Pentax LX

The Pentax LX was manufactured between 1980 and 2001.  As well as an early and late standard variants of the standard model, there were several special editions including a tasteless gold plated one!

 

The Pentax LX was intended to be a "pro" camera to challenge Canon and Nikon's offerings.  It is the only Pentax 35mm camera to offer interchangeable viewfinders with a wide variety to choose from.  There was also a wide range of focusing screens, a winder, a motordrive, data backs, bulk film backs and so on, along with, of course, Pentax's wide range of K-mount lenses, flash guns and other non-camera model specific accessories.

 

The LX offered both manual exposure control and aperture priority.  It metered light off the film plane during exposure so that in Av mode it would adjust the shutter speed if the light changed.  This is especially useful for very long exposures.  The LX's meter could cope with light levels from -6.5EV to 20.  It also had mirror lock-up, depth of field preview, a self-timer and exposure compensation.

 

 

The LX is my favourite 35mm SLR and the last camera I would get rid of.  When travelling it is the one I take, usually alongside my MX (the former with colour film, the latter with monochrome).  Unlike many 35mm SLRs, especially the electronic whzz-bang multimode all singing all dancing later models of any make which go for peanuts second hand, the LX has retained a good second-hand resale value. If you can afford one, I cannot recommend it highly enough.  It is a dream machine!