[RJC]

Hello. I'm completely new on this forum, so my apologies in advance I've landed in the wrong thread.

I have a Pentax ME Super that began malfunctioning tonight. I saw forum member UMC's Pentax ME Super repair notes, which were great, and thought I could ask him for some advice, but being a new forum member, I can't send a private message to him without doing having submitted at least one post, so here it is.

The aperture coupling ring on the body is binding. The camera has been stored in a dry environment at room temperature since I bought the camera body more than 10 years ago on eBay. Where I live is a semi-arid environment so moisture and corrosion is not a factor. I didn't use the camera until a few weeks ago when I put on a newer Pentax zoom lens from a Pentax PZ-20 that I have. Anyway, I shot a few rolls of film with the ME Super and the camera performed very well.

Today, I put a new-to-me Pentax M 50 mm f/1.4 on the Super for the first time. After taking the lens on an off a few times (I was doing the testing and swapping the lens between the ME Super body and an ME body), I noticed the metered shutter speed on the ME Super did not change when the lens was stopped down past about f/11. After some more testing to diagnose the problem, it just got worse, and the aperture coupling ring will now hardly move. Furthermore, the metal tab on the coupling ring that couples to the lens is slightly bent in the direction of travel. I think I bent it when I had trouble removing the lens because the coupling ring was binding and stopping the lens from completely rotating for removal from the camera. I had to use a small bit of excess force to rotate the lens during removal, and that's likely when the coupling tab got a bit bent. Note that the two Pentax lenses I have both work fine, and neither of them have any problem on the Pentax ME body that I also have. So, it's not a lens problem.

Does anyone have any words of wisdom regarding what I should do next? I had my first ME Super back in the 1980s but it was stolen many years ago and so I was really hoping to use this replacement ME Super. Would this ME Super be worth repairing, and if so where, or should I be looking for another one?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Ron

[UMC]

Hi Ron, welcome to the forum! I must confess, my last repair on a ME series camera was many years ago and I never dealt with problems on the aperture simulator (although my ME super has some internal contact problems there). Given the high availability and the low price level of ME supers on the 2nd hand market, I doubt that repair other than DIY makes sense.

[aslyfox]

Welcome to the forums

you will find friendly members and knowledge here

I think you are doing the right thing with your post

in addition to sending the PM, you might want to post a similar question in these threads:

Troubleshooting and Beginner Help - PentaxForums.com

Repairs and Warranty Service - PentaxForums.com

[RJC]

Thanks for the info UMC and aslyfox. As an update, it turns out that the aperture coupler ring tab was binding against the inside wall of the lens mount (on the camera). I'm still not sure how a few lens changes would have done that, but anyway, I took a small screwdriver (small like for eyeglasses work) and got it between the tab and the camera body an bent the tab ever so slightly back out. The coupler ring now moves, so I'm back in business. The tab still has a slight bend in it along the direction of rotation. The top of the tab is off from perpendicular by about 1 mm or less at the top of the tab, but the coupler ring moves now. The bent tab will thus be giving a slightly incorrect aperture reading to the camera. I shot one roll of b&w with it yesterday, and the negatives are slightly thin, but that may be because I went with a very thin HC-110 developer dilution. I'll develop the next roll and go back to HC-110 dilution B to determine if it is the camera or if it was the thin developer dilution that cause the thin negatives.

[Ray-uk]

The tab you are talking about is actually fixed onto the ring below with 2 screws so you should be able to take it off and straighten it properly.
You may need to unscrew the lens mount to get decent access but this would be helpful because it would enable you to lubricate the ring, it is quite common for the oil to dry out on this ring which makes the movement of the ring very sluggish and can lead to exposure problems and lens jamming.

[mkgd1]

Glad you fixed your camera, welcome to the forum.