What non-Pentax cameras do you own?

I hope this isn't heretical on this forum, but I'd be interested to know what non-Pentax cameras you own/have used, and how you rate them.

I'll start off by saying that all my SLRs are Pentax, but I own a couple of 70s fixed lens rangefinders (both very cheap, but compact & nice to use), a Vivitar 35EE & a Ricoh 500G (this one has the advantage of being fully mechanical, so isn't reliant on batteries). I also have an old Voigtlander Vito CL, which is fun to use (no meter & focusing only by the distance scale) but it doesn't wind on very reliably any more, so results are a bit hit & miss. Plus I used to have a Voigtlander fixed lens rangefinder, the name of which I can't remember, but it wasn't very well made compared to the other rangefinders I've got.

My Mum used to use a Minolta X-300, which as I remember was a pretty solid camera.

I'd be interested to hear other people's non-Pentax experiences.

Jonathan

I have a Ricoh KR5 Super II which I bought in my early student days because I couldn't afford an ME Super or K1000 and the KR5 has a K mount. A fine camera provided you don't need accurate metering in low light.

I also used to have a Nikon Coolpix 2000 digi-compact which I eventually sold to my sister. A very nice little compact which took fine pictures even though it was only 2MP.

Currently my compact P&S is a Panasonic Lumix FX-7. Its Leica glass is wonderful, though its AF system does seem to get upset at long range as landscapes taken with it always seem fuzzy.

All of my SLR's are Pentax too... other than very quickly trying out friends SLR's I have only ever used Pentax right from day one, aged 15.

I kicked off using MF on a Mamiya 645 1000s that I still have. I've now changed this for a Pentax 645nII - I love using this camera, after using MZ-5n's and MZ-S's it's so nice to know that the meter behaves in the same way.

I also have a wonderful Fuji GX617, such an amazing bit of kit. But in ever changing light with just 4 shots to a roll you soon get used to loading film very quickly!

And my point & squirt digi-compact is a Canon Powershot S60 5MP - always amazes me at the results it produces.

Way back in the dawn of time I owned a Zenith SLR. When that died I had a series of compact cameras. I only took family snapshots then, no time for anything else. Then I bought a Sony Mavica for my OH. He had borrowed one from a friend in California whilst we were on holiday there and really liked it. I liked it too and began to trekindle my interest in photography. Whilst driving Route 66 I decided I wanted an SLR again, I was too frustrated with the limitations of my Fuji compact. So I bought a Pentax on the advice of the man in Alberquerque..
Then came the time that I wanted to go digital. I never considered changing brands then so went for the Ds. When the Mavica died I bought my OH a Canon S2 IS, (his choice) which he loves enough to have spent 180 odd euros on having it repaired It took them 6 weeks to do too (which I understand is fast for Canon NL!). He has no interest in an SLR and I don't like his Canon, it is too fiddly for me, so at least we don't argue over cameras

I have a Canon G5 for point and shoot stuff, and it's quite good even if it is the 'Dark side'

The other non-Pentax is the Mamiya 645 Pro, fabulous thing. Chose this over the Pentax because you could remove the prism and put on a waist level viewfinder, plus interchangeable backs. Mamiya-Sekor glass is also wonderful.

All my SLRs are Pentax (D,DL,MZ-S,Z-1,Z-1p)

I have some sort of grotty Fuji digital, bought whilst waiting for the *ist D to appear. Unbelievably, it cost more than the K10D.

I also have a Leica IIIC, a truly wonderful camera with perhaps the smallest viewfinder I have ever seen. I haven't used it for about thirty years, but when I did it always took great pictures. The small viewfinder forced me to take my time.

I may have mentioned that I once had a 35mm Ricoh camera with a separate underwater housing. It was much cheaper than a Nikonos. It had a small clockwork motor to wind on the film. Very quiet and quick, and needed no batteries so it was also very light. Got some great pictures of Trindad carnival with it. Sadly, it was stolen shortly afterwards.

Otherwise, I'm all Pentax. My last film bodies are a 110, an SPII, a Super A, and an SFX.

G

My first camera was a Praktica MTL5, which got me started nicely, especially as it was only about £25 in 'Cash Convertors'. After a while, having seen a couple of features in mags about Lubitel TLRs, I got one of those (a 166u), which produced some nice 6x6 trannies when used with care and Velvia.

I saw another Lubitel TLR (the '2', the earlier, more solid model) in Oxfam for a tenner, so got that. Both my lubitels have been modified with hot shoes, so that I could mount a spirit level, and I'd worked out the hyperfocal distances for each aperture and marked these on the lenses too. Oh, and on my Praktica, I made a wooden handgrip for it, which improved the handling for me.

When I decided I wanted a better SLR, I looked around, and again in Cash Convertors, found a Chinon CE5 (PK mount, with Aperture priority mode), with power winder and 50mm lens. Got another Chinon (CM9?) from a guy at work, but that wasn't nearly as nice. Used to scratch and jam the film every so often too.

Then saw an MZ-5n (guess where!) with 24-70mm zoom and got that, but to be honest very rarely used it - the CE5 did me just fine, produced images I was happy with and felt great in my hand. Good answer to the "you must have a fantastic camera" statement too.

Went digital with my istD two years ago, all the above haven't been used since, but still got them stashed about the place.

Dan

At the back of a drawer somewhere is a Fuji 35mm compact, an Olympus Zoom 35mm compact and a Purma 127 format camera that belonged to my father http://www.onetwoseven.org.uk/ - check the Purma link.

My first 35mm film camera was a Petri 7 rangefinder, before that I used a Kodak Brownie 127. I was recently reunited with the Petri when I cleared my late father's estate. I haven't dared put a film through it yet but it is totally manual, non interchangeable lens, with a CDS cell for metering - not a battery in sight.

As at today, the only non Pentax camera I own is a Fuji Finepix F810, a magnificent point & shoot. My wife uses a Minolta 3Mp Dimage ??? P&S and owns, but has rarely used, a Canon Ixus APS film camera.

I own one each of MZ-S, *istD, and a K10D. I use . . . all of 'em but I'm still on a bit of a learning curve with the K10D . . . but I'm getting there.

Hi,

not that I use it anymore, but I have a Canon Sureshot 105 Megazoom. I also have a little 7mp (well. 3.1 interpolated) Megapix SX300 P&S, that I do use still. Takes great little pictures for what it is, and it's smaller than a cigarette packet, so it fits in a shirt pocket easily. I also still have my first ever camera, a Prinz Lightmatic 400, that took 110 cartridges.

Cheers

Liam

An Olympus Pen D half-frame, a fantastic little camera that I've had for over 40 years. I still take it on 'major' holidays with a roll of print film in it in case my two Spotmatics go belly up.

A Lubitel 166B I got in the 1980s to see how a TLR worked (and got some great results with it). I haven't used it for a very long time, but still fire the shutter from time to time in case I want to try it again.

A Panasonic FZ7 I got a few months ago and which converted me (a confirmed Luddite) to digital photography. Which is why I have a K10D ordered.

Michael

Apart from a small collection of classic cameras I also use a Fuji S7000 which is incredibly useful for shots of items going on eBay. The close focus of 1cm in Super macro mode can be quite a bonus. The quality may not be up to Pentax DSLR standards, but it's still a useful device.

Only one at present.

I used a Mamiya C330 for a year or so (with 55, 80 & 135 lenses) - great fun - and I split the kit at the end and sold it for more than I bought it for.

I also had a C***n compact digi for a while (the A70 - actualy a very competent 3MP compact) but that has now gone to a neice.

I had a nice Konica compact (BM300) for a while - and the a Pentax SW105 which I managed to lose in Spain.

I've acquired a samsung AF1050 film compact (not very compact actually - a bit of a brick) recently (unclaimed lost property!) which appears to do proper exposure compensation. Not given it a whirl yet though.

And finaly - a couple of old bellows style 120 roll cameras - one Agfa 6x9 and one rather nice 645 whose name escapes me and which I cut my photographic teeth on as a kid which Dad still has at home. They are great fun and produce pretty good images.

Other than that it has been pentax SLRs all through (ME super, P30, P30t MZ7, LX, MZ6, another ME super, MX, Ist DS, Super A & K10 D in that order of purchase - three remain in my posession)

I have a Sony DSC T3, which I've had for about 18 months. In every respect except one, I have no complaints - it's small, great LCD, accurate exposures mostly, sharp, etc, etc, etc... and the video feature is marvellous if you have a decent sized memory stick pro duo.

The one thing that drives me nuts is the shutter lag. It's only about 1/3- 1/2 a second, but it almost stopped me taking pictures completely until I got my K10D. My portrait work became rubbish (not that it was particularly fab before with my ME Super, but at least I knew when I'd got it wrong when I pressed the button), my candids were truly awful, and I lost all confidence.

Now that I have my K10D, my mojo is returning, and I'm not so worried about the Sony. Within its limitations, it's great.

My first camera was a box jobby which you held at waist level and peered down into a viewfinder about the size of a postage stamp. If I remember rightly the image was inverted. Actually it belonged to my father who would let me use it under close supervision. Later I inherited one of my own but I could not afford the film - I was only about six at the time!

Over the next 15 years or so the family had a variety of cameras culminating in a shiny bakelite model which I suspect was actually my sister's 18th birthday present. I took it to Paris on a school trip.

MY first real camera was a Minolta A5 35mm compact. It was a beautiful camera and still operates as sweetly as when it was new. If anything fired my enthusiasm for photography it was that.

Later I had a Praktica and when that gave up the ghost I got a Pentax ME (or MX I cannot remember which) This was the camera which almost killed my enthusiasm for photography. Now I know there are lots of fans of MEs and MXs out there who will be horrified at that statement but frankly I could not get on with either the traffic lights exposure meter or the tiny viewfinder. Strangely though I grew to respect Pentax as camera manufacturers. By this time I was married with two children and could not afford to change.

For some 30 years I seldom took a photograph although the (new) family got through a range of instamatic and pocket type cameras, but these were mainly for the childrens benefit.

My interest was rekindled about ten years ago when my wife bought me a 2MP Kodak DC210. Then I got a Minolta Dimage7 (in the top 3 cameras that I have ever owned/used). When this died I got a Minolta D7Hi - probably the worst camera I have owned.

This prompted me to go for a Canon Powershot Pro1 which effectivley turned me right off Canon but my wife loves it so I was allowed to get a Minolta A2 so that SWMBO could have the Canon. This was later followed by a Pentax istD which is my current model.

Will I go for a K10D? I am tempted, but partly because SWMBO has now fixed her eyes on the istD and who am I to foil her plans. The big worry is that she might get the K10 first
Graham