Pentax ZX-50 35mm Film Camera

I've being able to use recently the Pentax ZX-50 QD 35mm Auto-Focus SLR camera with a Pentax SMC FA 80-200mm Zoom lens and enjoyed it most of the time. Currently, the camera has been discontinued by Pentax, but some dealers may still have it in stock, while you may be able to find it on the used market for less than $200, AF lens included. The manual focus ring's feel in any AF is more loose than comparable manual lenses. As a travel photography companion, it can be used as second body with excellent results on color print film. It's physical and appearance layout looks more professional. But be carefull, because it's mostly plastic construction may be more sensible to shock than that of full-metal camera. Most of the tests that I ran on it came up fine, including tests with MacBeth Color Chart. Predictive Auto-Focus seems to follow approaching cars between 25-35 mph most of the time and operated well in available "darkness". All my manual-focus A-series Pentax lenses worked ok and can be used in all exposure modes, when their rings are set to A (Auto Aperture).
Manual focus K and M-series lenses, however, can't be fully usable. The camera simply keeps whatever is the maximun aperture that the lens has fully open. This means that, if you have such a lens with maximum aperture of f2.0 and you move the aperture ring of it to f16, it won't stop down to f16 at the time of exposure. It will remain at f2.0 although the aperture feedback from lens to camera may indicate that the lens is set at f16. The result will be wrong exposure on smaller aperture settings. If you have such lenses and don't mind using them with the aperture ring set wide open allways (f2.0, per the example above) in Aperture-Priority and manual exposure modes, you will be fine. In fact, large aperture lenses are usually used in available "darkness" (available light) situations.
Another gratifying feature is that it can shot in On-The-Film sensing Auto flash mode with Pentax-dedicated flash units, such as the AF 280T flash, designed originally for the Pentax LX/Super Program/A series of cameras in addition to their more recent Flash units series for SF/PZ/ZX/MZ cameras.
Because of my choice of subjects, I found that the lack of double/multiexposure film drive mode may limit my work somewhat. And for action subjects, continuous auto-focus may have been good to have too. Besides, If you carry an arsenal of old K and M lenses, the choice of plastic for camera lens mount and limited usability may be of some concern. But average subjects photographed fine on PICT mode. I highly recommend it to the beginer photographer who wants the ability to exchange lenses for different perspectives, but doesn't want to get involved in exposure settings and complexities and for the traveler as a second camera body.