autofocus

As you can see from my signature, my cameras jump from the manual focus film days to the K10D. My only experience with the autofocus film era were very tatty examples trashed by students in our photo lab. Is there any consensus as to the best of the post A-series film cameras?

Perhaps this should be a poll?

Cheers, Kris.

I love my Z1

I'd never owned an AF camera until my first digicam (a Kodak back in 99) so I can't help much there. I've noticed on here over time that the Z1 does seem to have quite a few supporters though, if I was looking for an AF film camera it would probably be my first port of call.

I felt that after the Super A series the camera drifted from the Pentax philosophy.

The MZ5 and MZ3 models firmly returned to the path.

The SFXn goes for sweeties on ebay. Fast, reliable autofocus in a big chunky camera.

I have an SFX. Bought it new in 1989 with a 50mm lens. I have always thought it an ugly duckling and have never liked the styling of the F series lenses much either, but that said it have been a very reliable camera over the years and I have had some great results. They cost next to nothing on ebay these days too.

/Ian

It's not beautiful, but it's probably the best made of the AF cameras. Nice and simple, too. Nothing to get in the way of taking pictures.

G

George wrote:

"It's not beautiful, but it's probably the best made of the AF cameras. Nice and simple, too. Nothing to get in the way of taking pictures."

I have one of George's SFX bodies with an SMC Pentax-F 1:3.5-4.5 35mm-135mm zoom on it, and couldn't agree more. Robust, reliable, hassle free, not elegant, but fits my hand beautifully.

Heft a combo like this for a day of two, and you're prepared for any Pentax DSLR.

I use my SFX where my K10D dare not tread, it has never let me down yet and it's always come back in one piece. I actually have 2 of them and an SF7 because you just can't sell them on ebay.

My favourite AF film camera though has to be my MZ-7. hardly larger than an ME-Super with pattern metering and AF. Want to get from P to Av quickly? no problem, just grab the aperture ring (remember those?) and turn.

It also has the distinction of being one of very few cameras which meters correctly in open aperture mode with every K mount lens ever made, from K series to DA series (though of course you'll get some vignetting with most DA lenses).

MZ-6 is a very capable camera and also has wireless/P-TTL flash. I believe it can also handle older TTL flashes.

My favourite however has to be the MZ-S. The only drawback with this body is that you can't use lenses which have no aperture ring (FA-J etc). Other than that, it's both rugged and reliable. Sadly, mine sees little use nowadays. Decent film processing in Spain requires a mortgage and I've been totally digital now for a couple of years.

I think John and I must have been twins in a previous life, here I am agreeing with his comments yet again

My introduction to Pentax was with the MZ7 after many years with the OM system I wanted autofocus so chose Pentax, the MZ7 was a fantastic little bit of kit but my only gripe was its lack of DOF preview, so I bought a second hand MZ5n, my shiny new MZ7 spent most of its life as a back up while the 5n took a lot of hammer till it finally died a couple of years ago, I think I put more rolls of film through that little beauty than all my other cameras put together.

Yes the MZ5n is a great piece of camera. I have even been recently using it with AF which is what I had done previously only very rarely. I would like to try the Z1p but the budget and time for photography are somewhat restricted. Like our baby - not much toys but good ones!