Super ME screen

Hello: newbie here, enthusiastic about my new camera. Couldn't afford one in 1980...
But: I've done the same thing others have clearly done: bought a body with a crumbling sticky bumper strip which didn't stand up to a few shutter presses- the mirror closes up on it and !!! black sticky crumbs and gluey bits on the screen and mirror.
The mirror's fine but the screen is now a smeary mess and needs replacing.
Rather than bust up another ME for parts (and any EBay sold replacement may have the same problem anyway) does anyone know if I can buy either a replacement screen, or if any of the parts still available for newer pentaxes would fit?

Hi

The only way to replace the screen is to totally disassemble the camera - unless you are very skilled in this area - not a job I would recommend even trying.

Your options are - live with it - attempt to clean it (personally I have never succeeded in this and only ever made it worse, or buy another one

The other option is to send it to a professional repair house for cleaning and a service.

Hi, try www.johnsons-photopia.co.uk. they're the official repair service for Pentax. They will give you a quote. You could email them first to see what the story is. You send them the camera and if you don't like the quote they return it to you charging postage fees, only.
best of luck
Ciaran

If you join PU Plus you also get 20% discount on servicing from Johnsons.

Top tip: get a written quote, before telling them you're a PU member.

You can buy a 'mint' ME Super for £50 - I doubt Johnsons will be charging less than that if my experiences with them are anything to go by - am yet to pay them less than £100 for anything

I had an ME Super with this problem back 3-4 years ago. Sent it to Pentax who said it couldn't be repaired. Don't think it was Johnsons then, so maybe you will have more luck with them. Hope so, lovely camera, I still miss it!
Paul

You would probably be better off sending it to a classic camera repair place like Harrow Technical than the current official place which is much less committed to old gear.

Essentially the screen will need replacing, probably my taking one from a donor camera.

K.

Thank you for your comments.
Growl....
I live in Sydney now, if its hard and expensive in the UK it'll be damned near impossible to get it fixed here

I have an ME super with exactly the same problem, plus dodgy return spring on the wind on lever, plus dodgy self timer, plus........it's just a sign of getting old
I keep telling myself I bought it for the attached 50mm f2 but to be honest have not used it properly, it just sits on my desk and gets some fondling occasionally

Not at all worth the money they will charge you. These old camera's are indeed not worth a lot of money, and can be bought near mint for a 50 GBP / Euro or less. I got a near mint MX a few weeks ago for only Euro 25 (including the 1.7 prime!) and the seller even shared the shipping costs.
I got an MG for Euro 7 with nice parts (I needed it for the top part of the wind lever that was missing on another M and for the screen on a black ME - it also came with the frequently missing rewind lever and with the round slot where the motordrive attaches). So just look around on local internet markets and ebay. Especially all the variants of the M's are offered very frequently for very low (in case of parts cameras) and relatively low prices (for ex and near mint). Must admit that it is not easy to replace the screen since you have to dissable completely the pentaprism within the mirrorhouse - and before you can do that you have to take out the electronics. If you are not up to do that, best is to sell of your cam as a parts camera and buy another one.