Originally posted by johnha The only camera not yet mentioned that might be an option is the original P30 - the only issue perhaps is it's reliant on DX coding. The body is mostly metal (only the top-plate & finger grip seem to be plastic), it has a shutter speed dial, meter lock (a rarity in Pentax MF bodies), takes a mechanical cable release and shouldn't be hard to find for a reasonable price. The later P30n/T are probably more plasticky.
RIght, I forgot about it and frankly I thought it was plastic judging from the pictures. Looks can be deceiving.
Originally posted by LesDMess The XR7 is a good alternative to the ME Super with having traditional controls. Unlike the ME Super, it is fully battery dependent with no mechanical speed available when they die. I managed to get mine in the price range you are looking for although I didn't encounter it often.
You'll notice in the ad it states, aluminum diecast body and not plastic. It is well built and feels good in quality.
Another member here - Steve, has a collection of Ricohs ->
3rd Party K-mount Cameras
---------- Post added 09-17-18 at 07:58 PM ----------
I have an X-700 given to me by a friend and it is clearly the most advanced manual focus camera I have with remote and intervalometer back. If you prefer a better feeling/built body then the XD-11 or XE-7 might be a consideration.
I find the XE-7 to have the smoothest film advance of any camera I have tried. It really does have to be tried.
---------- Post added 09-17-18 at 08:03 PM ----------
It is too bad that your OM bodies have that issue. Otherwise, I would be hard pressed to trade mine for any other system especially because of the spot metering mode which I prefer to use.
Not that I would trade any of mine even if none of them are perfect . . .
All are valid points, I should look at old washed-out ads more often than I do now. The one and only Ricoh I ever held belongs to my friend and it's KR5 Super II, a rather loud and clunky mechanical camera. But if I recall correctly ME Super was also noisy.
I can't really tell what I did not like about X-700. Function-wise it is good, although "P" mode is not something I would use and therefore X-570 would suffice. 4 seconds maximum automatic shutter speed is a tad small, I used cable release and bulb mode quite often. "A" mode lock was something I never got used to, even though I understand the reason behind it.
None of my current OM bodies have the issue, but I had several OM-1, OM-2, one OM-2s in the past and more than enough quantity of them suffered from the issue. I had to change idler gears to get rid of the problem. And I fully agree about spot metering mode, that is the only feature which will truly be missed by me. However, I will still have Nikon F80 so if uncertain or in the need of Spot meter, I can use it.
I think I will settle for ME Super again, or for MX if I find either of those at a price seemingly reasonable for me. But from what I've researched so far, obtaining lenses for cheap is much more difficult than finding a body.