 New top-of-the-line AF 35mm SLR focuses on the pro and serious amateur photographer Pentax's new MZ-S is the company's first pro AF 35mm SLR since the PZ-1p was introduced back in 1995. More rugged than that camera with its exterior housing of diecast magnesium alloy, the compact MZ-S has a good feel and well-thought-out controls, and a nice array of pro features. We'll introduce those to you via a tour of the camera body itself. Controls: Up Top
On the rear-canted top plate, at the far right are two switches. The top one lets you directly set the drive modes. Move it to the self-timer icon, and exposure will be made approximately 12 seconds after you fully depress the shutter button. The red self-timer lamp on the front of the camera blinks slowly for the first 10 seconds, then faster for the last 2 to warn you that exposure is about to be made (and the audible beeper keeps time with the blinking lamp if activated). (You can change the self-timer delay to 2 seconds with mirror lock-up via Pentax Function 14.) Move the drive switch to the next icon, and you're in single-shot mode. Move it to the next icon, and you're in consecutive-frame (continuous) advance mode, with a maximum advance rate of 2.5 fps. (In AF-S mode, focus is locked for the first frame; in AF-C mode, the camera focuses for each frame in the sequence.) Move the drive switch to the final icon, and you're in multiple-exposure mode: Make as many exposures as you wish on that frame, then move the drive switch to another setting to go on to the next frame. (Switching the camera off doesn't cancel multiple-exposure mode.)  | | The MZ-S's six-segment meter handled this aerial scene perfectly. Photo by Mike Stensvold | Just aft of the drive switch is the metering-mode switch. Move it to the spot icon, and you're in spot-metering mode, in which the metering system reads only the area indicated by a small bracket in the center of the viewfinder. Move the switch to the green icon, and you're in multi-segment metering mode (the best one for most shooting), in which the system divides the image area into six segments (center, left, right, top, bottom and background). Move the switch to the last icon, and you're in center-weighted metering mode, which does not automatically compensate for backlit and spotlit scenes as six-segment metering does (this mode is best for old-timers who are familiar with center-weighted metering). When you use a lens other than an FA, F or A series, metering is center-weighted even if you select six-segment or spot.) Between the two switches and the finder is the LCD panel, surrounded by the select dial. The two are used to make a number of camera settings. To set program AE mode, lock the lens aperture ring at A, and press the exposure-mode button on the front of the camera just below the select dial. The camera will now set both shutter speed and aperture for proper exposure. To switch to shutter-priority AE mode, so you can choose the shutter speed, just rotate the select dial (left to select faster shutter speeds, right to select slower ones). The camera will automatically set the corresponding aperture for proper exposure. The electronically controlled vertical-travel focal-plane shutter provides speeds from 30 seconds to 1/6000, settable in 1/2-step increments in shutter-priority and manual modes, stepless in program and aperture-priority modes.  | | The metering and AF systems performed very will in a variety of shooting conditions—and this was an early pre-production test camera. Photo by Ron Leach | To select aperture-priority AE mode, set the lens aperture ring to the desired aperture, and press the exposure-mode button. The camera will automatically set the corresponding shutter speed for correct exposure at the aperture you selected. To select metered-manual mode, rotate the lens aperture ring to the desired aperture, and use the select dial to set the desired shutter speed. A bar graph at the right side of the viewfinder display will indicate how close your settings are to what the camera deems the proper exposure—just change the shutter speed or aperture until one dot appears in the center of the graph. Additional dots appear to indicate how far off the current settings are (up to ±3 stops, in 0.5-stop increments). Of course, you can choose to ignore the bar graph, and base exposure on a hand-held meter reading or your own intuition. To make exposures longer than 30 seconds, set the lens aperture ring to the desired aperture, then rotate the select dial to the right until "bu" appears on the LCD panel. The shutter will now remain open as long as the shutter button is kept fully depressed. (Accessory Cable Switches CS-105 or CS-130 can be used to lock the shutter open, so you don't have to keep holding the button down.) Atop the camera to the left of the finder is the auto bracketing dial, surrounded by the exposure-compensation dial. You can set ±3 stops of exposure compensation, in 0.5-stop increments, by simply rotating the compensation dial to the desired number.  | | Photo by Ron Leach | The compensation dial also contains icons marked D, PF and ISO. Rotate the dial to D, and you can switch data imprinting on or off by rotating the select dial (the camera comes with this feature on.) With the feature activated, the following data is imprinted between sprocket holes: before frame one, total number of film rolls run through the camera and ISO film speed; for each frame, exposure mode, metering system, shutter speed, aperture, exposure-compensation value, and auto bracketing in use. (This imprinting function is completely separate from the optional data back, which prints date and time in the image area). Rotate the compensation dial to PF, and you can engage any or all of the 19 built-in Pentax Functions, which allow you to do such things as enable/disable the audible signal (F1), have the illumination button fire a test or modeling flash with an off-camera flash unit in wireless operation (F11), set the shutter button to lock exposure only or both exposure and focus when depressed halfway (F16) and even choose the program line for program AE mode (F2): you can select the normal program, one that favors faster shutter speeds (for more action-stopping power), one that favors smaller lens apertures (for more depth of field), or MTF, which favors the lens's optimum apertures. Rotate the compensation dial to ISO, and you can use the select dial to set films speeds from ISO 6-6400 manually (just rotate the select dial until the desired speed is displayed on the LCD panel). You can also set the film speed manually all the time via Pentax Function F7.
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