Whats the best Pentax manual camera?

Just putting this question out there.

Very interested in getting one because I have started to buy a lot of manual lenses.

Cheers

QC

Manual could mean two things here. Manual focus may well be a given, but the second thing will be manual controls for exposure. As opposed to say an ME Super with aperture priority auto exposure.

For a fully manual camera that only needs batteries for the meter, I prefer the Pentax MX. In screw thread, the Spotmatic.

ME Super it is then, cheers JOhn

This Lx seems to be a good camera

The LX has a lot of auto as well!

Thumbs up for the MX, I have 2 and still use them a lot, great feel.

Don't rule out an original ME or the MG which is similar (bought an MG c/w 50mm f2 at a boot sale recently for a fiver!)

John K

Another vote for the MX - first camera I bought with hard-saved pocket money after learning on my dad's Spotmatic (purchased from Tecno in Manchester, I remember it well....). It's a pretty rugged little camera although worth checking the shutter, and worth assuming that you will need to replace the light seals if they've not been done already....a relatively easy DIY job.

As others say ... Manual what?

Focus, Aperture, speed, wind on ...

Te MZ-S offers full manual capability if you want it or you can just have manual focus and leave exposure to teh camera ...

All modern Pentax DSLR's can be used manually, even with old screw mount, K series, and M series lenses. So the answer to your question is the Pentax K-3 (you didn't stipulate film camera). There's no need to dig up a dinosaur.

Stands back to avoid flying daggers

First need to narrow it down to film or digital.

As Peter says, even the latest digitals are fine with manual lenses. Actually the K-01 handles them very conveniently to my surprise.

John K

Film cameras are the only one's I know. As stated MX and ME are great. The medium format 645 is a chunky piece of serious kit. The LX is king in my view though, the one I have taken 80% of my photographs on. But it comes at a high-ish second-hand price. It's becomes a personal friend and is beautiful to handle and understand. Available at times on ebay.....Watch out for the sticky mirror problem though with the LX.

The LX is my favourite 35mm camera, closely followed by the MX. For cheap-as-chips excellence the ME Super is hard to beat. It was a best seller for a few years and as a result is very common.

K.

How about the elegant simplicity of the K1000.

Try them all - they are cheap enough (not the LX).

The LX is the best (but most by now will require repair for the sticky mirror problem I suspect). The MX, K1000 & ME Super are widely available and if you have 'A' lenses you might want to try the Super-A (although it's manual mode isn't as intuitive as the others).

My preference though is the K1000 (my LX needs a repair), a little bit bigger than the MX and it feels more robust (but feels clunkier - which I quite like).

The LX is the highest spec'ed Pentax manual focus body, but I sold mine.
It was more camera than I need.

I have owned nearly all Pentax K manual focus models. My favorite is the KX.

Chris