MX woes

As much as I love the MX, it does have one weakness. My "silver" one fell all of a foot from the chair onto the carpet in my office. Sadly, it landed on the hotshoe, and now the pentaprism cover is a bit bent. Everything works perfectly, it just looks a little sad. I have seen lots of MXs with dents and dings in the pentaprism housing. It must be made of very thin metal!

I often see online the MX touted as one of Pentax's attempts at a "professional" camera. Somehow, I doubt anyone used to some of the tanks made by their rivals would swap to something with a top-plate made of tin foil.

Still... I love mine, dent and all!

That's bad luck. i would not have expected that at all. The MX was never as advanced as the LX, which was a professional camera, but I would have expected it to survive your "test".

I still use my original MX, but often hanker after an all-black one. They command quite a premium though.

My MX had a slight dent in the prism housing, probably from a similar impact to the hot shoe. I was able to disassemble the top plate and level the dent, so that it is much less visible. I guess one will never be able to completely remove a dent in the prism housing, but it is possible to improve a dent damage.

I have learned that Robin Gowing is still repairing Pentax equipment, but on a smaller scale than before, maybe you could send the MX to him?

I picked up a black mx for peanuts thanks to an ebay listing where you had to peak at pictures to work out what you were buying.

If I ever sell it I'll pop it on here at a sensible price; as you say, they can go for anywhere between 125 to 150 for just a body, whereas the silver is probably half that.

Both of my MX Cameras are Faulty -- one shutter does not close, so the slit is open and flash contacts 'Burnt Out' -- the second does not meter at all and flash contacts burnt out-- must have taken too many Local Press Photos with them -- ! I CAN use the one which does not meter -- I took off Base- Plate and lubricated the Cogs and Levers and Pivots with a minute amount of Sewing Machine Oil so it 'winds on Sweetly' now and I can use a Weston Master meter or 'Guess' .

I have a black MX too but despite a service from the famous Eric in Tennessee it still has an occasional slip when winding-on so the occasional frame has overlaps.

Pentax MX was indeed their professional model for several years.
It was a true system camera, albeit without interchangeable finders.

It offered fully mechanical operation like the Nikon F2 AND compact size like the Olympus OM cameras,
the most popular 35mm professional camera systems at the time. Sounds like a winning combination, no?
Unfortunately pro did not embrace it, just as they later failed to embrace the more advanced Pentax LX.

I have owned several. I agree it is a bit too delicate, particularly that top cover.
Thinner metal was of course used to save weight, to top Olympus.

I have my other quibbles with the MX, i.e. the difficult to operate shutter speed dial
and exposure indicators that intrude into the viewing area of the focusing screen.

For better or worse there is no other Pentax bayonet model with its unique set of features.
With Winder MX attached it is the camera I always grab when I require motorized advance.

Chris

To my mind the real 'Pro' Pentax was the KII. Much stronger built and designed for a hard life.
I knw the MX has been described as Pentax's flagship professional SLR until the introduction of the Pentax LX. but tyo my mind that was similar to Ricoh announcing the KP as the new top of the range APS-C camera to replace the K-3. I don't think anyone believed it but it gave the camera some gravitas amongst amateurs owning a perceived 'pro' camera who believed the hype.
The MX was certainly a good camera but intrinsically too fragile for pro use. I suppose the idea was to have it compared against David Bailey with his OM-1 as the lightest SLR. (Off topic but he recently auctioned his one off https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/burstow-and-hewett/catalog... )

The MX was my first mechanical camera and I have a soft spot for it, but I generally prefer the KX proportions & handling. I sold my MX winders a while back, I just never used them. If I'm doing something I where I'm likely to end up bashing a camera, I'll often take a beaten up 'plastic' K1000 instead.

The KX probably feels the best built Pentax I have, likely the LX is more durable and of course versatile, but the KX feels more 'solid'. I have two K2s both with electronic faults (I bought the second hoping for parts to try and fix the first), nice looking cameras but the ISO setting ring is far too awkward to use (why on earth did they do that?).

The kx is certainly a tank.

I like having that and the mx.....and the ES, and a ME Super..... And a s1a, and a couple of Spotmatics....

You know, just for choice!

I bet you all still have Hillman Imps

--

Afraid not, but I do have an Asahiflex I forgot about earlier.

Nearly snaffled an AP with two lenses on ebay the other day but it moved from the "must have it at that price" range into the "how do I justify this to the wife" range

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pentax-MX-SLR-35mm-Film-Camera-Black-Body-/3237105013...

Ohh look, a black one

(not mine!)

And as if by magic a black mx pops up in the classifieds...

The KX is my most often used and probably favorite Pentax SLR. I own several examples.
I prefer the analog needle-and-scale exposure meter, which is more precise and easier to see in bright light.
The slightly larger size fits my hands better, and the shutter speed dial is definitely easier to use.

For me the only advantages of the MX are user-interchangeable focusing screens and winder/MD options.

Chris