Pentax ME Super

I decided to purchase a ME Super for the extra shutter speed stop. This one is mint with the protective plastic still on bottom plate. It also has a slightly larger 50mm which I wanted as I felt the 1.7 was not feeling very ergonomic. I may even try a 1.2 later. It needs new foam for the mirror and was thinking of buying a 2mm sheet so I have some on hand for other cameras. The meter reads the same as the ME so I assume they are working properly. I will compare them against other meters and will do a table top studio shoot of charts and things for testing. the f1.4 lens that came with it has the slightest bit of haze on the last element. I hope it doesn’t affect the performance that much.

sruddy said:

I decided to purchase a ME Super for the extra shutter speed stop. This one is mint with the protective plastic still on bottom plate. It also has a slightly larger 50mm which I wanted as I felt the 1.7 was not feeling very ergonomic. I may even try a 1.2 later. It needs new foam for the mirror and was thinking of buying a 2mm sheet so I have some on hand for other cameras. The meter reads the same as the ME so I assume they are working properly. I will compare tjem agains otjer meters amd will do a table top studio shoot of charts and things for testing. the f1.4 lens that came with it has the slightest bit of haze on the last element. I hope it doesn’t effect the performance that much.View attachment 325291


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E*N*J*O*Y!!

sruddy said:

I decided to purchase a ME Super for the extra shutter speed stop. This one is mint with the protective plastic still on bottom plate. It also has a slightly larger 50mm which I wanted as I felt the 1.7 was not feeling very ergonomic. I may even try a 1.2 later. It needs new foam for the mirror and was thinking of buying a 2mm sheet so I have some on hand for other cameras. The meter reads the same as the ME so I assume they are working properly. I will compare them against other meters and will do a table top studio shoot of charts and things for testing. the f1.4 lens that came with it has the slightest bit of haze on the last element. I hope it doesn’t affect the performance that much.



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That is the most beautiful Super I have ever seen! Congratulations! You chose wisely and was lucky to get the right offer at the right time.

Helge said:

That is the most beautiful Super I have ever seen! Congratulations! You chose wisely and was lucky to get the right offer at the right time.

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Thanks! I’m pretty amazed at the condition too. I studied the listings excellent photos and couldn’t figure out why the rating was only exc+++. I think all it needs is new light seals. I usually purchase premade kits but am thinking of buying a 2mm thick sheet so I can do other cameras too.

Wish I could have found a black one when I was collecting. I have two chrome examples. One was in its original box, which looked unopened. I figured it was a NOS someone found on a back shelf in a photo store that had closed its doors.

Stan

StanMac said:

I can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t like the K1000, but to each his own.

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They say it is reliable, but while you could set the right exposure while looking through the viewfinder, I was dissatisfied that you didn't then have a clue what the F-stop and shutter speed were. I understand some people counted clicks (no thanks), but I always had to take the camera down from my eye for a few seconds to check before raising it again for the shot. Might as well have used an external meter. The KX and of course the LX, with full info viewfinders, were vastly better. The K1000 was the result of a team told to make the cheapest possible K-mount camera in the shortest possible time, so they took the already budget KM and removed features. Hard to understand the K1000 cult following today.

Autonerd said:

The MX is manual only, and it's light, but I've never loved mine -- I find the shutter speed dial stiff and difficult to turn, and I don't care for its LED display, which is basically a glorified center-the-meter system like on the K1000.

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Unlike the K1000, at least the MX told you what shutter speed you were at, and your aperture too.

The MX and ME were launched at the same time, a time when many photographers expected a camera to be entirely manual or entirely auto. For example my father thought that auto was for dummies, and would have been offended to find an auto setting on the dial (he had a Minolta SRT-101 AFAIR). The K2 had floated the idea of combining auto and manual in one camera the year before, and the ME Super brought it to the M-series with significant success, despite its fiddly method of manual control.

Jude the Obscure said:

.. Hard to understand the K1000 cult following today.

..

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It's because back in the day, the K1000 was the cheapest, most basic 35mm SLR that Pentax made. Aimed at those on a tight budget and/or students. It was the beginner camera. If you could afford something better, you would get that.

Fast forward to today where people either forgot, or never knew that was the deal. Now you have people/youtubers/experts say it is the ultimate manual camera. Which has pumped up its price far beyond where its market originally was. There are so many better cameras than the K1000 that back in the day were much more expensive for that very reason, but due to myopic "influencers", are much cheaper now.
A Nikon FM and sometimes an FM2 can be had for the same or less. Nikon FE2. Pentax KX. Pentax K2. Pentax KM. Pentax ME Super. Any bunch of sweet Minoltas. etc.

But some youtube 'expert' says the K1000 is the camera - so many people follow. And in a way I don't fault them because they don't know any better,

Autonerd said:

I haven't given much thought to an LX... I'd probably buy one if money was no object, but they're expensive, troublesome, and Eric @ Pentaxs.com no longer repairs them. I don't care that much about the hybrid mechanical/electronic shutter (honestly I rather like electronic), and the way I see it the K2 does 90% of what the LX does for 30% of the price. But I think both would exceed the light weight that the OP is looking for.

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Huss said:

There’s a reason for that. He’s seen more and more broken ones, does not know how to fix them anymore with the limited supplies he has left. They have become the Contax T2 of SLRs.
It’s why I sold off mine, it was starting to get flaky.

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See, I just learned something potentially important. I've been gearing up to shoot film again, and Pentax is my brand for 35mm - I'd been planning on using Dad's old LX a lot, as I always did like that camera even more than my MX. If there's no one left to work on it, though... the LX may have to become a shelf decoration. That makes me a little sad. 8-(

Thar black ME Super and 50 1.4 look sleek! An ME Super was my first camera, so I have nostalgic feelings for it. But it died on me... I later got an MX, which I like less than I thought (stuff shutter speed dial two other posters in this here thread complain about, a bit too small, noisy, low eyepoint). I just realised I should probably have sold it a few months ago, when prices peaked... In Pentaxland, I like the Spotmatic a lot (keeping my broken specimen to get fixed if one day money is no object - yeah, that's certainly gonna happen...).
I also have what I believe is the Ricoh KR-10 someone else wrote about, by another name. It has a great feature set and ergonomics but feels plastic-y and messes up the frame spacing...
But I've drifted over to Minolta. IMHO the XD -11/XD-7 is the nicer electronic shutter camera (main minus being that it also lacks AE lock), I think I overall prefer the Minolta lenses over Pentax K mount lenses (at least the more easily available and affordable ones, I'd love a K 28 3.5 and an 85) and I have accumulated I nice little set of them. And they focus in the same direction as my ltm lenses.
But as much as I like these two underdog brands (I know I know, Pentax outsold Nikon at one point), I think the Nikon FE and FE2 are really the best package in this class of cameras...

Out of all the Pentaxes I've owned, I think my favorite was the K2. Just a really nice aperture priority camera that was built great - black paint over brass! - handled great and was very nice to use.