Yes.

It's well named; it's a super camera. I've owned six different Pentaxes and this is my favourite. Its facilities can't compare with those of modern all-electronic, all-singing, all-dancing cameras, but it has everything you need.

It's not as robust (or as expensive) as the MX or LX, but it has both aperture- and shutter-priority auto exposure for when you need it, which those two don't.

I've assumed, from the fact that you are using a fairly inexpensive camera, that cost is a consideration.

When it comes to zooms, my opinion (others may well differ, I am increasingly anti-zoom!) is that the smaller the zoom ratio (40-80 would be 1:2, 80-320 would be 1:4) the fewer the compromises that have to be made, and therefore the better the end-result.

Bear in mind, that although a lens may offer a nominal fastest aperture of say f2.8, it does mean that it will be any good at that aperture. Nearly all lenses are at their worst wide-open.

An f4 lens which performs reasonably well wide-open is a better bet than an f2.8 lens which is lousy wide open.

However, such problems may not be very noticeable with the kind of subjects you shoot. Since the lighting (I assume) is likely to be highly unnatural, viewers might well accept imperfections which would not be acceptable in a picture of a building.

My advice would be to analyse what is going wrong with your worst shots, and also try to decide what facilities are absolutely essential for you, and what focal length(s) you mainly shoot at (or would like to). You may find that you could buy a couple of inexpensive fast prime lenses and that they would do a better job for you than a slower, less sharp, zoom.

Good luck

I should have added that the "A" lenses are manual focus only, but otherwise work fine with your camera.

Manual focus is not a major disadvantage, especially on a fast lens (which lets in a lot of light when you are focussing).

As a generalisation, fast zoom lenses are either very expensive or not very good.

Just about the fastest lens you can buy for the camera at reasonable cost is also the best and amongst the least expensive. It is the 50mm 1:1.7 Pentax-A. Manual focus, but one of the finest lenses ever made for any camera at any price. The FA version (autofocus) is optically the same, but much harder to find. The 1.4 version is also superb, but much more expensive.

Have a look here for information: http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/

And here for lens recommendations: http://stans-photography.info/

Buy one of the photographic magazines to get a rough idea of price differentials, then buy on Ebay (with care!).

Unfortunately you have one of the "crippled" mount cameras, which will not allow you to use early K-mount lenses - those called "K" or "M".

To cut a long story short, you must uses lenses which have an "A" setting on the aperture ring, next to the smallest aperture, normally f22.

Any Pentax lens called "A" or "FA" or "FAJ" will work, as will most non-Pentax lenses (with a K bayonet mount) with the "A" setting on the aperture ring.

For more information, read the "Bible":

http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/

The MX was certainly built very well, and is something of a cult camera. A better buy by far than the K1000, but the latter still sells well, for reasons that have more to do with familiarity than logic.

I have been following Ebay a lot recently, and am struck by the fact that ME Supers tend to fetch prices as high or higher than the Super A. Why? The Super A is a superior camera in every way, with all the ME Super's convenience plus a lot more functionality.

I've owned both, plus the original ME (and loads of others), and there is no doubt (IMHO) that the Super A was by far the best manual-focus Pentax with both auto and manual exposure.

Don't people do their homework?

Very nice. Looking through some of your other pictures I was reminded of Edward Weston - but in colour.

The K1000 will use standard Pentax K series and M series lenses (as well as later series, but not using all their functionality). Most of them are very good and can be bought on Ebay for not much money.

There's not really much point in looking beyond Pentax. With the exception of Vivitar Series One, no other lens manufacturer is likely to come near Pentax for quality, and there is no shortage of Pentax lenses. This was their golden age.

Make sure you get a standard 50mm lens. They are optically superb, and very cheap.

Optically, this appears to be the same as the"A" version, which is reviewed on Stan's sitee:

http://stans-photography.info/

When you find the entry, you will see just a brief sentence saying the lens is a little soft, but click on the URL above and you will get a lot more detail.