ME and MX

Hi,

Just browzing the Pentax Time Line and noticed that the Pentax ME (Amateur) and MX(Professional) were introduced in 1976 and ran to 1980 and 1985 respectively.

Was there a huge difference in quality between the two? It would appear that the ME was the least popular of the two and was dropped after only 4 years while the MX had a 9 yr run.

Also, was there a big difference in initial price or in the basic lens offered?

Thank's as usual

Firstly, there is absolutely no difference in quality of results from the two cameras. Both have the same type of silver-coated pentaprism for brighter viewing. The ME is auto-only (Seiko MFC vertical metal shutter) and the MX is manual only (conventional but compact horizontal run rubberised silk shutter) Both use the new GPD cells for exposure measurement.

When first introduced, the ME was often coupled with the SMC Pentax-M 40mm f2.8 at, I think, £199.95. The MX was usually with the SMC Pentax-M 50mm f1.7 at I think £219.95. Black finish added perhaps another £10 to either. There was also £10 difference with the two lenses.

The ME was not so much dropped as it evolved into the ME Super. In fact the ME/ME Super variants well outsold the MX.

I think the ME was much MORE popular, in terms of the number sold. It was upgraded to the ME Super, which was one of the most popular SLR cameras of all time.

It's fair to say that the MX was very popular too, but with photographers who on the whole were more knowledgeable, and therefore less numerous, than the average ME/ME Super owner.

The final, and best, camera in the ME line was the Super A. Although supposedly a different range altogether, the Super A is effectively an ME Super with all possible exposure modes.

I owned all three, and the Super A is clearly superior to the other two. My favourite Pentax body.

G

It's worth mentioning that the new electronic shutter in the ME and variants set new standards of accuracy, and 1/2000 second could for the first time be reliably expected to give a run time of 0.5ms, or exactly 1/2000 sec.

For this reason (and probably the expense of doing it) modern camera testers rarely bother to test the shutter speeds of new cameras....In fact, come to think of it they don'y test much really, most tests reading more as reviews. A long way from the USA magazines of yesteryear which even partly dimantled cameras to check on the construction and design quality!

Thank you Gentlemen, for the insight, history and experience.

Now I quest for an ME Super A as my step further from my M42s. All this to own a 50mm 1:1.7 lens on a remarkable body.

" some of that, and some of that, and oohhh, sommoradat! ".

George, I think I'm becomming a gear head. Ain't it great?

Cheers

If you come across a Pentax 'Super Program' its the US version of the Super A (no ME prefix). A brilliant piece of kit and my introduction to Pentax back in 1983 when I bought mine. Happy days . . . we are now sadly parted

Thanks to Ebay, I am now reunited with a Super A, as well as an SPII. Both cost very little, I'm happy to say.

And, Mac, you're on the road to ruin, I'm sorry to tell you. You have a disease, and it's virtually incurable.

G

And, Mac, you're on the road to ruin, I'm sorry to tell you. You have a disease, and it's virtually incurable.
It's called GAS and as George says it is incurable

Kim

Gear Acquisition Syndrome?

G

That's the one! Quite often fueled by that auction site

Kim

Exactly one year ago, a friend sold me a black Cyrilic - lettered Zenit SLR with a Helios lens - my first ever SLR. I had been using TLR and rangefinders up until then. I fell head over heels for the whole WISIWIG idea and went nuts - Chinon, Mamiya/Sekor, Hakiri, Tamron, Tokina, Vivitar etc.. Then I stumbled upon a beautiful little Spotmatic SP from an artist in British Columbia. Pow! Once I held that camera and lens, I was smitten. In the past few months, my quest has been M42 gear and for the most part I've done very well and am doing my best to populate the Pentax Screwmount Database single handed.

Now you tell me I've got terminal GAS.

Well, so be it!

I've got all the guitars I'll ever need, and I never liked golf.

So, I spell relief - PENTAX!

And damn the torpedos

Mac,

You might like golf better if you tried playing with clubs instead of guitars.

I bet you get a lovely noise when you drive, though.

G

Goerge,

Yup. I take full credit for "Ping".

It was a Wilson Staff ball off a high tee on a 480yd par 4 using my trusty Les Paul Sunburst. The sound was sweet but I broke the G string getting that sound and sliced into the bush about 150yds down the fairway. In pure frustration I wrapped my "club" around a tree a la Pete Townshend. It was then that I realized how expensive guitar golfing would be and decided to take up gear hunting a la George Lazarette.

Ain't life grand?

Ain't life grand?

The problem with developing an obsession with gear is that it starts off gently, bidding for a nice 1.4 Super Tak for $25, and then, before you know it, your horizons have expanded and you are telling yourself that you can afford to spend a grand or more on a 200mm macro.

By way of justification, you take down all the lenses you haven't used for a while, and work out that if you sell them all you can afford the macro. And you'd better get it now, because they don't come up very often, and you may never get another chance. And $1,500 is CHEAP for a lens of that quality. In fact, you can't afford NOT to get it.

You dust off all the old lenses, try them on the camera to make sure they're still working, and then realise you can't bear to part with them.

So the macro arrives, and you hide it for a while. Then, after a fortnight, you put it on the shelf with the other gear in an inconspicuous position at the back.

When it's spotted (as it will be), you affect injured innocence: "What, that one? Me ole 200? Nah, had it for AGES! You never noticed it 'coz I don't use it very often. Anyway, didn't cost much; bit of a bargain really."

You then get up early every morning to get the post first, and hide the credit card statement.

And that, Mac, is a mild case. I'll give you the post-divorce scenario another time.

G

And that, Mac, is a mild case.
I think I had better keep very, very quiet

Kim