Delightful styling. Compact design - good to hold. Tactile 'classic' feel with great build quality. Supremely easy to use. Backwards compatable with old manual K-bayonet lenses.

Performance is as retro as its styling! Hopelessly outmoded 3-point AF (with no continuous 'servo' mode)... hunts like crazy in spot mode in upright format (due to one simple horizontal central sensor). Small, dim viewfinder image with confusing multiple-function 'flash' symbol. No low-light AF illumination (even ZX-7 has one!). Tiny, low-mounted built-in flash obstructed by most wide angle lenses. 6-segment matrix metering inferior to most competitors at this price level. Independent lenses and flashes less widely available than for Nikon, Minolta and Canon. No flash exposure bias.

A retro camera with a retro feel and retro performance. Great if you've got access to old K-bayonet lenses and love the look and feel of a bygone era. Now totally outclassed by more-modern competitors (often for a lot less money). I returned mine to the store and bought a Nikon F80/N80 (which, unlike the MZ-5N/ZX-5N, feels like it belongs in the 21st century!).

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Nikon F80/N80, Canon EOS 300

Great Camera
"Feels Good" to hold
Easy to use
Good position of the on/off switch
Very user friendly, good for beginner or pro.

easy to bump switch switching from single frame to multi frame

Buy this camera. For the price, you can't beat it.

Similar Products Used:

None

Fast and responsive AF.
Excellent multisegment metering.
Great metering options.
Intuitive retro-designed controls.
Good features for the price.
Compact size.
Good build quality.
Great compatibility with manual focus lenses.

No cross sensor AF.
No AF-illuminator (only provided by external flash units).

A very compact and light SLR with a user friendly control layout, no "press-this-turn-that-while-looking-at-the-multi-function-LCD-panel"-approach.
Despite only 6 segment metering segments, this Pentax is on pair on the similar priced comptition in terms of sheer performance (and it outperforms Canons 35 zone metering easily).
It's not the no. of segments that counts, it's how well they're implemented and how well the software calculates. Pentax gives more for less.
A great camera for beginners as well as more experienced users. A camera that's hard to outgrow.

Customer Service

Excellent! (Pentax Scandinavia)

Similar Products Used:

Pentax MZ/ZX-5, MZ/ZX-10 and P30.

easy to use, lightweight,exposure system,

no built in flash

i find the mz-m a very easy camera to use,the metering is exellent,has exposure compensation,which i find usfull for backlight subjects,can be used fully manual,or stick on program,this camera is a good buy for total beginner,has all you need for most photography,recomended,great.

Customer Service

unused

Similar Products Used:

other cameras i have olympus om10

Very very intuitive to use, I picked it up and knows exactly what I need to do for the shots that I want. I have tried the AF Nikons and most of the time I have to refer back to the manual in order to set the camera up for the shots that I want.

None that I can think of.

This is the camera for me. I took 20 rolls of film on it and they are sharp even with the standard 35-80 mm f/4 - f/5.6 variable aperture. I recently purchased the AA battery grip which improves the handling of the camera tremendously. I also added in the 50 mm f/1.4 FA lense and boy the pictures are extremely sharp! For every photo enthusiast like my self, I strongly recomend this camera body. Add in the standard lense above and you're set. The only "weakness" that I can find in this body is the slow 2fps film advance and the lack of multiple exposure. Kudo to Pentax for making a superb camera which is EXTREMELY easy to use. Another thing that I like about the ZX-5n is that it is not targeted by thiefs who are looking for Nikons and Cannons bodies! This is really a BMW inside a Honda shell if you know what I mean.

Customer Service

None

Similar Products Used:

N80, Other AF Milnota models

It’s a Pentax!
Price
Light
Intuitive control layout
DOF preview
Matrix, center-weighted, and spot metering modes are easily selectable
and dead-on accurate on full auto.
Well-dampened mirror.
Compatible with older manual lenses.
Darn good styling, wish Pentax made a black body.
Autofocus is accurate.

Might be too small for some.
Slow film drive.
Max shutter speed is only 1/2000 sec.
Max flash sync is only at 1/100.
Dark viewfinder, even with fast lenses.
LCD display is hard to see in bright daylight.
Slow film rewind even with fresh batteries in the camera.
Weak flash exposure system.
No flash exposure compensation but panorama switch instead - yipeeee!!!

Despite some shortcoming and limitations, ZX-5N is an outstanding camera. Despite the
fact that it is not in the same league as mid-range cameras, the features packed into this
little gem make it an outstanding low-priced camera for either the beginner or a photographer
who wants great manual or semi-automatic control with minimal fuss. Metering is dead-on, it
rarely produces badly exposed chrome. The finish and overall
build quality is first rate. Biggest gripe is the
dated AF system. Its makes too much noise and the speed is not up to par even with
low-end Nikon bodies like N65. Its accurate with enough ambient light but hunts too
much at dusk or indoors. An AF assist beam would help greatly. The flash metering lags behind
current Nikon and Canon systems. And how I wish the Pentax would do something about the
quality of the viewfinder, its simply too dark and the LCD display too Spartan.
Hopefully the upcoming Pentax MZ-S pro body will address these issues. While not suited for
action photography, ZX-5N is still one of the best, most underrated cameras available today.
Its a pleasure to use because of its simplicity and metering accuracy, pair it us with one
of the outstanding multicoated Pentax prime lenses and see what it can do!

Customer Service

Never needed.

Similar Products Used:

Pentax ME
Nikon N90s, N80
Canon Rebel G/2000 (yuck!!!), Elan II, A2
Minolta Maxxum 4xi, Xtsi

ease of use

non focus assist

I love its compact but solid feel. The metering system works great in most conditions. The controls are easy to use, don't need a manual to use this camera. This is one great product!

Customer Service

Great customer service

Similar Products Used:

None

Small, light, but solid and well finished.
Intuitive control layout.
Good metering system with 3 modes (segmented, center and spot).
Relatively quick AF.
Very good built in flash !!!

Many functions lacking: ISO bias, changeable timer duration (for tripod use), AF tracking (in the MZ-5).
Slowish max shutter speed (up to 1/2000 sec.).

This review regards the MZ-5 (Zx-5) no N model.
Came to use this camera , belonging to a good friend in outdoor shooting situations.
Generally - I liked the compact no-fuss exterior design, with no compromise on solid feel and metal lensmount. Af is fast and accurate and so is the reliable and flexible metering system.
Built-in flash is very very good considering the competition - very good exposure, very effective anti-red-eye.
What I liked less was the feeling that this one is supposedly Pentax's "Advanced amateur" SLR and as such it has hard time competing with its Canon and Nikon equivallents: Shutter max speed of 1/2000 vs 1/4000 in competitors and the lack of some important features (DOF, ISO bias, Timer flexibility, AF automatic tracking etc.) makes you feel that you get too little bells and whistles for your money...Still - what's there IS GOOD.

Customer Service

None needed.

Similar Products Used:

Canons (A2, EOS500, Rebel 2000)
Nikons (N90s, N70, N50)
Pentax super A (super program).

depth of field preview
spot metering
spot focus
focus tracking
large easy to read/use dials

view screen not interchangeable.

a really great little performer. possibly need a few more lenses available from pentax, especially a range of fast image stabiliser types. a great system if teamed with the pentax flash unit.

Customer Service

i have never needed customer service.

Similar Products Used:

minolta
canon
nikon

Old-fashioned handling.
Accurate metering.

Shutter speed only just adequate. motordrive speed only just adequate. Flash power only just adequate. Manual dreadful.

The slow top shutter speed doesn't bother me as I rarely use 1/1000s, never mind 1/8000s. Ditto the slow motordrive, I'm not into sports or reportage. I don't use internal flash if I can possibly avoid it. What sold me this camera was the way it handled exactly like a well thought out design from the late Seventies while most modern cameras handle more like a PDA!

Customer Service

Never needed.

Similar Products Used:

Canon EOS5, EOS50, Minolta 600Si, Pentax Z1-P