MX - A small crush!

Sometimes when I hold a new camera in my hands I fall in love, like when I bought my Hasselblad 500C/M, I felt like I was walking on clouds the first month, ok, that is another sad love story I won´t talk about right now but I can tell you that I have a small crush for my new compact SLR, -Pentax MX!

Pentax MX logo

It looks great and performs great. I have to say that I have yet to see the negatives before I can give myself "all in" but so far it have been great and a lot of joy! I do have to agree with a lot of reviews on the net that the shutter speed dial is a little difficult to deal with while I´m holding the camera at eye-level, you have to use two fingers to get a good grip around it..

Asahi Pentax logo

I know that the idea was to purchase a camera that was all mechanical, beautiful and small, so I could carry it with me all the time without it being a load but I have to admit that I am thinking about buying a winder for it.. The guy that sold me this MX had a winder and the grip felt really good in my big hands. Maybe it makes the camera more firm while shooting? And also, he had a right angle finder with magnifier. These two accessories would make my camera a little bigger but maybe it would be a help my photography. I´m not sure yet what to do but I´ll think about it.. I can always put those things on when I know I´ll go out and shoot an for my non-planned-shooting days I could carry my MX without those accessories.

Pentax MX viewfinder - My cat She-Ra through the window..

 

This picture is not the best, it is taken from the side, but it shows a little bit how big and bright the viewfinder is. Above the image you can see the f-number and to the right you can se the shutterspeed. When you have selected the right speed and f-number, the LED is green. If you are a half-stop wrong the indicator shines yellow and if you´re 1-stp off the LED metering is showing red.

SMC Pentax-M 50mm f/1.7
 

I hope that I can post some pictures taken with the camera soon!

Pentax MX

So I did it.. I bought a nice little black Pentax MX today! It looks great and seems to work just fine. It have new batteries, Hoya 49mm UV filter and Hoya 49mm Lens hood and best of all, a 50mm f/1.7 SMC Pentax-M lens. I wanted the f1.4 lens but off course that one costs a little more so I´ll start with this lens.

I have loaded it with a roll of Fuji Superia 200 so now I´m ready to test this beauty and when/if I find the results good I´ll load my MX with some Tri-X!

Pentax MX + Pentax-M SMC 50/1.7

Remind me that I must give Darth his black gloves back, he´s starting to get really pissed!

Pentax MX 1976-1985. Produced by Asahi Optical Co, Japan.
The MX is all manual, fully mechanical construction, a true solid workhorse!
Pentax´s flagship pro-caliber 35mm SLR, until the introduction of the Pentax LX (1980-2001).
Pentax K-Mount. Mechanical shutter of the horizontal cloth type. Weight: 495g (1.09 lb) without lens. 1s-1/1000s + B. The Pentax MX have a 0.97× viewfinder, covering 95% of the field. 2 x 1.5V battery. 1/60 x sync speed.

I´ll get back when I´ve had the first roll developed!

Who am I?

I hope I will find my own favorite area in the visual arts but I guess it comes down to one sooner or later, it will form over time. Some may take pictures of anything and everything throughout life, as I do now, but I like artists that can put their own stamp on their pictures. When one sees immediately that there must be a certain photographer who took the picture. Like when you see a painting created by Monet and other great artists. Getting to a style in a particular field that characterizes the creator.



Lonely swan / Mamiya M645 1000s

But I like to shoot both people, nature, macro, landscape, etc. It might be a good idea to create small projects, as some do, which decides a particular idea that you're driving really hard for a while. I know there are many who do, for example "The100 strangers project."  I've been thinking a little on whether it would be something for me or not.

 




Stranger / Mamiya M645 1000s

But you could have any kind of projects, you just have to have a good idea. I do not think I need to have a special stamp today, right now I want to evolve and try different things but I hope to find my own style someday and maybe I have already taken a few steps on my way.

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A search for the perfect set of cameras

I´m looking for a small slr that I can carry with me all the time, to work and from work, when I´m walking with my dog or visit town. It should fit a small bag, one or two lenses and it should not be too heavy.

- A Leica or some other rangefinder should be perfect you might think but I have not entered that world yet..I´d like the option to get really close and I´m not sure if I´m a rf type of person...I do love the look of Canon P or Nikon S2 and Leica and have been thinking of trying some old, russian Contax or Leica copy..to see if it is anything for me.

So I was thinking af a small slr, and did try a friends Olympus OM-1 for a while and it was great, I even bought one but the lightmeter was broken soI returned it to the seller. I have been curious about the Nikon FM models and specially the FM2N. I´d like to try one someday, with Nikkor 50/1.4 but I have not found one yet at a good price when I have had the money.

So now I´m thinking of trying a Pentax MX. It is small, have a big nice viewfinder and takes all the Pentax-M and Pentax-K mount lenses. I am actually going to visit a guy tomorrow that have a big Pentax collection and perhaps I´ll buy one. But chances are I will get home with a big black Spotmatic instead, I can´t help that I am very weak for the sp´s, so beautiful and yet tank-like at the same time. I like the great range of M42 optics...maybe it´s too big and heavy, I don´t wan´t my everyday camera to be a load.. so we´ll see what happens...

Mamiya M645 1000s + Olympus OM-1

These two lovely cameras was borrowed from two different friends at the same time, I really liked them both very much and I feel that I must have a Mamiya M645 someday, just great joy to use!

A start

My analog photo journey started in 2008 when a friend of mine lended me his Yashica-A, a beautiful medium format TLR camera. I fell in love and have been interested in analog photography ever since.

I have learnt a lot during these few years yet it feels like my journey have just started. Only a few steps have been taken along this fantastic and exciting path. My cameras have been many and I still havn´t found the perfect set up and perhaps I never willI. Maybe that is part of this journey and something that makes it even more interesting.

I will try to keep this site alive as much as I can...



Mamiya M645 1000S