| Author: | | Loyal Site Supporter Registered: May, 2013 Location: North Potomac, MD Posts: 1,427 | | Review Date: November 17, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $10.99
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Lightweight, Easy to use, Dedicated Flash Capability | | Cons: | None when used within its limitations | |
Excellent walkabout camera with no frills. When operated within the limitations it was designed for, it works marvelously. It has the "feel" of a less-robust build quality than it's ME predecessor, but in actual use, it seems equally capable longevity-wise. I think of the MG as an enhanced version of the MV-1, doing all the MV-1 does with shutter speed info in the viewfinder.
One plus not previously mentioned is the MG's capability to be used with Pentax dedicated flash units (specifically the AF-200S[or T], AF-160, AF-280T, and the AF-080C Ring Light). You are provided with a flash ready light (and X indicator) in the viewfinder with the shutter in AUTO mode. You get automatic synchronization for flash on charging.
Overall a fun camera to use!
| | | | | | | New Member Registered: November, 2013 Posts: 14
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 18, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $25.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | good manual SLR, very clear viewfinder | | Cons: | none, perhaps lack of aperture indication in viewfinder | |
a pure Pentax for those who love simple photography. beautifull colored time indication in viewfinder
if batteries of digital are empty, give it a chance
1/100 sec and B without batteries possible
winder as option
I use it when wide angle of real 20mm is needed (full size)
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: June, 2020 Location: Bristol Posts: 25 | | Review Date: June 8, 2020 | Recommended | Price: $50.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Light weight. The viewfinder. Simplicity. | | Cons: | No manual control. Bit of mirror slap on return. 25 is lowest ASA. | |
I got my MG body for about half the going rate of an ME Super after my Super's electronics died. It's worth consideration as an alternative to the Super.
It's more or less the same camera, but slightly lighter, slightly newer. Of course no manual control but I can live without that, I'm ok with turning the ASA dial to overexpose a bit. I think I prefer this simple way of adjusting to setting ASA and exp comp separately. However, if you regularly use 50 ASA film this could be a problem, as you'll be limited to one stop of over exposure.
I think this combined dial was well designed. One video review of the MG wrongly said you need to risk accidentally opening the film door to check the inner dial for the film's actual ASA. It's not obvious from a top view of MG body, but the inner dial marker is visible without lifting the rewind spool at all - just tilt the body away from you 30 degrees or so and the inner orange marker is clearly visible.
I put the viewfinder as a pro because for the long sighted like me, the MG works better than the ME Super. The Super's viewfinder covers a slightly wider range, but I use an M diopter correction lens, which makes the image bigger. On the Super that means it's harder to see the whole frame and the exposure metering without moving the camera around so I can take in both left and right. Because the MG viewfinder is slightly smaller, I see the whole frame in one, so that's not a problem. So for me, the MG makes it slightly easier to focus and compose the shot.
Another advantage of the MG over the Super is it doesn't have the fiddly black button that releases the shooting mode switch on the Super. On my Super that was becoming increasingly sticky and seemed doomed to fail one day. Ok so the MG lacks a shutter lock, but so far I've not accidentally fired a shot, so again, a win for the MG in my book.
The shutter does sound a little different - slightly noisier on the MG. Apparently they have the same shutter mechanism. But putting the two side by side I can see the little metal arm the mirror rests on is slightly thicker on the MG than the Super, so that might be the reason for the extra noise, and slight extra bounce when the mirror comes back down.
The MG may not be a forgotten classic, but a good condition one at the right price has plenty of plus points.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: July, 2010 Location: Yorkshire Posts: 1,501
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 24, 2013 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Very small... Very easy... | | Cons: | Lacks full control - Av-Only camera | |
Got mine with an M50-1.7 for 20 quid... Now paired up with an M40-2.8... Very small indeed!!
Great little camera for street shooting... People don't even notice it's there...
Drawback is that it's aperture-priority only... NO SHUTTERSPEED CONTROL...
Much quicker to use than the MX but not quite as much fun...
Also a tad on the plastiky side yet stil of a fairly solid build...
I tend to load it up with 400speed film, stick the lens at f8 and just go for it!
For the price these go at they are truly a bargain; if only for the lens that's often attached... But like all Pentax SLRs of this era, it's a good looking camera...
Here it is with the now sold Orange-ME-Super sporting its Purple leather
 | | | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: October, 2012 Location: Colorado Posts: 1,437
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 4, 2014 | Not Recommended | Price: $10.88
| Rating: 5 |
| Pros: | Small, accurate meter | | Cons: | Fully automatic, no flash PC ports, limited ISO range, worst type of focusing screen | |
The MG is a scaled-down version of the ME Super, if I recall correctly. It's light and small and it's not unpleasureable to use. I, however, don't like automatic-only cameras and I admit to having a bias against the smaller M-series cameras to begin with.
The MG is like every other M-series camera except the MX. The MG is light, but it doesn't handle well. The lightness, to me, actually makes it harder to use because it seems more prone to mirror shake. Also, many of the lenses I use feel unbalanced on these lighter bodies. That includes the SMC-A 50mm f2.
The MG would be good for a first-time user who wants to take snapshots and have access to an array of lenses, but beyond that it's hard to use for regular, everyday work if you enjoy the freedom of greater control from cameras like the K series and Spotmatics. So, no, I can't honestly say that I'd recommend this to most users.
 | | | | | Loyal Site Supporter Registered: January, 2008 Location: Paris, TN Posts: 3,349
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 3, 2009 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: N/A |
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Quiz: What was the lightest "real" M-body package?
Ans: The MG with an SMC-A 50/2.0 at < ~535 grams/~1lb 3oz -- and the M /1.7 only added another 20 grams/< 1 oz.
For me, this was the perfect daylight walk-about package. If I'd had the money to get a pancake-40 it would have quite literally been a pocket camera. Pentax build quality and compact handling and all the functionality I needed short of doing special projects or low-light situations (I never cared much for flash but the shoe was there if needed).
With an M-mode lens it was as simple as it gets -- with hyper-focal distance set and the most likely Sunny-Sixteen aperture pre-selected for DOF control few situations needed more than a tweak of the focus or aperture rings. Exposure compensation? Use the ASA dial. And it used the ME Winder too.
The ME and ME-Super added a bit of functionality but at the price of additional complexity -- I seemed to always have to THINK about what to set with them while I always KNEW what was about to happen with the MG.
I got carried away once and put an SMC-A 1:4 /35~70 on one of the MG's. Should have been a sweet combination, and it worked with an ME-S, but all it did was mess up my simple habit patterns with the MG.
I did sort of miss the larger view finder of the ME's (.85 vs. .92 x-factor) but the lighter weight had to come from some compromise and younger eyes and snappy focusing primes got the job done anyway.
I eventually wore out one black body, sold another one and still have a nearly pristine MG sporting an M 50/1.7 sitting where it's handy should I ever have the urge to burn a roll of film again. I occassionally run "fire drills" with it just to confirm the old habits are still alive.
This was the camera that went out the door with me unless there was a good reason for something more complex. While not the most USEFUL camera, I voted this one "Miss Congeniality".
H2
Added pictures of a black MG with Winder ME 2 grip and a size comparison with K1000.
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