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10-16-2019, 07:59 AM - 1 Like   #16
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QuoteOriginally posted by rjm007 Quote
The LX is the obvious one to get for me but I'm not thrilled at spending $300+ on one. So I will either go modern like the Super Program or go full on manual retro and get an early black Spotmatic - or both
A KX is a good option, not much wrong with this body and it's very reliable.

Phil.

10-16-2019, 09:04 PM   #17
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QuoteOriginally posted by gofour3 Quote
A KX is a good option, not much wrong with this body and it's very reliable.

Phil.
100% agree.
Yes, the ME Super has a beautifully bright viewfinder and an exceptional focusing screen, but the previous ME let a lot of people down compared to the "K" cameras and aside from the new photocell the MX didn't offer much for the high price it sold for. During the OM camera imitation (downsizing) phase the Super was the ''bright" spot on the way to the LX. It was this confused model lineup with virtually no North American advertising that seemed to make a large part of the serious amateur and professional camera buying public no longer seriously consider Pentax other than for the "beginner" K1000.
It was much easier for us locally to sell the better featured and lower priced Ricoh k mount cameras instead.
Ricoh wasn't offering any breakthrough features though, only producing the XR-1 and XR-2 with features very similar to the just discontinued Pentax K models.
Then even the LX was never updated and always high-priced so it only appealed to an ever decreasing niche of dedicated Pentax users.
10-17-2019, 04:50 PM   #18
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Well if I've put a lowball offer in on a Super Program - if that comes in cheap I'll be able to start looking for a Spot of some vintage :-)
10-20-2019, 02:23 PM - 2 Likes   #19
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Well let's see.

I seem to have bought a Pentax Super Program camera and SMC-A 70-210 for the shipped price of $21

10-20-2019, 03:15 PM   #20
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QuoteOriginally posted by rjm007 Quote
I seem to have bought a Pentax Super Program camera and SMC-A 70-210 for the shipped price of $21
Nice!
10-20-2019, 05:25 PM   #21
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QuoteOriginally posted by rjm007 Quote
I seem to have bought a Pentax Super Program camera and SMC-A 70-210 for the shipped price of $21
oops, nice set at a great price, enjoy
10-20-2019, 09:36 PM - 1 Like   #22
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Ah, the ME Super--the first camera body that I owned outright.

I'd borrowed many SLRs over the years: a friend's Minolta SRT-101, another friend's Pentax K-1000, a friend's sister's Konica Autoreflex T3, my brother's Konica FS-1, my father's Kodak Retina Reflex S, and a coworker's Olympus OM-whatever. My coworker had dropped the camera and rendered it incapable of mounting a filter on its lens, which proved to be a no-no in the desert without any way of screening out UV radiation. When my slides came back overexposed, I decided to get my own camera system. Consumer Reports recommended the ME Super in 1984, so I snapped one up with a cheapo kit lens (which I replaced with a better lens within six months).

The ME Super was a delight to use, and the push buttons on the top plate and row of LEDs in the viewfinder tickled my technical side while I learned to use it to capture worthwhile photos. I added lenses and accessories, and the camera and I went everywhere. I only put it aside four years later when I started doing more flash photography and needed TTL metering (The people whose weddings I started photographing insisted on accurate exposures). The Super Program was a logical successor at that point, but the ME Super stuck around as a backup body. I still have it tucked away in a camera bag somewhere.

Fun fact: two weeks after I bought the ME Super in 1984, my friend showed up with $3,000.00 worth of high-end Nikon gear, including a Nikon F3HP, a brace of Nikkor lenses, a potato mashing Nikon SB-11 Speedlight, etc. My little ME Super looked pretty insubstantial next to all this equipment that would look at home in a National Geographic photographer's gear bag. However, after going on a number of vacations together and photographing the same subjects alongside each other, my friend and I reached the same conclusion: the slides taken with my ME Super looked just as good as the slides he took with his Nikon. That put the end to my wondering whether I should have purchased an LX instead.

Now that I've taken this trip down memory lane, I want to pull the ME Super out and see if it still works.

10-20-2019, 10:45 PM   #23
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QuoteOriginally posted by ecostigny Quote
Now that I've taken this trip down memory lane, I want to pull the ME Super out and see if it still works.
And there is the weak point of the ME Super. It is not built as well as the MX and has several design flaws with the advance winding. This results in winding on the film, but not cocking the shutter, Then there is the electronics controlling the speed. Both these problems struck my lightly used ME Super. The plastic program selector knob is press fit and has fallen of all my ME and ME Super examples. It is too lightly constructed for me, but the MX is another story, probably my favourite camera. But even the MX cant match the solidity of a Nikon or Nicomat from the seventies. So yes the ME Super concept is fine, but it wont last like a Spotmatic.
10-21-2019, 01:47 AM   #24
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QuoteOriginally posted by arnold Quote
And there is the weak point of the ME Super. It is not built as well as the MX and has several design flaws with the advance winding. This results in winding on the film, but not cocking the shutter, Then there is the electronics controlling the speed. Both these problems struck my lightly used ME Super. The plastic program selector knob is press fit and has fallen of all my ME and ME Super examples. It is too lightly constructed for me, but the MX is another story, probably my favourite camera. But even the MX cant match the solidity of a Nikon or Nicomat from the seventies. So yes the ME Super concept is fine, but it wont last like a Spotmatic.
I have far too many film cameras, according to SWMBO, but there are two I would feel naked without - Pentax ME Super and Fujica ST 801n. Yes I recognise all the build quality flaws in the MES, but when working they are simple lovely to use. I myself had the wind on issue 4 years ago, but sent the camera to Harrow Technical in the UK for repair and service (about £80). Yes it is more than you can pick one up for, but at least I have confidence it will last a good few years. I also like the MX - having two of them- and they are not without their own reliability issues - one has a slightly sticky shutter button so that the meter remains on, causing battery drain. The other's mirror return is unreliable, and it has already been serviced.
I am afraid when one falls in love with any of these old cameras, you must be prepared to put up with some issues at some point
10-21-2019, 04:34 AM   #25
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Any replacement body you purchase would likely need service as well.
Why not ask Eric Hendrickson if he can repair your beloved ME Super?

Chris
10-21-2019, 06:22 AM   #26
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My ME Super back door popped open while I was shooting outdoors. Fortunately its a roll of Kodak Gold and not something expensive.
10-21-2019, 03:11 PM   #27
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QuoteOriginally posted by ChrisPlatt Quote
Any replacement body you purchase would likely need service as well.
Why not ask Eric Hendrickson if he can repair your beloved ME Super?

Chris
Eric did the CLA on it a couple of years back. I'm loathe to commit more money to it as much as I love the model - my experience has been that it's not that reliable. Bear in mind that experience first started in the 80s when the camera was still a relative youngster. Now ? Well if it works it works but at 40 years old it doesn't owe me much more.
10-21-2019, 03:20 PM   #28
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I know the build quality wasn't up to some other models, and I did completely wear my original ME Super out, but I have four others that work fine. Some of the posts here make it sound dire, whereas it was what it was, a very popular comsumer model and one that is often still working fine.
10-21-2019, 04:22 PM   #29
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IIRC Eric was one of the few repairmen who could rebuild the ME Super shutter unit.
Most others would either exchange the whole assembly or call the camera unrepairable.

Chris
10-21-2019, 04:32 PM   #30
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QuoteOriginally posted by ChrisPlatt Quote
IIRC Eric was one of the few repairmen who could rebuild the ME Super shutter unit.
Most others would either exchange the whole assembly or call the camera unrepairable.

Chris
I had one with the “film winds, shutter won’t cock” problem and he sent it back unrepairable because it was an early production unit.

I’m not sure what the difference is...

-Eric
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