I agree that the price isn't particularly cheap and I'd personally look for something with a more up to date metering system.
Being essentially a trimmed down SFX, the SF7 is somewhat dated - the AF is slow by today's standards but perfectly adequate for most situations and the centre-weighted metering requires careful use to get the best results.
IMO the SF range were very well built and even today represent an excellent introduction to AF SLR photography and the SF7 was aimed at beginners.

I'd be tempted to look for something like an MZ5 though, you should be able to pick one up for a similar amount

You guessed it, unless there's a particular focal length that you really want to try - just for the hell of it, then I'd advise you to steer well clear.

Yep, and a moderate zoom range that doesn't push the optical boundaries too much should deliver fine results.
I used to have a Rikenon 35-70 that was pretty good but I can't say that the focussing was as crisp and positive as Pentax or indeed Tamron.
For £10.50 however, I think you've got an excellent buy!

hey, no 'dis' intended

.......best not call you 'gasen' then!

Please forgive me, I know this is a silly thing to post about but a single lens is a 'lens' and not a 'lense' - there is only one 'e'.
So many people are adding the extra 'e' that it is really starting to bug me..........now where's my coffeee?

I adore my Z1-P. IMHO it is very near perfect and has proven to be utterly reliable. They are now available so cheaply that I would recommend that you get one anyway - whether or not you use it for the wedding!
I've no doubt the Sigma lens is a fine optic but the original Pentax FA 28-105 is superb, it features the auto zoom capabilities that so many critics insist on dismissing as gimmicks and a pointless waste of battery power.
In truth, these features are not only useful but also fun - which was the whole point of the Z series in the first place and auto-zoom can always be disabled when not required.
As an overall package, I think the Z1-P was/is brilliant and quite unique (only the Minolta Xi range came close and they were no where near as user friendly).

If you haven't already got one, I'd suggest picking up a half-decent hand held light meter and having a play with it. Once you've established the light level, you can transfer the settings to the Lubitel and fire away with confidence (providing the light levels don't change dramatically) - for a cheap camera it is capable of remarkable results!
You could use the built in meter on one of your other cameras but the incident readings from a seperate meter would be better.
If you do go ahead with the shoot, use a number of cameras and films and fire off as many shots as you can (enlist help if poss.) and that way, you should get a substantial number of good results.
The lighting is always tricky, the groom typically wears a dark suit, the bride in a light if not white dress and you really must get the skin tones just right while focussing on the eyes - you're a braver man than me!

Oh and don't forget to plan the photo sites by checking out the location before the 'big day'.

Good Luck

"No but on a more serious tip, I think it is all a scam for companies to be able to sell new lenses and equipment, the price of the CCD and the light weight of the lenses is just the excuses they use"


You could well be right, after all isn't that what business is all about?
Unfortunately, we the buying public, are all too often taken in by the hype.
It's kind of like the hype surrounding the APS format a few years ago, they tried really hard to convince us that we needed to switch because our cameras were too big and heavy, loading and unloading 35mm was far to tricky for us incompetant fools..........oh, and we really really desperately needed to switch between format sizes too!
Don't get me wrong, APS is great (as were the 110 and 126 cartridge films of the '70s) - chooses not to mention the Kodak disc system oops
The point is, we now have more choices of film and camera formats than ever before and it's up to us to decide upon a preference. It would be quite unreasonable to expect any manufacturer to produce different types of equipment and for it all to be fully interchangeable and affordable.

The 3x zoom bit, refers to the zooming range of the lens and in the case of the 16-45mm lens, 45mm is approx 3x16.
A 35-70mm lens would be a 2x zoom and 28-200mm would be a 7x zoom lens.