Pentax ME Super 35mm SLR Camera Package

Product Information

The best Pentax K mount lenses are separated by type of photography and price. There are a number proposed alternatives to select from that have a wide range of prices suited to the value of the camera. Standard Focal Length Lenses While not a perfectly composed image by any stretch of the imagination, it succeeded in its intended goal of highlighting the differences between each lens. And the differences between the lenses were more significant than I had imagined. I should say I was also really surprised by some of the results. The ME Super offers everything I love about the original ME plus that manual mode. But I’d hardly use manual mode (if this ME Super’s Auto mode were working). I prefer aperture-priority shooting and use it nearly exclusively on every SLR I own that is so equipped.

The Lomography Atoll 17mm f/2.8 M-mount lens: Get close to your subject. No, closer. No, really, get a bit closer… I’d definitely love to see this being produced again since Pentax has announced they could be producing film cameras again. I think the key thing that lets the ME Super down is that it’s hard to come by one that works properly, due to its electronic shutter. If Pentax produced this again, I think it’d be an amazing go-to camera for street photography.Some people online have encountered balsam separation of the front doublet. This is worrying because even a little bit of separation will expand gradually and make it unusable. If you see any evidence of balsam separation, avoid that copy and keep looking. Vivitar 55mm f/2.8 Macro Vivitar 55mm f/2.8 Macro

That’s a purely subjective comment and, in my subjective opinion, is an example of post modernism that serves no one well. The quality of lenses and how that is measured has been largely understood and accepted for decades. There may be one or two criteria that people might argue about – whether high resolution or high contrast is more important to the final image, for instance – but it’s most definitely not the case that “everything is in the eye of the beholder”. The important parameters can be empirically tested and measured. Putting it bluntly, Leica lenses are expensive because they are recognised as the best or, at least, right up there with the best. Crappy lenses are much cheaper because they’re crappy. Ahh yes the ME… In fact all Pentax of the 70’s and 80’s were pretty wonderful. My first pro’ kit was 2x MX, with the ME Super coming along as a 21st birthday present. I’ve still got em all, beautifully made, tiny, and for me, nicer than the acclaimed Olympus OM (which I also bought, enjoyed very much, but sold). Lastly, the SMC Pentax-M 50/1.4. In practice, it’s a little too wild wide open but once you stop it down to f/2 things look really good, especially if you dig the bubbly type of bokeh. In fact, the nice circular bokeh balls are visible all the way up to f/4. I think this lens at f/2.8 might be my favorite image of the whole test and would be a clear choice if bokeh was your thing. This camera has the perfect weight. Doesn't bother me when it's dangling from my shoulder & is nice and stable when shooting. I normally only take the 28mm (f 3.5 K version - yes!) and just leave it on the body. Shooting makes a lot less noise than with my old friend, the KX. The ME definitely is more suitable for street photography. The problem became even more clear when finishing the roll shooting with a 20mm Pentax-M lens. With such a wide field of view, even with the few shots I took, I found the centre of the frame – and therefore the area the camera was metering from – was pointing at the sky and thus throwing the exposure out. Again, I overcame this by switching to manual, but it felt far to clunky having to do so. Letting the meter to its own thing here resulted in under exposure – despite much of the tree being in the centre.How to change the aperture? The aperture is found on the lens, in this case, it goes from F1.7 – 22, you can change the aperture by rotating this ring and your light meter will respond to any change in the aperture by reducing or increasing the shutter speed. The other numbers which are further along the lens relate to how close or far away you are focusing. On this lens, the blue numbers or Feet and the beige numbers are Meters, this lens can focus from 0.45 meters to infinity. Pentax ME Super Camera In the event of battery failure, the camera can continue to operate at a shutter speed of 1/125 of a second. This feature was lost in later, more fully automatic models such as the Pentax Super-A, contributing to the long-lasting popularity of the ME Super. Two LR44 (or equivalent) batteries power the camera. It's super compact, lightweight, has a huge viewfinder magnification, reliable lightmeter and was a great budget camera when it was sold new. I loaded up my trusty Pentax ME Super (probably my favorite aperture priority camera of all time) with some Fuji Superia 400 (which is my favorite 400 ASA budget color negative film right now) and got down to business. The spilt micro-prism was a pain for me and unlike the MX could not be replaced. At the time I much preferred the OM-1n and even an OM-40 I had was better to use.

Be aware that vintage wide angle lenses don’t have all the corrections that modern wide angle lenses have. The issue you are most likely to see with older wide angles is going to be apparent barrel distortion.One of the reasons that the K1000 is probably worth more is due to its simple ‘no frills’ style, reliability and the fact that you can still use it without a light meter. Perhaps the ME Supers price is reduced slightly due to its very common electrical problems. The lens is electrical rather than mechanical and over time a lot of them have a common issue that isn’t easy to fix and it’ll probably cost you more than the camera’s worth to get a professional to do so. You may always need to do minor repairs on any old camera no matter the condition unless it has been serviced or refurbished before the sale. Common jobs include replacing crumbling light seals or lubing internal mechanisms that have dried out. How do you upload your film photos to a computer?/What do you recommend for a low budget novice such as myself?

There are plently of telephoto lenses to select from. 85mm and focal lengths longer than 135mm are going to be higher priced. I reach for my Pentax ME all the time because it’s small (for a 35mm SLR), light, and easy to use. It is an aperture-priority camera, meaning that after you set the aperture, the camera reads the light and sets the shutter speed. I recommend the ME because they are inexpensive and fun to use. If you want that but you simply must have full control over exposure, then the 1979-84 Pentax ME Super is for you. There are plenty of wider Pentax focal lengths to select from, but they’re frequently significantly higher priced or third-party options have visible amounts of barrel distortion. Also, it is easy to see chromatic aberrations and other optical flaws in third-party lenses. More Options

SMC Pentax 50mm f/1.2

For the past few years, I’ve been shooting a Pentax Super Program as my primary camera. It’s been a great travel companion and I’m happy to have one in my collection. Having put numerous rolls of film through the Super Program, I started to feel qualified to share my thoughts about this camera. So here they are. In 1976, alongside the quintessential K1000, Pentax had lined itself with the electronic era by presenting the ME and thereafter the ME Super. Petite SLR cameras, with a futuristic-looking control panel on top. Not sure what was the rationale behind it, as it made a simple shooting complex. Content contributor - become a part of the world’s biggest film and alternative photography community blog. All our Contributors have an ad-free experience for life. Keep collections to yourself or inspire other shoppers! Keep in mind that anyone can view public collections - they may also appear in recommendations and other places. You can set this zoom to 40mm exactly, i like this 40 mm focal length, and the results are wonderful.