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Interesting "mixed bag" of Pentax gear likely "flying under the radar"
Posted By: fwcetus, 10-09-2017, 09:22 PM

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Vintage Pentax MEF 35mm Film Camera w/ Accessories | eBay

Says it's a "Vintage Pentax MEF 35mm Film Camera w/ Accessories", but someone might want this "mixed bag" ...



[EDIT : Disclaimer : BTW, I have no connection whatsoever with the seller.]

Last edited by fwcetus; 10-10-2017 at 07:30 AM.
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10-10-2017, 05:20 AM   #2
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Curious - an MEF (the Pentax that time forgot) but some LX accessories with it. Was it an LX kit but he sold the LX separately and has now thrown in the unloved MEF to move it along? Could be worth it anyway for the LX bits and other lenses alone. The base piece (aka camera bar) of the flash seems to be missing.
10-10-2017, 06:54 AM   #3
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Isn't the ME-F with that lens worth most of the price of that lot?
10-10-2017, 07:44 AM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by Lord Lucan Quote
Curious - an MEF (the Pentax that time forgot) but some LX accessories with it. Was it an LX kit but he sold the LX separately and has now thrown in the unloved MEF to move it along? Could be worth it anyway for the LX bits and other lenses alone. The base piece (aka camera bar) of the flash seems to be missing.

Yes, "curious" is the word. Perhaps the seller is not the user of that collection of Pentax gear (?).

The ME F certainly goes with the AF 35-70/2.8, but there otherwise definitely seem to be "remains" of an LX kit there, too.

I just happened to stumble across the listing with one of my usual routine ME F searches (since I have a pretty good collection of ME F gear).

I just posted the listing here since there might be somebody out there in Pentax Land that might want even just some of the items in that lot -- if they're all in good working condition, that BIN price might be very attractive for somebody.

10-10-2017, 07:46 AM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by timw4mail Quote
Isn't the ME-F with that lens worth most of the price of that lot?

For sure, ~IF~ they're in good condition and proper working order.
10-13-2017, 10:39 AM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by timw4mail Quote
Isn't the ME-F with that lens worth most of the price of that lot?
If in good+ condition and fully operational, probably.

The combo plus the SMC Tak 100 macro (1:2, but still desirable) is surely worth the price.

Add the Pelican case and the big stick AF400T flash (non-P-TTL, but still highly compatible with all Pentax K-mount bodies) and the package is quite attractive IMHO.


Steve

(...not in the market myself...too many film bodies of that vintage and don't need any of the rest of the stuff...)
10-13-2017, 12:51 PM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by timw4mail Quote
Isn't the ME-F with that lens worth most of the price of that lot?
I never realised that the MEF was sought after. Is it simply as a collector's rarity? Technically, it was a dead end; I have never handled one but Danilo Cecchi is pretty disparaging about them in his book on vintage Pentax cameras; he says that the focussing was slow, and that : "At the end of its brief and unsuccessful career the Pentax MEF was sold off at a lower price than the ME Super". Nevertheless, I believe it could do anything a ME Super could do (on which the design was obviously based), plus assisted focussing with any manual K-mount lens.

QuoteOriginally posted by fwcetus:
I have a pretty good collection of ME F gear
Was there anything other than the MEF body and its special 35-70mm zoom lens? An ever-ready case perhaps?

10-13-2017, 02:15 PM   #8
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Using manual focus lenses the ME-F is indeed an ME Super with focus confirmation.
The focus confirmation feature works very well with any lens I have mounted on mine.

Chris
10-14-2017, 07:09 AM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by Lord Lucan Quote
I never realised that the MEF was sought after. Is it simply as a collector's rarity?
I am not aware of any great collector demand for MEF's. However, it is a personal interest at least for one - me.

QuoteOriginally posted by Lord Lucan Quote
Technically, it was a dead end; I have never handled one but Danilo Cecchi is pretty disparaging about them in his book on vintage Pentax cameras; he says that the focussing was slow, and that : "At the end of its brief and unsuccessful career the Pentax MEF was sold off at a lower price than the ME Super".
It definitely was not a marketing success, although it was quite an engineering achievement. Its AF (using just one AF lens made for it - the AF 35-70/2.8, which optically was an excellent lens, BTW) was slow, certainly by later standards -- however, AF was slow on all of the early AF systems, whether they were in-camera or in-lens systems. And it is indeed true that, in the end, Pentax dumped the MEF's without the dwdixated AF lenses on the big mail order dealers, who ended up selling MEF's with 50mm lenses for bargain prices (which is maybe why one can find so many MEF's on eBay with M 50 or A 50 lenses attached).. Too bad.

QuoteOriginally posted by Lord Lucan Quote
Nevertheless, I believe it could do anything a ME Super could do (on which the design was obviously based), plus assisted focussing with any manual K-mount lens.
Quite true. And it is indeed fun to use its focus assist (i.e., focus confirmation) functionality oon al sorts of K-mount lenses.

QuoteOriginally posted by Lord Lucan Quote
Was there anything other than the MEF body and its special 35-70mm zoom lens? An ever-ready case perhaps?
Well, for the main items, I have a still-NIB chrome MEF, two (rare) black MEF's (mint condition), and a couple more old chrome MEF's (to serve as donor "parts bodies", just in case), and a couple of the AF 35-70/2.8 lenses in excellent condition. For some of the accessories, I have MEF eveready cases (both ones for small lenses and "big funny shaped ones" for the big AF 35-70/2.8 lenses), and dedicated lens cases that fit the oddly shaped AF 35-70/2.8 lenses, [And, Pentax did make MEF-specific cases -- while it is possible to "force-fit" an MEF body into a generic M-body case, the MEF is actually a little taller than an ME Super, hence the MEF-specific cases.]

Oh, and I have a few examples of some of the various Ricoh, Vivitar, and Tamron primitive built-in AF lenses, too.

Last edited by fwcetus; 10-14-2017 at 08:40 PM.
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