Originally posted by gordon_l34 I think that the Super A and Super Program are the same cameras, just different markets.
That is my understanding : "
Super Program" was for the USA market and "
Super A" was for elsewhere. According to Danilo Cecchi's book on Pentax cameras, the naming of the A Series got confusing, because Pentax introduced a cheaper version a year later which was called "
Program Plus" in the USA and "
Program A" elsewhere. They all looked similar too.
Based on the names, and the fact that it came out later, you might in the USA think the "
Program Plus" was better than "
Super Program". On the contrary, the
Program Plus/Program A had a slower shutter (1/1000 instead of 1/2000) a slower sync speed (1/100 instead of 1/125), lacked a shutter proirity mode and lacked TTL flash capability. I'm mentioning these points as the OP might not realise there are two such similar models around. He might be happy with a
Program A.
I never had an A-Series camera, but I had an ME Super and TBH I did not much like the push button method of changing shutter speed, a method which these A Series cameras continued. I have owned an LX and an MX.
The MX is a very good camera, but the LX and A-Series had the addition of auto mode(s) which is good to leave the camera set on in case you want to take a shot in a hurry. They also had old style TTL flash control which has never been bettered (DSLRs cannot do it). I also liked being able to change the LX viewfinder to a "waist level" as I do a fair amount of copying with the camera on a tripod on a table, and I don't want to have to use a stepladder to look in the viewfinder.