Pentax ME Super Metering

[andrewmoodie]

Anyone ever had any trouble with the ME Super irising down too much when exposed to daylight?

A friend showed me a contact sheet with a bunch of stuff in shadow that looked fine but the landscape shots--in the middle of the roll--were all underexposed.

Any ideas?

 

[John Koehrer]

The camera is an aperture preferred automatic with manual overide.
Is it being used in Manual or Auto?
You can check the lens simply by looking through it & stopping it down.
If your friend is using it manually, he sets everything by hand. So.
The meter could be off. dirty resistor band internally
The speeds could be off. ?
Or it could be biological interface error.
In any case the problem is more likely to be the body or the operator.

 

[Steve Roberts]

Anyone ever had any trouble with the ME Super irising down too much when exposed to daylight?

A friend showed me a contact sheet with a bunch of stuff in shadow that looked fine but the landscape shots--in the middle of the roll--were all underexposed.

Any ideas?

In a recent thread on the Pentax MX, I took the opportunity to whinge about that model as well as the ME and ME Super. My ME (not Super, so no manual option) did exactly that, 36 exposures, usually all fine but occasionally four or five consecutive frames in the middle of the roll grossly underexposed. It was never satisfactorily sorted.

Steve

 

[alien]

I own a Pentax Super A, which is very similar to the ME Super - I think the Super A was the top of the ME line.

I have the same problem - some shots are underexposed.

When I checked more closely, I found that in aperture priority, when closing the lens slowly from f 2 down to f 16, the shutter speed selected by the camera would initially increase accordingly, but all of a sudden would 'jump' to a value that would lead to a 2 - 3 stop underexposure.

For example, I started with f2 and 1/250, then down to f 2.8 and 1/125, then f4 and f 1/60, then f 5.6 and 1/500!

I sent the camera to a repairer, who explained that a magnetic band inside the bajonet (you can see it when you look closely) has worn out, and that this is not reparable.

I since bought a second Super A body in the hope to get one to use for spare parts, but the problem is the same.

You can still safely use the camera in manual mode, and rely on an external exposure meter (or your experience).

Alternatively, as this error seems to happen mostly at medium f stops (like 5.6), I measure in manual mode at stop f 2.8, and then adjust time and aperture accordingly.

Other than that there seems no real cure....

sorry!

Ansgar

 

[removed account4]

the only problem i have had with my me super was that the meter was ka-put after a while ( i guess the camera was like 25 years old?). i took it to my repair-guy and in a few days, it was as good as new. he said the "meter board" tends to go, or something like that. might be worth taking it to someone for a free estimate ...
good luck!
john

 

[maxbloom]

Mine has been spot on. I did have one problem a couple days ago where the meter was going sort of haywire where the light kept flickering between about 5 different shutter speeds. I gave it a second and then it was fine.

 

[ricksplace]

I have had similar problems with my me super. flashing shutter speed lights and exposures off. Interestingly, when the exposures were off, the speed led showed the correct(underexposed) speed. In all cases, fresh batteries and clean battery contacts solved the problem. Both of my me supers don't like batteries that are the least bit weak.

Rick.

 

[Steve Roberts]

In a recent thread on the Pentax MX, I took the opportunity to whinge about that model as well as the ME and ME Super. Steve

Oh - and I almost forgot one of my biggest whinges about the M series - the dreadful penny-pinching cases with those terrible plastic tabs that hold the camera in instead of a proper knurled metal, threaded knob in the base.

Steve

 

[Taurus 8]

My Pentax Program + is in the shop right now, primarily for that reason (fine for some shots, underexposed for others) The metering system needed "reconditioning" according to my repair tech.

I just bought a P3n for peanuts to tide me over - hoping that it doesn't suffer the same fate, and you never can have too many bodies, right?

 

[gr82bart]

Hmmm...I haven't used my Pentax line of equipment in years. It's been gathering dust in my parent's basement. Next time I'm up there, I'll have to check out my ME and Super Program.

Regards, Art.

 

[Taurus 8]

My Pentax Program + is in the shop right now, primarily for that reason (fine for some shots, underexposed for others) The metering system needed "reconditioning" according to my repair tech.

I just bought a P3n for peanuts to tide me over - hoping that it doesn't suffer the same fate, and you never can have too many bodies, right?

Quoting myself because it was quite a while ago I typed the above...

The Program + came back, but it still read low - but at least it was consistently so. I was told by the repairman that was all he could do and that he could adjust it no more.

My cure? It seems if I have ASA 200 film in it, if I set it for 400 and the meter is bang-on. I was at a family event and my brother-in-law with his K-1000, my friend with his SuperProgram and my P3n metered the scene exactly the same with the same given the same subject matter, so I played with the settings until the meter read "right".

It's been giving me great shots ever since.

 

[Eric Rose]

I've always found the meter on my MV to be bang on. My wife did however have a similar problem with her Canon T90 when using her 85mm lens. It turned out to be oil on the aperture blades in the lens. They were sticking and would not shut down quick enough to effectively cut down the light. Hence over exposed negs.

If you are only using one lens, or the problem is only apparent when using one particular lens, check this angle out. It may not be the camera at all.

 

[Dave Wooten]

ME does not have a manual over ride....I don t think...if the auto goes out you have only one speed,,,125? Could be wrong about that.

 

[titrisol]

Just got one of those from a colleague that moved to digital.
Put a couple of batteries on and the meter seems to be OK.
Have not shot with it but will kee the comment in mind.

The mechanic speed is 1/125 in the ME Super and 1/100 in the ME, MV and MG