ME-F

All this talk of AF speeds etc. reminded me of where it all began for Pentax.




The Pentax ME-F fitted with a ME II winder and a AF35-70mm lens. The lens was a dedicated AF lens for this camera, and the first one made by Pentax. It was not a successful design, however, and it was some years before Pentax introduced their F series lenses. This example, which I managed to obtain from South Africa thanks to Greg, is sadly a display item only: the focusing is jammed solid. The camera, however, is in lovely working condition and has recently been serviced by Harrow Technical.

The picture was taken with a K20D and a K 50mm f/1.2 lens.

Cheers, Kris.

Very Nice Kris, Have you looked into the possibility of repair?

Yes, Robin at Harrow Technical said he couldn't fix it.

I don't know anything about this type of analogue(?) camera, but I do like the look of it and your picture! When was this camera in use?

Have you tried Asahi Photo? it would be a shame to let such a rarity remain unuseable.

I've probably mentioned this before but I had the Olympus "copy" of this camera, the OM30, didn't have the AF lens though and to think I disposed of it so I could start with Pentax

The ME F was the autofocus version of the ME Super. It was made between 1981 and 1988 and came in silver and black versions. The black version is much rarer than the silver one. The body had a focus confirm system visible in the viewfinder. The AF35-70 zoom was their first autofocus lens with the motor in the lens (subsequently abandoned for a screw drive in the body now abandoned for SDM/DC motor in the lens... ) but it was very slow and unreliable. Copies of this lens come up now and again but often the AF isn't working at all. The IQ is reputed to be quite good and normally it can be manually focused (mine cannot as it is jammed solid). It makes the camera very front heavy as the bulge on the bottom of the lens contains four AAA batteries (hence the winder to try and help balance it out).

Best wishes, Kris.

Plus if you add the AF200S flash you end up with a camera which uses 16 batteries...

8 AAs, 4 AAAs, 4 LR44s!

I have one with a scratched focussing screen and a dent in the baseplate (but otherwise sound), so I'm keeping an eye open for a dead one with those parts intact to reactivate it. The AF confirm is entertaining but not as good as the MK1 eyeball most of the time.

This lens looks very similar to the first Canon AF lens. which was actually made for them by Chinon who had the same model AF lens. As I started with Chinon before I became a Pentax man and still have an old Chinon that will take that lens if anyone comes across a similar looking lens with the Chinon name on it (It has the PK fit) please let me know and depending on the price I MAY! buy it. CHEERS Vic.

Kris, I'm sure that if you took the motor out it would solve the jamming and would probably be better for MF use the trouble with a good version of this lens is that you can't disengage the AF motor so for MF your actually hand cranking the motor through a gearbox or similar drive.

The lens itself is very good optically, so good you don't need to stop it down.

I often wonder how much is shared between this lens and the M 35-70mm. They're of similar dimensions and age, the only difference is that the manual focus version isn't a constant f2.8.

Mind you, I suspect that the manual one was intended to be a K series. Dimitrov lists a K 35-70mm f2.8 prototype which looks suspiciously like the M series lens, so it's possible that it was on the drawing board when the big changeover happened.

Eric Hendrickson in Tennessee restored my ME F about a year and a half ago. At the time, I didn't have a lens so he couldn't verify the focus confirmation. Since then, I got a lens and unfortunately, the af doesn't work. Other than that, it is spot on. I also have that winder.

The focus confirmation should work with all lenses, to give an idea of which part of the system may be at fault. I know the one I have is scruffy but basically fully functional (if I see a tidy jammed one it will become a tidy fully functional example after a bit of baseplate and focusing screen swapping!)

This was my first slr.

It came with a 50mm f1.7 m series lens. The focusing aid was pretty good it also gave a beep when in focus. After about ten years the exposure became erratic. Took it to repair shop and they swapped the chip out for an ME Super one, but it made no difference except I lost the focusing aid. Half my shots would be unusable.

Still have it though.

There's something missing from that outfit????.....

Pentax supplied it with a really rigid rubber push on lens hood
It was also an extension to the lens barrel being the same diameter and
giving you more area to grip. Also being quite rigid for MF you could
grip the largest diam. part of the lens hood which made MF a lot
more controllable.

I've still got mine along with the AF lens and my 2nd ME-F camera.
It still works, but the meter might be out and it isn't that slow

With any other lens the focus indicator in the VF shows you
which direction to turn the lens..... sadly missing from the K-5

What were Pentax thinking, putting the motor in the lens was never going to catch-on

The left/right arrows were present in the SFX(n) but omitted in the Z-1 and subsequent cameras. They were useful with Pentax lenses but most independent ones focus the 'wrong' way.