Very interesting. Thanks.

G

Snap.

G

Look here for the differences:

http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/bodies/MZ-ZX/index.html

For many people, the fact that the 30 can't use old M & K lenses would rule it out. If you only ever use a modern AF zoom, that won't worry you.

George

Photos? Now there's an idea.

These are excellent, Joshua. Thanks for posting. I like your time exposure of the night sky. Presumably you were quite far North (or South)?

George

AMPhotoworld have a poor reputation. I personally have bought equipment from abroad where the price justified it, but only where I was confident of the integrity of the seller.

Quote: "I just placed an order for from amphotoworld.com. Again, they were the cheapest guys out there. When I got the order confirmation, they told me to call them to confirm the order.
This was the classic grab and switch. When I called to confirm, the salesperson told me that I had ordered the "European" version, which included no accessories, no battery, no connection cable, not even a lens cap. He told me that this information was on the website, but it must have been in print smaller than my 24" monitor can pick up.
Needless to say, if I wanted a camera that could function, I had to pay an extra couple of hundred bucks - which ended up being more than Amazon.com. If I had cancelled, he told me that I wouldn't get the shipping charges back (which are by the way the HIGHEST I HAVE EVER SEEN FROM AN ONLINE RETAILER! - US Mail shipping for $60.00 from New York to CT). They are a horribly unethical company when it comes to truth in their pricing, so BEWARE. I will never order from them again."

One could beat about the bush, but life's too short. They're crooks.

George

Contact Pentax. They are usually pretty helpfull.

Mike,

Some intial advice:

Forget microdrives. They are less reliable than cards, and slower. They are cheaper for a reason!

At the moment, 1GB cards are probably the best value.

Get high capacity NiMH batteries from 7 Day shop. Four cost under a tenner including a charger. It's worth having more than one charger. You may have to have these posted to the UK.

Lots of people (but not all) have problems with flash on digital SLRs. I have various Pentax flashguns, and find that I get best results with an old AF240Z in program mode. They go for around £20 on Ebay. Other people get good results with modern guns.

You will need to update the latest firmware update if you wish to use high-capacity cards/drives and K and M lenses.

Buy a card reader, and forget all about using the USB cable. You can do the firmware update by card too.

Good luck

G

Congratulations, Mike.

It's a splendid camera, and I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with it.

George

Justin said:

"im a beginner in this department so please bare with me"

Are you a nudist or something?

I have this lens. To use the zoom, you need to push the big dimpled zoom ring forwards towards the front of the lens to go into power-zoom mode, and back towards the camera to get into manual zoom mode.

If you can see the words "Power Zoom" you need to push the ring back to hide it. Took me ages to work this out when I first got a power zoom.

G

I don't understand what you meant by "metal bayonet a railing for the film too", but the Z1-P has the fastest flash sync of any Pentax camera, and is also the most sophisticated camera.

The mount and film guides are metal (if that's what you meant).

The MZ-S is slightly more rugged and has better auto-focus and more flash options (when used with a high-end flashgun).

However, fast flash sync is one of those things that some people make a great noise about (like the appalling Ken Rockwell), but that most people don't need, in my view. Note the word "most"!

The MZ-S is quite expensive second-hand; the Z1-P is somewhat less expensive, but still not cheap.

G