[vladimiroltean]

Wow, really? It's the 55 with reversed aperture ring, and green R SV. Yes, I'm planning a CLA for all of my film bodies, but not now I doubt it's infested with fungus, or even scratched, but the shutter MAY have a problem, needs to be film tested to be sure. I think I'll give this camera to my younger brother, he'll love it.

[stevebrot]

Wow, really? It's the 55 with reversed aperture ring, and green R SV. Yes, I'm planning a CLA for all of my film bodies, but not now I doubt it's infested with fungus, or even scratched, but the shutter MAY have a problem, needs to be film tested to be sure. I think I'll give this camera to my younger brother, he'll love it.

Cool! Early black SV with appropriate 55/1.8! You may rethink passing the camera on to your brother if you shoot with it some. The balance on the SV is superb!


Steve

[sunnycamera]

Autofocus Film Pentax Setup: Tamron SP17-35 f2.8-4 with Pentax MZ-5n w grip





8mm f3.5 Bower fish eye
17-35mm f2.8-4 Tamron SP AF
35-70mm f2.8-3.5 Pentax M
70-210mm f4 Pentax A
400mm f5.6 Tokina RMC
2x Vivitar Macro PKA TC

Phenix 28-135 f3.8-5.2
Phenix 50mm f1.7

[ElStellino]

Lovely!


Do you have a source for those little leatherette wrappers designed to protect the top plate from the strap rings? I haven't been able to find them online, but it might just be because I don't know what they're called, or if they even have a name.

Late reply, but I do:
http://www.horusbennu.com/product/product_list.html?page=4&category_id=4520


In red, or brown, or black

[unixrevolution]

Wow, really? It's the 55 with reversed aperture ring, and green R SV. Yes, I'm planning a CLA for all of my film bodies, but not now I doubt it's infested with fungus, or even scratched, but the shutter MAY have a problem, needs to be film tested to be sure. I think I'll give this camera to my younger brother, he'll love it.

I think it's a good idea for all of us to have our favorite mechanical bodies CLA'd, while the service is available and affordable.

[revdocjim]

I think it's a good idea for all of us to have our favorite mechanical bodies CLA'd, while the service is available and affordable.

While I agree in principle and was very happy with the work Eric did on my ESII, you can read a rather entertaining counterpoint to the CLA business, particularly as it relates to Leica rangefinders here.

[unixrevolution]

While I agree in principle and was very happy with the work Eric did on my ESII, you can read a rather entertaining counterpoint to the CLA business, particularly as it relates to Leica rangefinders here.

I agree that servicing a perfectly functional Leica every time it changes hands is extreme, and that coming apart and going back together again too often is worse than never giving it a CLA at all. But most of our Pentax and other mechanical bodies are running on their factory builds, and if they don't need to be cleaned, lubed and adjusted now, they will in the future.

Even a stone-cold reliable Pentax can't go 30 years between CLA's without something going squidgy. Besides, if you are taking photos with your 30-year old Pentax, don't you want to be sure it won't quit halfway through your once-in-a-lifetime trip to Groovefunkistan? Now is the time for us to send in our 25, 30, 40, 50 year old Pentaxes, especially if they've never been serviced. Don't wait for it to break!

Now, I do have a Leica, and I did get it CLA'd when I took ownership. But it was a 1957 M2, and the CLA it got when I bought it was the first one it'd ever had. The vulcanite was peeling, the RF was a little off, the shutter was sticky down low. It needed it. Plus, i could feel grit when I moved the advance lever. That's never good!

[rjpinaz]

I just bought a Pentax ME Super at an estate sale for $35. The best part - attached to it was an SMC Pentax-A 1:1.4 50mm lens.
Camera has a few dings on the base, but appears to be in good working order.

[revdocjim]

unix, you certainly don't have to convince me. As I said, I'm in agreement. I just found Dante's rant rather entertaining as I do most of his stuff, and thought others might enjoy reading it.

[Weber]

I just bought a Pentax ME Super at an estate sale for $35. The best part - attached to it was an SMC Pentax-A 1:1.4 50mm lens.
Camera has a few dings on the base, but appears to be in good working order.

Damn, that's an amazing deal. I've never seen even that lens alone being sold for that price.
I did get my own ME Super (body only) for $40 though, still not much of a wallet burn

[Jonathan Mac]

Damn, that's an amazing deal. I've never seen even that lens alone being sold for that price.
I did get my own ME Super (body only) for $40 though, still not much of a wallet burn

The wallet-burn comes later when you have to have the seals replaced or a CLA done...

[Jonathan Mac]

My recent film acquisitions: P30, KX and SP1000. The P30 sports the Ricoh 50mm f/2, and together they're a very light & compact SLR setup. The SP1000 has the best-sounding shutter I've ever heard, especially at 1/60s (for some reason better than at other shutter speeds).

[vladimiroltean]

As promised, here are some shots of the new camera. Unfortunately, I haven't taken yet THE shot of it (I don't have a flash handy at the moment), so these are only some available light tries.
Here's the lens, which was dirty, but I don't think it has any permanent mark at all on the glass:

The reversed aperture ring:

Here's the only significant cosmetic flaw that I could find. It appears that this camera had an external meter at some point in time, which marred the black paint on the pentaprism.



Here are all 3 of our Pentaxes:

And here's my bro using it. I'm curious to see how will the film turn out.

[kaiserz]

Dang that's hot!

[samtr87]

Not a Pentax, but it's film. I have been looking for an auto exposure film slr for a while, and can't afford/justify getting a vintage Pentax (ME). Went into Goodwill today and found this for $6. Was afraid it wasn't going to work but after cleaning up the corrosion in the battery compartment, it came to life. It will add nicely to my SP500 and Ricoh Kr-5.