1/1000 at f11 with ISO 400 is a very very shiny day (f16 at 1/500).
Since we're talking about 35mm photography, i'd reply that if i'm going to shoot at such bright weather, i would rather use ISO 100 or even less. Hey, even ISO 25 would be just fine in those conditions.
In other words, if you have a sunny day, you'd be much better using slowed film.
Heck, out here in the desert, I have seen 1/1000 @ F8 with asa 100!
Pentax is a bit of a paradox to me. They have excellent lenses, which scream "high quality!" inside out, are optically and mechanically good and even their innards leave you with certain sense of satisfaction, if you disassemble them to service. As for the bodies, almost each one of them leaves you wishing for something more. Here are some that I had and got rid of, shaking my head with displease:
K2 - No doubt it's one of the best (if not the best) model of early seventies, has everything a user might want/need - DOF lever, Aperture priority, exposure compensation. The only downside is the absence of AE Lock, which was addressed in later DMD model. And of course the size.
KX - Still a bit item. I know that size is subjective, but I'd much rather have compact gear.
ME Super - this one was closest to my personal preference. Unfortunately I'm not a fan of button layout, preferring old fashioned dials and knobs, so it never stuck with me.
MX - price point is what I dislike and this might sound like a rant, but "fully mechanical" and "infinitely repairable" are not the arguments that would justify the price.
Whole P3/P3n/P3t series - no exposure compensation and no manual ISO input. I know it's an entry lever camera, but still.
Program A/Super A - Again, not a fan of buttons and these two are on the "taller" side.
So in the end, I stuck with Ricoh (not a Pentax) XR7 which has aperture priority, DOF lever, exposure compensation, AE lock and multiple exposure lever. At a price of it having plastic covers on top of metal body. Looks cheap, feels cheap, but works like a charm.
In the end, probably the best K-mount camera with Pentax engraved on it is LX. And while it doesn't have AE Lock either (Pentax, what were you thinking?!), it has just about everything one might want from camera. If only it wasn't so expensive. Although unlike with MX, this time price seems justified.
That's all quite very helpful, thank you.
I think I'll keep my eyes out for another ME Super or K2 is the price is right. Some of the prices these days seem absurd.
Many of these older lenses are superb. I think many of the D crowd fell for the advertising from the optics companies or convinced themselves that they "needed" brand new digitally optimized lenses or they would not be able to record enough megapixels, equivalence, sharpness or whatever. 50 years ago, we were told that a lens needed the word "color" to be suitable for color films. 40 years ago, it was "multi-coated". Then it was " stabilized." Well, that's OK, as long as it keeps the optical companies in business.the 50mm and 135mm lenses mounted to my Sony A7riii and am stunned that those older lenses can fully resolve a modern 42mp sensor.
But I'm much younger than that camera, so I have to face inflated prices on MX, which is perhaps reasonable on theone hand and absolutely senseless astronomical price on K1000, on the other hand, which was still in production when I was ten years old.The MX price was very reasonable in its time. It was about the same price as the KX and the original ME.
So if going back to late 70's when these cameras were introduced the MX was the good choice because 40 years later people still value it. The ME was a novel idea to provide AE at the same price at a manual camera is now not valued.But I'm much younger than that camera, so I have to face inflated prices on MX, which is perhaps reasonable on theone hand and absolutely senseless astronomical price on K1000, on the other hand, which was still in production when I was ten years old.
I think ME is not valued because there are tons of them and more importantly, it carries a rather weak package with aperture priority being its only shooting mode. And maybe because it's not trendy. Because some other similarly packed cameras cost a lot more and are sometimes ridiculously priced.So if going back to late 70's when these cameras were introduced the MX was the good choice because 40 years later people still value it. The ME was a novel idea to provide AE at the same price at a manual camera is now not valued.
I agree with you on that. I actually like a camera with electronically controlled shutter than a fully mechanical one. As for "infinitely repairable" I don't know because I can't really repair my cameras and sending it to someone else doesn't make sense.I think ME is not valued because there are tons of them and more importantly, it carries a rather weak package with aperture priority being its only shooting mode. And maybe because it's not trendy. Because some other similarly packed cameras cost a lot more and are sometimes ridiculously priced.
Again, "fully mechanical" and "infinitely repairable" are not valid arguments, in my opinion.
K2 - No doubt it's one of the best (if not the best) model of early seventies, has everything a user might want/need - DOF lever, Aperture priority, exposure compensation. The only downside is the absence of AE Lock, which was addressed in later DMD model. And of course the size.
KX - Still a bit item. I know that size is subjective, but I'd much rather have compact gear.
Whole P3/P3n/P3t series - no exposure compensation and no manual ISO input
You may find my comment ridiculous, but I'll still say it: I have small hands and I feel comfoetable with smaller cameras, like M series of Pentax and OM system of Olympus. Nikon FE was nice as well.K2 and KX are actually compact cameras (comapre them to a Canon F-1/Nikon F2 for example). They are of similar size to the Spotmatic. I'd say they have 'ideal' size while the MX is a true petite camera. There are people who prefer the bigger K-cameras to the smaller M-cameras (ME/MX/MG/MV) because the K-cameras are more comfortable in the hand. Certainly my Spotmatic is more ergonomic than my MX, however i prefer the MX because of the improvements elsewhere
For overall looks, I think the original Asahi K is the prettiest.
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