When my friend Bill Smith said this camera was small, he wasn’t kidding. The Pentax MX makes the Nikon FE and Olympus OM-1 look big in comparison. While I wanted to get this camera into the field quickly, I held off because I was still deep in producing the Miranda Sensorex review. For this review, I took out a roll of Rollei RPX 100 and shot it with 55mm f/2, 200mm f/4, and 50mm f/1.7. Then, I developed the roll in Adox FX-39 II.
I was unsure of the camera size—the MX is small! Oddly enough, it fit comfortably in my big mitts. I first noticed that this camera has nothing extra; everything is there for a purpose or two and precisely where it must be. While there is nothing fancy about the camera, it is perfectly functional.
I don’t have the meter working in the camera yet, and I don’t have the heart to crack open the bottom plate to try a fix I found online, so I ran it with my Gossen Luna Six using the spot attachment. I was pleased with the results when I pulled the negatives out of the tank. All three lenses delivered excellent results. I have used the 55mm and 200mm before and love what I get out of them, but that 50mm lived up to its reputation as a sharp lens.
I like the MX far more than I expected. After looking back at my Flickr account, I also realised I’ve had a run-in with the MX before on a past episode of the Classic Camera Revival, where we focused on Pentax cameras, and Bill Smith brought in an MX. He has since dropped the camera from his collection. But it also was an all-black version; I don’t know; I prefer my manual focus cameras to have the two-tone look. I like it a little better, to be honest.
Next up is to work on finishing up the review. I have a couple more rolls to run through it and several other lenses. The review will be using the beautiful 28mm lens and then the super tiny 40mm f/2.8 pancake and the 135mm f/3.5. Those are up for May, with the review being posted in July!
The MX is one of those cameras I sold, immediately regretted, and quickly acquired a replacement. I went from two-tone to all black but it seems to be in slightly better condition. Love the MX!
The MX is a camera I have had an eye on for a while. Maybe one day I will take the plunge and give it a whirl.