Pentax Z-1P Pro 35 mm SLR

It was only a couple of weeks after I got my Pentax Z-1 SLR that I found this Pentax Z-1P at a knock-down bargain price on eBay and decided it was too good a bargain to resist.

My Pentax Z-1P Camera

Although this camera was sold as ‘Spares or Repair’ I could see from the pictures that the major area with problems was the lens which had a switch missing from the body, so I took a gamble that the rest of the camera was OK. It was cheap enough that even if it didn’t work at all I could mark it down to experience, and since I’ve owned the Z-1 and could see how well constructed and sturdy the design is, I thought it unlikely that there would be anything wrong with the Z-1p.

As it happened, once it turned up, and I put a new battery in it, I found everything seems to be working as expected. In fact, even the lens basically works – because the switch is broken, the zoom clip and image size modes don’t work, but as a standard zoom lens it is fine. The rest of the camera body is in great shape, with only the normal wear and tear marks you would expect from a camera which is now about 35 years old.

Pentax Z-1p Images

Pentax Z-1P differences

Because I have written a review of the Z-1 and the Z-1P is an upgrade to that camera, this is going to be a mini review which covers just the difference between the two models.

Mode Switch

The mode switch has been changed from the Z-1 by moving the bracketing to its own section, rather than being part of the drive options. This makes it quicker and easier to select bracketing, and I think is a good upgrade.

Metering Mode

The Pentax Z-1p camera offers the same metering modes as the Z-1 but allows each of the three (Averaged, Centre weighted, Spot) to be selected via the metering switch on the back panel whereas the Z-1 only allowed two of them to be selected. Although I only tend to use Averaged or Centre weighted, it’s an obvious and logical upgrade to what was a weakness on the older model.

Viewfinder

The viewfinder changes from the Z-1 are the ones I find most useful. For a start, the exposure compensation control is shown as a bar chart with +/- 2 stops range rather than the simple + & – indicators. Admittedly, the 2 stops range is not as high as the 5 stops the camera allows, but it’s significantly better than the Z-1.

Another change is that the focus screen is marked with lines to show the frame limits when the Panorama mode is selected. Now, I think the Panorama function is a pretty useless gimmick, but it’s a change from the Z-1.

The metering mode display in the viewfinder is also improved by having its own separate icon which shows which of the three modes is selected.

Interval shooting

The interval shooting option has been removed from the various shooting modes on the Z-1P.

Styling

There are some superficial styling changes due to the body material being different on the Pentax Z-1P.

User settings

The limited ‘green’ mode of the Z-1 has been enhanced on the Z-1P to allow a specific set of options to be set and then remembered in the User mode. This allows the photographer to set up, for example, metering mode, drive mode etc and store them in the User setting for quick recall.

All other features are the same as the Z-1, so please see my review of that camera for more details, and to view the manual it is available on-line here.