The auto bracketing dial inside the compensation dial allows you to set the camera to shoot a bracketed exposure series (in 0.5- or full-stop increments). The default setting shoots three frames (correct, under and over), but you can use Pentax Function F3 to change that to two frames (correct and under) or five (correct, one and two stops under, one and two stops over). Pentax Function F4 lets you change the order in which the bracketed exposure are made (correct/under/over to under/correct/over or over/correct/under, for example). Photo by Ron Leach Controls: On the Back On the camera back, at the top right is the LCD illuminator button. Next to that is the AE-L button; pressing it will lock the exposure in any of the AE modes. An asterisk appears to the right of the aperture at the bottom of the viewfinder display when AE lock is in use, and the exposure remains locked for 20 seconds (so you don't have to keep holding the AE-L button down). Should you wish to unlock the exposure, just press the AE-L button a second time. To the right of the AE-L button is the hold lever. Sliding this to the right locks the exposure mode and shutter speed, so you can't inadvertently change them should you accidentally move the select dial. Slide the hold lever to the left to restore the select dial's functions. Below the hold button is the AF button, which provides an alternative means of activating the AF system. You can use Pentax Function F6 to make the AF button provide AF lock only, or to lock both AF and AE at the same time. Just above the viewfinder eyepiece is the diopter-adjustment lever, which can set from -2.5 to +1.5 diopters. Just slide the lever one way or the other until things look their sharpest. On the left end of the body are the PC terminal (which allows you to connect studio flash systems to the camera, but provides no flash-exposure automation), the film-door release (slide it down to open the film back) and the mid-roll rewind button (press it with the rod on the camera-strap clasp to activate rewind at any point in a roll). Like its predecessors, the new MZ-S accepts the full line of Pentax K-mount lenses, including AF lenses from 17-28mm fisheye zoom and 20mm superwide-angle to 600mm supertele, and manual-focus lenses from 16mm full-frame fisheye and 15mm superwide to 2000mm mirror—more than 50 in all. Photo by Ron Leach Controls: Up Front On the front of the camera are (counterclockwise from top left) the aforementioned exposure-mode button (marked with a green dot), the main/preview switch, the focus point mode switch, the lens-release button, the focus mode switch, the flash function button (which will be discussed under the subhead Flash), the cable-release socket, and the self-timer lamp. The main/preview switch has three positions: off (the camera is off), on (the camera is on), and preview (marked by an aperture icon), which stops the lens down to the set aperture so you can check depth of field. Next is the focus point switch. The MZ-S provides six AF points: a center one, two to the left and two to the right, plus one above the center point. The focus point switch has three positions. When it is set to the bottom one (a green A), the camera automatically selects the most appropriate of the six AF points (i.e., the one covering the closest subject). The active focusing point is indicated at the bottom of the viewfinder display (the points in the image area do not light up). The top position on the focus point switch lets you choose the focusing point: push the switch to the top position and hold it, then rotate the select dial until the desired point is indicated at the bottom of the viewfinder display. Let go of the focus point switch, and it will return to the L position, locking-in your choice. We generally left the camera set for auto AF point selection unless shooting a subject such as a bird in a tree, in which case we selected the center point for spot AF. The lens release button unlocks the lens, so you can remove it from the camera body. The focus-mode switch has three positions: AF-S, AF-C and MF. AF-S is single-shot AF: the camera focuses on whatever the active AF point is aimed at, then locks focus there until you either take the picture or let go of the shutter button. AF-C is continuous predictive AF: the camera focuses continuously, as long as you keep the shutter button partially depressed, and calculates from successive focus readings the subject's direction and rate of movement, adjusting focus accordingly to its predicted position at the moment of exposure (thus compensating for the distance the subject travels during the brief delay between the pushing of the shutter button and the actual exposure of the film). MF is manual focus: you focus the lens by rotating its focusing ring until the image appears sharp in the finder. The finder's focus-status signal will light once focus has been achieved, whether by auto or manual means Photo by Ron Leach Like the rest of the Pentax AF SLR line, the MZ-S utilizes phase-matching TTL AF, but with the latest version of Pentax's SAFOX (Sensor Ability Fortifying Optical Compensation System) focusing module, the SAFOX VII. The MZ-S's AF system will function in light levels as dim as EV -1, and the built-in flash unit will automatically emit an AF-assist beam in dim lighting. (Dedicated shoe-mount Pentax F-series flash units also provide a focus-assist beam, which overrides the camera's focus-assist beam.) Flash Atop the viewfinder are the dedicated flash hot-shoe, which accepts Pentax dedicated flash units, and the built-in pop-up TTL flash. The built-in flash has an ISO 100 guide number of 39 in feet (12 in meters), and covers the field of view of a 24mm lens. Flash sync speeds range from a maximum of 1/180 down to 30 seconds, with both built-in and dedicated shoe-mount flash units. The built-in flash doesn't automatically pop-up; you have to pop it up by pressing the flash button on the left side of the finder when you want to use flash. Flash modes include on (the flash fires for every shot), on + red-eye reduction (the flash fires for every shot and emits a pre-flash to stop-down subjects' eyes and thus minimize red-eye), automatic (the flash fires automatically in dim light and—when multi-segment metering is used—in backlighting), automatic + red-eye reduction (same as auto, but with a red-eye-reducing pre-flash), wireless (fires a dedicated off-camera Pentax AF360FGZ flash unit wirelessly), and wireless + high-speed sync (available only with the AF360FGZ flash unit—fires the dedicated off-camera flash wirelessly and permits shutter speeds faster than 1/180). Unlike most pro-oriented AF SLRs, the MZ-S has a built-in flash unit. It works well as a fill light for outdoor portraits. Photo by Lynne Eodice With the Pentax AF360FGZ (or the AF500FTZ or AF330FTZ), you also get trailing-curtain sync (the flash fires at the end of the exposure rather than at the start, for more natural-appearing "speed streaks" with subjects moving across the frame), contrast control flash (the off-camera flash provides two units of light to one from the built-in unit), multiple-burst "strobe-effect" flash, and slave flash (wireless flash with the AF360FGZ is TTL; slave flash with the AF500FTZ and AF330FTZ isn't). The System Like other Pentax AF SLRs, the new MZ-S will accept most existing Pentax lenses and accessories. Its Kaf2 lens mount accepts all Pentax Kaf, Ka and K lenses—more than 50, from 16mm full-frame fisheye and 15mm superwide-angle to 2000mm mirror (including autofocus lenses from 17-28mm fisheye zoom and 20mm superwide to 600mm supertele). There are soft-focus, macro, shift and lots of zoom lenses, including a nifty new 24-90mm f/3.5-4.5 AF zoom, and a new 200mm f/4 macro lens (see sidebar). Other accessories include the Battery Grip BG-10 (which accepts AA batteries and provides a comfortable vertical grip with release button), 2-foot and 10-foot cable releases, the Release Timer Switch TS-10 (for interval and timer shooting), and a magnifier and a right-angle attachment for the viewfinder.