PentaxForums.com - View Single Post - Will i have fun with a Pentax Super Program

Douglas_of_Sweden · 05-04-2008, 06:54 AM

The Super A was my primary camera from 1984 to 1997, except for nature or other potentially wet jobs for which I had the LX from 1991. Compact as it was I carried it with me basically everywhere, for street photos, partys, travel, whatever. Lots of brass shining through the black color nowadays, but it still goes like a clockwork. And when I went to the north pole in 1991 it kept even steps with the LX (had color slides in one of them and black and white in the other), despite harsh weather conditions, not malfunctioning even ones (lost the figures on the lcd when it got really cold). Of course you never know with 2nd hand, you could get a bad copy, or the previous owner may have spilled champaign in it without telling you, but of all the 2nd hand lenses and cameras I have got, only one have dissapointed me, a Rikkenon fish eye where the aperture didn't work, which was a pity. It is of course a random when the electronics will give up. They will sooner or later. But both my Super A and Program A works today, even the little lcd display.
I would not goo for the A3/A3000, or the P30 which I think is also related, because I think Pentax was basically reselling the same concept again, but cutting costs by cutting quality. Better buy the older ones that was better built from the beginning.

If you get it you should start looking for A lenses, and except for the A*s, they are not soo bloody expensive and there are many good options. I can recommend the A50/1.7 (which some people hold as better than many 50/1.4) and the very compact A100/2.8. Those two lenses were with me and the Super A everywhere, at least until my A*135/1.8 came into the picture. For pentax A wide angles I can't recommend anything from personal experience, as I ended up buying a cosina "A"28 as a temporary solution when I was running out of money and found it so good (although plastic) that I kept it. There are plenty of review here at this forum and elsewhere, and several nice 24, 28 or 35 options. I don't know about zooms from that generation since I was strongly anti-zoom at that time and would not have touched one even if given to me for free (one do grow wiser with time, and I think zoom were not so good then, in difference to primes).

Good luck!

05-04-2008, 06:54 AM	#10
Douglas_of_Sweden Loyal Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Stockholm Gallery Photos: 51 Posts: 383	The Super A was my primary camera from 1984 to 1997, except for nature or other potentially wet jobs for which I had the LX from 1991. Compact as it was I carried it with me basically everywhere, for street photos, partys, travel, whatever. Lots of brass shining through the black color nowadays, but it still goes like a clockwork. And when I went to the north pole in 1991 it kept even steps with the LX (had color slides in one of them and black and white in the other), despite harsh weather conditions, not malfunctioning even ones (lost the figures on the lcd when it got really cold). Of course you never know with 2nd hand, you could get a bad copy, or the previous owner may have spilled champaign in it without telling you, but of all the 2nd hand lenses and cameras I have got, only one have dissapointed me, a Rikkenon fish eye where the aperture didn't work, which was a pity. It is of course a random when the electronics will give up. They will sooner or later. But both my Super A and Program A works today, even the little lcd display. I would not goo for the A3/A3000, or the P30 which I think is also related, because I think Pentax was basically reselling the same concept again, but cutting costs by cutting quality. Better buy the older ones that was better built from the beginning. If you get it you should start looking for A lenses, and except for the As, they are not soo bloody expensive and there are many good options. I can recommend the A50/1.7 (which some people hold as better than many 50/1.4) and the very compact A100/2.8. Those two lenses were with me and the Super A everywhere, at least until my A135/1.8 came into the picture. For pentax A wide angles I can't recommend anything from personal experience, as I ended up buying a cosina "A"28 as a temporary solution when I was running out of money and found it so good (although plastic) that I kept it. There are plenty of review here at this forum and elsewhere, and several nice 24, 28 or 35 options. I don't know about zooms from that generation since I was strongly anti-zoom at that time and would not have touched one even if given to me for free (one do grow wiser with time, and I think zoom were not so good then, in difference to primes). Good luck! __________________ Too many lenses, too little time.