Available at a very affordable price Versatile -- point and shoot or set up the exposure yourself Multi-element light metering works well under most conditions Overall design and ergonomics are excellent

Note: When you consider the $, these probably aren't weaknesses: ... No spot-metering option ... No continuous autofocus ... No exposure auto-bracketing ... No depth-of-field preview ... Not as many lens options available as Nikon.

I have found this to be an excellent camera. Now that I've learned more about sports photography, I would want one with more features (for example, continuous autofocus for moving subjects). However, for the money, I don't think you can beat this one! My wife uses it in point and shoot mode, but I like to do things like shutter-priority, no-flash, etc. And it's easy to do both with this versatile camera. I have taken a lot of shots in fairly dim gyms with ISO 1600 film, a 135mm/f2.8 lens, and the results are excellent. With a 50mm/f1.4 lens, this camera is a delight. I also have the cheap 28-80 that came with the camera, but since it only goes "down" to f3.5 at 28mm and f5.6 at 80mm, I haven't used it much. Nevertheless, I took some excellent photographs with it on the pacific coast! I've also used it with great success with my lone Sigma lens, a 28mm/f.8. The autofocus is fast with all my lenses. If you are a beginner who wants some room to grow while learning, this is an excellent choice! If you're an expert, why are you reading this

Customer Service

Not Required by me.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon Auto's Canon Auto's Manual Pentax

Great value Ease of use Fast (2fps) film advance Good optics Great size, weight makes comfortable for the user.

Low light focusing can cause lense to hunt a little too much Case made of plastic.

Probably the best camera a beginner could buy because it provides both manual and automatic functions. Play around with it in manual when you have lots of time to shoot, and in Auto Picture mode when you want to camera to make the split-second judgements. Mine came with the 28-80, and I recently included the 80-320 to my bag. Have shot a few pictures that are beautiful with this camera, no complaints. However, as I am getting past the beginner stage of photography, terms like depth of field preview, lock-up mirror and aluminum-alloy die case body are leading me to consider something a little higher end. All that said, my MZ-7 is a durable SLR that takes great pictures for a fraction of the cost of other cameras.

Customer Service

None at all

Lightweight, easy to use,

The shutter sticks, auto flash doesn't work. I took it to Pentax warranty center and they are going to have it for 2 months. Very disappointed in this. Missed my 2 sons birthdays, and our family vacation.

This is a very nice camera with excellent features for beginners. The warranty department in Utah is a joke. They will have my camera for 2 months to fix it. I give this camera 4 stars for value and 1 for overall because we missed a lot of memorable times this year.

Customer Service

Warranty service center in Utah stinks! They said we will call you in 2 day. 10 days later I called them only to find they have not even looked at my camera. They I find out that it is going to be 5 w

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mostly point and shoot

- Quick Focusing - Double Exposure - Backlight Display (Great at Night!) - It feels great in my hands! - Metal lens mount - IR Remote Compatible

- Frequently requires new batteries! - Noisy Film Rewind - It would melt out in the sun!!! (Plastic)

I purchased this camera because of its automatic features. I bought my Pentax ZX-7 brand-new on Ebay with a 28-105mm Sigma Aspherical Lens and a Sigma 70-300mm Macro Lens. I do wedding photography, I had been using a Manual Minolta X-370s as my main camera. Although the Minolta took great pictures, it took to long to adjust f-stops, shutter speeds, and to focus. So I decided to buy an automatic SLR. I tried a Nikon N80 and a Canon Elan 7. The Pentax ZX-7 had the best picture results and the functionality was greater! I this is a great camera for beginners and pros; I LOVE IT!

Customer Service

NONE!!!

Similar Products Used:

Minolta X370-s Minolta Maxxum STsi

The mode nob lights up which is handy in night photography. Its quite quick at focusing(but not the best). It takes 2fps, which for its price is OK. The grip is well moulded to suit your hand. And the weight isn''t that heavy.

Everything apart from the mount and the mirror is plastic!!! It feels like one drop(I have unfortunatley dropped my other camera and it held fine)could smash it into tiny little pieces! I have blinded alot of people for about 20 seconds with the flash which usually ends up with snowboarders flying left right and center!! The flash tends to pop up alot, but you can easily over ride this. and the film winder doesnt always wind the film(faulty, maybe). Oh and one more thing if you have a moving target it might want to focus on something else and at the last minute focus on the object, by that time the fun is over(but hey, you always have to wait to get a good picture!).

I Bought this product on the amount of features for it''s price range(including28-80 & 100-300 lens) and alot of reviews on the internet and also I was moving from mainly Manual to Automatic. I mainly do Sports photography(snow boarding)and so far I have not been disapointed.

Customer Service

none yet needed.

Similar Products Used:

Zenit ZM(I think that was it?!?) Vivitar V4000(lasted me a long time)

- Compact & light weight. - Feels robust with some key metal parts. - Lots of useful features.

- Found consuming more bettery.

After my share of research I bought this camera over Canon Rebel 2000. Piad #375 including Tamron 28-105 Zoom lense. I found this to be more robust and better value for money. I have been using it now for almost 8 months and found results quite pleasing. 75% of the time I use it in automatic mode and 25% of the time do some experiments like exposure compensation & multiexposure etc. Overall I am happy with this Camera.

Customer Service

Not needed so far.

Lightweight, quiet, Metal lens mounting ring. Great features, all very useful without a ridiculous amount of bells and whistles.

None, except I have found that it can be a bit rough on batteries

After doing a lot of research, and debating about which camera would be my first SLR, I went with the ZX-7. I could not be any happier, it is quiet, and light, and easy to take out into the field for wildlife photography, I took pictures that look like they should be in National Geographic after only 3 or 4 rolls of film. The Automatic features are nice, but make it too much like a point and shoot.

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None

Fast AF. Light weight. Metal lens mount. Compatibilty with older lens. "Auto picture" and "Green" mode. Silver finish. Multiple exposures. Aesthetically pleasing.

No DOF. AF hunts sometimes. Plastic film pressure plate. Plastic film rail.

Pentax ZX-7 could be suitably placed in the "most bang for the bucks" category. It is a feature laden camera(useful features and not just bells and whistles) which will satisfy both the amateurs as well as the pros. I am using a Sigma AF 28-200mm F3.5-5.6 DL Aspherical Hyperzoom Macro lens. This zoom is also a satisfying product and gives quite sharp and well balanced results. The photographs have come out well exposed and crisp. The RTF flash is OK for lighted indoors but for outdoors, a TTL external flash is required (I am using a Pentax AF280T). It provides plenty of flexibility when using the various priority modes. For the greenhorns the "auto picture" mode will be very helpful. Pentax accessory - Battery Pack FG will be quite useful for users as one can use cheaper standard "AA" batteries instead of the expensive "LC" batteries. Metal lens mount, multiple exposure, TTL RTF flash, silver finish body etc. are some of the features in this well designed SLR camera. I am very much missing the DOF as my present 28-200mm zoom has a shallow depth of field and it is very difficult to judge the depth of sharpness. My older non-AF Pentax camera (ProgramA) had this capability.

Customer Service

Not needed yet.

Similar Products Used:

Pentax, vivitar, yashica

memory exposure lock auto-picture mode good low-light auto-focusing multiple exposure feature Several different picture modes viewfinder led quite helpful diopter adjustment stainless steel lens mount

I guess that there is not a DOF preview(but I doubt I would use it anyway) No auto-bracketing

I bought this camera back in April, 2001. I had a Pentax ZX-50, but found it to be limiting. After reading reviews on this website, I decided to go with the ZX-7 since I already had pentax mount lenses. I found the ZX-7 to be an awesome move up from the ZX-50. First of all, it had the stainless steel lens mount compared to the plastic one on the the ZX-50. I love the auto picture mode, multiple exposure feature, faster fps, and bettwer low-light auto-focusing. The ZX-7 is one nice camera for the price. I also like the the led in the viewfinder. It tells you what mode it has selected in the auto-picture mode. It also warns you if your shutter speed becomes too slow for you to handhold and get a sharp picture. The led in the viewfinder will go from green to yellow(or orange)when your shutter speed is too slow for the handheld shot. The only regret that I have is that I didn''t buy this camera first. I wouldn''t have never imagined that I would have outgrown the ZX-50 when I first purchased it, but after shooting for a while, I was wanting features that the ZX-50 didn''t offer. This made the ZX-7 a perfect choice for me. I would eventually like to purchase the Pentax PZ-1P, but I can''t quite afford that right now and the ZX-7 capabilities are far more advanced than my skills as a photographer. When I feel that I have outgrown the ZX-7(if that ever happens), then I will probably fork up the cash for the PZ-1P.

Customer Service

Have never had to use customer service.

Similar Products Used:

Pentax ZX-50 Canon Rebel X Nikon N60

Very well built, very easy to operate,
good features, metal mount and film transport

no DOF

Best camera for the bucks, period. Ok, the canon has a more sophisticated metering system, but I havend had a bad exposed shot that wasn't my fault with this baby. Build quality is superior.
Get a better lens than the 28-80 that comes with it though.

Buy it and you'll love it.

Customer Service

not needed

Similar Products Used:

Canon EOS 300 (rebel in U.S.), Minolta 505 super