K1 viewfinder compared to ME-Super

I have a query about the K1. I have had an ME-Super since 1983 and loved the big bright viewfinder, which I took for granted until I moved to digital with the K20D. I have always thought the viewfinder on the K20, K5 and K3ii is very poor compared to the old film days. Is the K1, being FF comparable to the ME-Super?
What do you reckon?

The first thing is to make sure the dioptre adjustment is made correctly. This should be adjusted until the etched lines in the viewfinder are sharpest and is best done looking at a plain surface or an out of focus subject. Then, the Pentax cameras that use a proper glass pentaprism will look much better than the penta-mirrors used by many other manufacturers (and some of the lower cost Pentax bodies too).

The K-1 viewfinder is much larger, being full frame (and the K-3 III looks set to be larger still, despite being APS-C) and gives a view similar to any other pentaprism model, such as the ME Super. However, many lenses are zooms that are not as bright as older lenses used to be, so the comparison is best mad with, say, a 50mm f/1.4 lens. A zoom that is f/4-5.6 would always look darker anyway.

I'm very happy with the K-1 viewfinder, one of the plus points of using full frame.

+1 John.

Even though I no longer use a K-1, I was very happy with the viewfinder. It was especially good when coupled with the O-ME53 magnifier. It was definitely bright, comparable to some film cameras I've used.
It'll be worth noting what maximum aperture your lens on the ME Super had/has versus the K-3ii, too. If you're using an f/2.8 on the K3ii but used an f/1.4 on the ME Super, you'll have more light coming in through the viewfinder in the case of the latter.

Old thread but for future reference: The ME Super viewfinder is the best I have ever seen on any camera including medium format. It's exceptionally and weirdly good and the K1 viewfinder is way more dark and small (even with the exact same lenses)

Old threads never die, they just patiently wait!

The ME Super pentaprism was coated with silver, much brighter than the Aluminium used by many other cameras, including the lower cost ME series bodies.

The Pentax 6x7 viewfinder is pretty amazing as well.

The ME Super and ME F had very good viewfinders with 0.95% magnification and 92% coverage, better than the original ME (0.87/92%)

Best of all in the manual focus era of SLR's from Pentax was the MX at 0.97magnification and 95% coverage.

How about the Pentax LX - if you use the waist level FF-1 finder the claimed magnification is 1.05x and there is less light loss from the mirrors in conventional viewfinders

The MX really is a joy to look through Peter

I agree with you guys, the MX viewfinder is a joy to use, especially for my ageing eyes.

From memory, the MX has near 100% coverage and near 1.0x magnification and with a 50mm lens was designed/could be be used with both eyes open.