Pentax ZX-10 or ZX-50, and Tamron 28-200 Super?
rgol...@wrsystems.com
After doing some searching today, I'm now leaning towards the Tamron 28 - 200
lens...I like its compactness and it still gives far better zoom capability
than my non-SLR IQZoom 90WR. Any opinions on it? I like the fact that I
wouldn't have to worry about switching lenses.
The other big question is the ZX-10 or ZX-50? The ZX-5 was too "manual" for
me, since I'm just stepping into SLRs. The salesman, however, pitched the ZX-
50 as an update to the ZX-10, but based on what I read of Pentax's site, it
seems to be the other way around. I also notice the -10 costs about $70 more.
Thoughts/opinions on either of these?
Ross
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David Zhu
I have been using Tamron 28-200 Super for about a year on my Pentax
K-1000 and ZX-5 for about a year. I took it all around the world
shooting pictures. I love it because it's compact; therefor it's easy
to carry, and I can't complain about the quality of the pictures it
produced. Above all it's affordable.
David Zhu
Jerry Houston
Any salesman who tells you the ZX-50 is an updated ZX-10 is not someone of
whom you want to ask any serious questions in the future. He apparently
doesn't have a clue about the Pentax line. The ZX-50 is designed to be a
budget-priced entry into quality 35mm SLR photography. It is great at what
it was designed to do, but it's a little short on features compared to the
rest of the Pentax lineup.
For a complete comparison of the available models, you might want to look on
www.pentax.com. However, the most serious defect of the ZX-50 is its
inability to work well with older manual-focus lenses. It's simplified
camera/lens interface just isn't able to deal with them. Since there are so
many way cool older Pentax lenses around, that may be a real drawback for
you. (Or maybe not!)
The ZX-10 is definitely the better camera, Whether it's worth $70 more to
you will depend on (a) whether you think you'll ever want to use any older
manual focus lenses, and (b) how much $70 means to you.
If the cost isn't a big obstacle, you might want to consider the ZX-5n one
more time. It's a camera you won't outgrow any time soon, and for all its
manual capability, it has every automatic feature as well. In other words,
if you want to start out using it as a point-n-shoot, you can do just that.
When you want to exercise more creative control, you'll be able to do that,
too. I bought one for my wife, and have nothing but good to say about it,
so far.
On any of these cameras, the Tamron 28-200 lens (or the Pentax version) is a
great lens for outdoor use. On the Z-series cameras that have a built-in
flash, you need to limit your indoor flash pictures to about 80mm or above,
because anything wider-angle than that will cause a shadow from the lens to
fall on the subject.
If you do a lot of indoor photography, you might want to consider the
excellent 28-70mm f/4 lens from Pentax. It has excellent optical quality,
focuses quickly, and works at all its focal lengths with flash indoors.
It's considerably smaller than the 28-200, and may be all you need for
outdoors use as well. My wife has both these lenses, but I suspect if she
had gotten the 28-70 first, she probably wouldn't have wanted or needed the
28-200. She got the bigger lens first, though.
rgol...@wrsystems.com wrote in message <6eevde$eja$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>...
George Stanley
On Sat, 14 Mar 1998 16:14:44 -0600, rgol...@wrsystems.com wrote:
>After doing some searching today, I'm now leaning towards the Tamron 28 - 200
>lens...I like its compactness and it still gives far better zoom capability
>than my non-SLR IQZoom 90WR. Any opinions on it? I like the fact that I
>wouldn't have to worry about switching lenses.
This zoom is OK for snapshot sized pictures, but don't expect really
fine resolution if you frequently make "hanging-size" enlargements. I
also own the IQZ90WR for marine and other "nasty weather" photos.
This camera's optics are far better than the 28-200 zoom.
>The other big question is the ZX-10 or ZX-50? The ZX-5 was too "manual" for
>me, since I'm just stepping into SLRs. The salesman, however, pitched the ZX-
>50 as an update to the ZX-10, but based on what I read of Pentax's site, it
>seems to be the other way around. I also notice the -10 costs about $70 more.
Stay away from the ZX-50, it is the bottom-of-the-line Pentax SLR and
cannot readilyuse older manual focus lenses.
The Zx-5n; the Zx-5; and the Zx-10 are all very fine cameras and can
use all the older manual lenses, which are excellent quality, and are
easily and inexpensively available on the used market.
The Zx-5n is an updated Zx-5, with DOF (depth of field preview) and a
few other improvements.
The differences between the Zx-5 and the Zx-10 are:
The Zx-5 offers three methods of reading exposure (spot; center
weighted; and multi-segment) plus 3 automatic modes (aperture
priority, shutter priority, and program mode, where the camera chooses
both shutter and aperture.), plus fully manual controls with excellent
and very complete viewfinder readouts.
The Zx-10 is identical (now also available in phony-chrome!) except:
There is only 1 (multi-segment) method of reading exposure; instead
there are now 5 separe program-mode "programs" (Green macro, action,
landscape, and portrait.) which the camera can choose automatically
depending on focus distance, and other factors. There are also some
differences in the controls layout.
--George Stanley, Studio City, Ca., USA
Motortrend
I also have the Tamron lens on my Pentax, a SFN1. I also have a 70-200mm, 55mm,
28mm lens. But after geting the Tamron, I have not used the other lens hardly
at all. It takes great shots and has a great focus setup. I have seen better
lens, but unless you are going to be doing professional shots (all the time) it
will do you a great job. Unless you are shooting through a window, ha,ha. In
any event I believe that you will be very happy with it.
John