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Pentax Z-1p

Review by Kristian Elof Sørensen

The camera in use

This SLR has an unusual user interface.

I have been using SLR's from different manufactors for around 10 years and know the technical side of photography inside-out, but I had to spend an hour with the manual to get the hang of this camera.
The whole point is that when making pictures you just keep looking through the viewfinder and adjust f-stop and shutter speed with two dials, while the finder shows you the information you need. You very seldom have to remove the eye from the finder for the purpose of adjusting something when shooting.

The Z-1p has something called "hyper-manual" and "hyper program". In both modes you adjust shutter speed with one dial and f-stops with another. The finder shows the selected values in "hyper manual" also an over/under exposure scale in 1/3 stops. A small button picks a shutter/f-stop combination that satisfies the meter reading, this is really nice when something unexpected happens.

In hyper program you adjust the same way but when you adjust f-stop the camera adjusts shutter speed just like traditional aperture priority, when you adjust shutter speed the camera adjusts f-stop like in shutter priority, when the light changes the camera adjusts one or both values to adapt just like a traditional program mode.

These two modes are the only ones beside "B" that I have been using. There's traditional aperture priority, shutter priority and program modes, but the two hyper modes are so much more convenient. No more need to switch between aperture, shutter priority, manual and program mode in the middle of shooting.

When shooting landscapes and the like with the camera mounted on a tripod you suddenly figures out why Pentax choose to put a large lcd on top of the prism house. It holds information such as f-stop, shutter speed, amount of over/under exposure with the current setting shown in 1/3 f-stops, metering mode, indicators for bracketing, exposure compensating, mirror lock-up, spot/center/matrix and a handfull of other indicators however it's big enough to be usefull from up to a meter away.

Features

This camera comes with shutter speeds from 30s-1/8000s, synchs up to 1/250s, can do fill flash magic automatically, and has auto bracketing settable in 1/3 or 1/2 steps. Bracketing also works with flash and fill flash.

It can do spot, center and matrix metering, get's information on lens charesterica and focus distance from all Pentax FA and F lenses (all AF lenses) and uses this to be smart about flash metering and to pick lens secific sweet spots in the f-stop range in program mode. There's exposure compensation from -4 to +4 in 1/3 steps, an icon is shown in the display as well as in the finder when it's engaged so it's hard to forget about.

There's mirror prefire, where the camera flips up the mirror, stops down the lens and then wait 2 seconds before making the exposure. The focusing screen can be changed by the user.

Film rewinding can be set to be automatic or manual. If the leader schould be pulled into the canister or not is settable as well. These and all the other configurations can be adjusted in the field without access to manuals or other tools.

The AF system is the only part of the camera where it's obvious that it's not the most recent construction around. It has a single focus spot in the middle of the finder. It's however fast and accurate "hunting for focus" is unheard of. There's an AF assist beam for low light work.

There's a built in flash with a guidenumber of 14 that spreads enough for a 28 mm lens. An on camera flash isn't of course the most usefull thing around, but it can save the day when caught without a real flash, and it can of course be used to sync off camera flashes with slaves. The Pentax 500 FTZ flash has a built in slave, so this is a very usefull feature.

The camera weight 650 g and at 152.0 mm x 95.5 mm x 74.0mm is a medium sized SLR. However when compared to most of the other SLR's with a comparable feature list the Z-1p is small and light weight.

Detailed listings of features can be found at the B&H website or at Pentax' own websites for instance the swedish one

What would improve this camera

I miss being able to set longer exposures than 30 s. without resorting to B-mode and cable remote. It would be trivial from a programmer/ee point of view to let the uset dial in arbitrarily long exposure times by turning one of the dials and seing the exposure time shown in the finder or the display.

Pentax would not hear any complaints from me if they forgot about the patetic panorama function. It's just two pieces of metal that blocks light to the top and bottom of the film during exposure.

An optional method for keeping the battery in a shirt pocket when shooting in cold weather would be nice. It was available on the earlier top of the line models, but has been dropped for the Z-1p? models.
An option that let's one use standard AA batteries instead of the photo specific 2CR5 lithium battery, could save the day in less industrialized countries when the bag with the spare batteries get's stolen and you have to resupply locally.

An updated AF with more focus spots etc. would be nice.

Editor's Note:

Where to Buy

The PZ-1p is stocked by Adorama, a retailer that pays photo.net a referral fee for each customer, which helps keep this site in operation. For additional retailer information, see our recommended retailers page and the user recommendations section.

Copyright 2000 Kristian Elof Sørensen

Article created 2000

Readers' Comments


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Xin He , March 28, 2000; 03:54 P.M.

Z-1p is a formidable camera. I got mine in 1995, still love it after 5 years. Z-1p is old, and may not have the cutting-edge technologies as F100, EOS-3 have, but it has almost everything that most of us need. I like the control panel layout a lot, especially the location of the Av/Tv dials. They are just in the right places. I tried Elan IIe and F100, but never like their layouts. The hyper-program mode is neat. Its performance/price ratio is probably the highest in its price range. Of course, there are a few things that need to be improved on Z-1p. 1) poor TTL flash. If you shoot a person outdoor at night, the subject will be overexposed, though the TTL works great indoor. 2) the on-camera flash won't pop up after a few years use, though still works well other than that; 3) the MF/AF switch is in the wrong place, can easily be switched accidentally. Now the first thing I check after I turn on the camera is this switch; 4) Most of their pro lenses have a "don't-buy-me" price tag. And quite a few lens tests show that the over-priced SMC pro lenses may not have the performance they are supposed to deliver. Only 1 of my 5 lenses is Pentax: FA50/1.7; 5) No grip, no pc socket; 6) The controls are difficult to use in darkness. Better get a flashlight; 7) will malfunction in wet weather, I don't know if this is the problem of the camera or the lens(FA 28-80/3.5-4.7). Well, in spite of those problems, I love my Z-1p. If I were to buy a new camera system, Z-1p would still be my choice. I got quite a few pictures taken with Z-1p. You can find them at: Xin He's photography page.

René Purwin , November 07, 2000; 12:40 P.M.

When I bought the Z-1p a couple of years ago it seemed to be the ideal add-on to my collection of manual Pentax SLRs. I could use all my trusted lenses and get the additional benefit of autofocus for those moments it is nearly indispensable.

The z-1p certainly proved its value during those years! Its AF-system is not quite as fast as Canon's, Minolta's or Nikon's, but its adequate for most situations.

What really sets the Pentax apart from nearly all other cameras on the market is (in my private opinion) its straight forward user interface. I do use quite a lot of different cameras and always get the latest models in my hands for testing. But most maufacturer's somehow expect you to be computer-literate, because otherwise you often can't even use the adavanced features. I remember a Minolta Dynax 800 which would refuse to to anything, until I found the master-reset function in the handbook.

The z-1p is different: you can use it even without a manual (which is really uncommon in the electronics age). And most things work just beautifully: the metering is great. I only switch to manual mode very rarley, the AF is fine on most occasions, especially with slow lenses, which really make manual fcusing difficult, though I frequently use manual focusing. And with the matching Pentax FA-lenses, where you only have to push the focusing ring to switch between manual and AF modes, it's really just a thing of a fraction of a second. This is the best af/manual switch I ever found on any camera!

The thing I missed most was a hand grip with standard AA batteries. I converted the otherwise useless separate (and expensive) grip FD to that purpose and since then run the cameras with rechargable batteries.

The Pentax z-1p really converted me to usinf Af cameras! And I am very much looking forward to the new Pentax AF model, which I saw at this years Photokina in Cologne. I expect to get a body around new year fpr evaluation and let you now!

Jim Ong , February 06, 2002; 12:22 P.M.

I just got myself a PZ-1P, still learning the features on it. Overall the first impression has been great and I'm looking forward to using it with the used power zoom lens FA 28-105 f4/5.6. However, I have a question about its data back here. Along with the body I've purchased a used FD-P1 data back for PZ-1P, thinking it was a multi-control data back with features like interval shooting, data imprinting etc. However to my dismay it was just an ordinary DATE imprinting back. Anyone here has knowledge if PZ-1P has a dedicated multi-control data back? Anyway if anyone is interested in the FD-P1 date back, I'm more than willing to sell :) Jim

Mark Lindamood , June 14, 2002; 10:44 A.M.

I've owned the PZ-1p for 5 years, and now own the new Pentax "flagship" SLR, the MZ-S, almost twice as expensive as the PZ-1p. Ironically, the different functionality of the MZ-S makes me appreciate more than ever the ease of use and functionality of the PZ-1p. The hyper modes of the PZ-1p are simply beautiful to work with, and they are not set-up quite the same on the MZ-S. The two cameras have almost identical functionality, but the MZ-S has gone a step backwards in requiring aperture priority changes to be made with the aperture ring only, whereas on the PZ-1p such changes can be made by thumbwheel or, of course, by the aperture ring. Two-second mirror lock-up is much faster to set on the PZ-1p, as are all of the other Pentax Functions, owing to the fact that on the PZ-1p you depress a button and rotate a wheel through the functions, while on the MZ-S you must rotate a wheel through the exposure bracketing area and two separate click stops to get to the same function-ready-to-set start point. This was not an improvement over the PZ-1p, by any means. The MZ-S does not have 3-frame timer release, which I find very useful. Any time I want to be in the frame and use the timer on a tripod, I'm usually with a group of people. Three frames at once lets me get a print for myself and two others for the people with me, without having to go back to the tripod twice. The MZ-S is lighter and feels more solid in-hand. The shutter on the MZ-S is much quieter, and I suspect has far less vibration than the shutter on a PZ-1p. For build quality, the MZ-S cannot be faulted in any way.

It can be faulted for the 2.5 frames per second motor drive versus the PZ-1P's 4.5 fps. It's probably an issue related to the size of the motor in the smaller MZ-s body, but 4.5 fps is far more useful if you really need a timed sequence of something.

For those of you with Power Zoom lenses, you probably already know that the MZ-S does not incorporate full power zoom functionality. Most notably, the automatic lens-retract-to-shortest-size feature retracts the zoom extension to shortest length, BUT it does NOT simultaneously autofocus to infinity, which would shorten the lens even more. The PZ-1p does both. This "shortening of the lens" function helps stuff the camera back in the bag more quickly. This might seem inconsequential, but once I had the feature, I came to like it. With the newer Pentax zooms, especially those with internal focus, it's not an issue.

The FGZ360 flash that came out for the MZ-S is a VERY nice unit, and the MZ-S has extremely good interface with it. It give brilliant results, utilizing a pre-flash feature that effectively custom-sets the actual TTL flash output. The MZ-S body leaves the older FTZ 500 and 330 flashes for the PZ-1p out in the cold in terms of flash exposure compensation (the function is in the FGZ360 flash, not in the body), but the FGZ360 IS fully compatible with the PZ-1p's body-controlled flash exposure compensation. But as a result of moving flash compensation to the FGZ360 flash and out of the body, the MZ-S on-camera flash now has no exposure compensation adjustment, which is bad. The best use for pop-up flashes is daylight fill a stop or so under. The FGZ360 also has an auto sensor in addition to TTL, just like the famed Pentax AF280T flash, the only other Pentax flash to provide such wide exposure options. Paint with flash made easy. If only the FGZ360 rotated in addition to tilt, it would be a total replacement for the 280T.

The large PZ-1p LCD gives you full info all the time, and is especially more informative about the 15 to 17 custom Pentax Functions that can be set to your preference. With the MZ-S, you have to memorize what the numerical settings mean; the PZ-1p LCD shows you.

The PZ-1p's offset hot shoe allows you to use the shoe flash and the pop-up at the same time. The MZ-S requires an adapter, a cord, and a third hand (I'm not addressing MZ-S wireless flash here). The offset hot shoe on the PZ-1p is offbeat but good design, and made the large, informative LCD possible. But the MZ-S off-camera wireless flash function is brilliant design as well, and it works very nicely, indeed, readily giving you good flash modeling with no wires. Hold it at arm's length with no cable, give it to an assistant a few feet to the side, put it on a clip near the ceiling, whatever. The pop-up flash triggers it, and it works.

In summary, the PZ-1p remains a body that is a joy to use: abundantly functional -- truly top notch -- and it is simply too bad that more people did not recognize this body as the truly pro-specification, easy to use camera that it is. (Photo.Net's somewhat obvious bias against Pentax is a mystery to me.) My recommendation? Buy a new PZ-1p and the FGZ360 flash for what you would pay for the MZ-S body alone, unless you want that wireless flash function and the TTL pre-fire flash adjustment, which gives deadly accurate flash exposure under any conditions. You can also get the MZ-S battery grip that takes AA's, and a shutter release with interval timer features that are interesting for remote placement shooting.


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