, that's another thing a PZ-1 has that a K10D doesn't. There's a spotbeam built in! The PZ-1 will also use spotbeams mounted on flash units, such as the AF360FGZ. It will also talk to TTL and PTTL pentax flashes, including moving a zoom head if the flash is equipped. Convenient!
Another nice thing about it is the wicked shutter speeds...the fastest pentax flash-sync EVER at 1/250, and the fastest shutter at 1/8000. Even the K-7 can't touch that flash-sync speed.
The PZ-1s autofocus is spot-on and extremely quick. Quicker than a K10D, and more positive. It doesn't hunt as much.
Something else the PZ-1 has that none of the digitals have is Interval Shooting. Set it on a tripod, tell it to take photos at a regular interval, and it'll sit there and happily shoot every x minutes or hours, to a user-specified number of total frames.
The last thing about the PZ-1 is my favorite feature: TOTAL lens compatability. Full-manual lenses, A Lenses, DA lenses...they all work fine. Aperture rings don't scare this camera like they do the digitals or the *ist film SLR. Literally any pentax lens has full function on this camera.
Should you get this or a PZ-1p? The PZ-1p, the PZ-1s big brother, has a couple extras, like panoramic mode and a faster winder. The PZ-1 though, typically goes for about $100, so you can save a little money with one of these.
There are a couple downsides to the PZ-1. The first is that the linkage that moves the flash up and down is fragile, and many times the pop-up flashes are broken.
The other major downside to it is that it takes expensive 2CR5 lithium batteries, and there is no AA battery grip. There are however Li-ion 2CR5 rechargeables, which have roughly 1/3 the capacity of the lithium batteries, but thankfully can be reused.
Overall, the PZ-1 is a wonderful SLR. It has features that not even the new digitals have, is affordable, and fun to use.
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)). A best buy cam.
