Pentax MZ 5N, Good price??

I have been offered an MZ-5N body for AU$150 (60quid) Its boxed and is in mint condition. Do you think its a good buy ??

Nothing on Ebay to give me a guide. Thanks

Hard to say what a film body is worth these days. I'd offer less than that I think. How about checking the adverts in magazines for second hand prices?

I found 2 others in classified mags, One with a pentax kit lens and the other just a body and they were asking £270 and £210 respectively. Silly money if you ask me, I can buy an MZ-S for less than that.

I want it for my son who is keen to take up the hobby, and he wants to start at the bottom, so to speak with film. He doesn't like the looks of my ME, program A or spotties, and wants something modern

I hope starting with film doesn't prove to be discouraging in this digital, instant age, but the MZ5 should fit the bill. I think I saw them going for more like £50 on eBay, but don't take that as a fact as i wasn't really paying much attention at the time.

Thanks John I might look around a bit more. But I can't find one listed on E-bay world wide

But there are a couple of Z-1p which might fit the bill.

The only MZ-5n I have on my database went for £56 and that was a body only and boxed so it seems in about the right ball-park. The only Z-1p I have went for considerably more. (I don't have many of the more modern cameras as I was more interested in prices for the screw-mount bodies and the M-series.) Personally I think the Z-1p is an ugly bit of kit, but I don't know that the relative build quality is of the two.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Kris.

Thanks Kris. believe it or not, just 5mins before I was wondering if womble had one in his database Spooky

Sometimes being a nerd can be useful!

Cheers, Kris.

I also think the price is a bit high as far as UK prices go, I'd have thought more like £40, does stuff hold its value better in Oz?

The 5n is a cracking camera though, its also quite light so postage costs should be reasonable if you find someone on ebay thats willing to post worldwide.

He doesn't fancy an MZ7 then

SORRY quick edit....just had a thought, check out the prices of CR2 batteries over there before you decide, unless you intend to buy a grip that takes AA's

I think it isn't bad value, I recently sold a Program A for about that!

It's a great camera and looks good with the DA* 50-135 attached

If you don't use the flash too much, the batteries last very well. I get mine on line from Battery Force in the UK, very reliable retailer in my experience so far, don't know if they ship overseas though.

Just one thing, the flash pop-up on my MZ5n failed (spring broke) and I had to get it repaired. Make sure the flash pops up properly.

Just curious, why an MZ body? If your wanting to use film why not go the whole hog and look at manual focus cameras?
I can recomend the M series and the P30s

I don't have any M series lenses and want to be able to use some of my DA lenses on the film body, not sure how practical this will be but I also have a few AF lenses.

A series lenses work fine on M bodies and as long as the lens has an aperture ring you should have no problem with AF units.
As for DA lenses and film bodies, can Hefty help?

Nope, 'fraid not.

The only film K-mount I have is the MX which can't control the aperture on DA lenses, I don't have a more modern body to experiment with I'm sorry to say...

There's a thread on the "other" Pentax forum where various people have tried DA lenses on film cameras with variable degrees of success - probably worth a look through.

The MZ5 and 5n need lenses with an aperture ring to be used in anything other than Tv, you cannot control the aperture from the body.

I know I joked about this in my earlier reply but if your interested in the MZ7 Clarky I have one for sale, do you want me to check out P&P costs to OZ? I was hoping to get £50 with a 28-80, its boxed and in good condition.

The MZ7 can control aperture from either the body or the lens, I seem to recal someone posting something about the MZ7 being the only MZ film body that was fully functional with all types of lens.
The only gripe I ever had was its lack of DOF preview button.