I have now (summer 1999) used my MZ-5n (ZX-5n in USA) for a little over a year so as I just got back my slides from a recent trip to Sorrento, Italy it is time to look back and see how the little camera has fared.
During the year the camera has seen quite a lot of action: it has been to Italy twice, to Estonia several times and once both to Russia and Latvia. About 30 rolls of 36 exposure Fujichrome Sensia and Sensia II has been through it. By and large the camera has behaved very well indeed and there have been no technical faults at all.
As always, there are bound to be some criticisms - the perfect camera has not been invented yet. These quibbles are quite minor - but of course it would be nice if these would be corrected in the next generation, especially it is to evolve into a more professional caliber machine.
The viewfinder is smallish and not among the very brightest. So the next generation should have a high eyepoint viewfinder with the data displayed in the bottom of the frame where it would be much easier to see. The selected exposure mode and metering mode should also be indicated. Bigger viewfinder would also enable the inclusion of more powerful integral flash. For easier fill-in flash the sync speed should be 1/250 sec or even faster.
The exposure system works remarkably well but it is obviously calibrated for print film which has caused - in quite even light - weird (but slight) overexposure a couple of times. I have tried to overcome this by manually setting the film speed 1/3 stop higher and this seems to be sufficient. But it is a pain to manually set speed for each and every slide film - and as print film is very tolerant of exposure errors this bias is quite unnecessary and should be the other way round .
The autofocus works very well and it is actually quite fast - and silent - which I can attest after photographing in a church during the service. But photographers yearn for faster and quieter autofocus - always.
The battery holder Fg (for AA cells) is very useful addition and it should be incorporated in the body of the camera. The few millimeters more height and some 100 g more weight would be negligible and - in my opinion - would improve the handling. I have quite small hands so I think that those who have bigger hands would benefit even more. More importantly the battery holder would be sturdier if incorporated in the body - the current model flexes a bit when tripod mounted with a heavy lens. And of course the ubiquitous AA cells are the easiest to find when you find yourself in more exotic places.
So these are my quibbles - I´m sure other people can find some more - but for me the MZ-5n is very good as it is. I really do like the camera and should Pentax bring out a more professional and rugged body I think that it should be modelled along the lines of the MZ-5n and not the Z-1p.
Conclusion? In my experience the MZ-5n is a very good camera: it is easy to use, the controls are extremely well laid out, the quality is high and - the most important thing - the handling is truly excellent.