Camera Review: Pentax ME Super (featuring Portra 400 and the SMC-M series lenses) – By Trevor Hong 

I used to hate electronic cameras because people keep saying “they might break”. That was until I stumbled across the Pentax ME Super. Actually, I had the chance to use the original ME version that my boss handed down to me and I absolutely fell in love with Pentax 35mm — the ME Super is essentially an improvement of the original ME.

I have been using the Pentax 67 and we all know how great the lenses are with the legendary SMC coating. And now that I’m reading more into it, I realise that Pentax was really the frontier in both optics and camera body. Nikon might be one of the giants in the film world but back in the day, Pentax was the OG. Luckily, Nikon is taking the spotlight for today’s film camera so I really “got this camera at a thrift store for $5” (insert Jason Kummerfeldt’s joke). Heck, the B+W filter I’ve got on the lens was more expensive than the whole set.

But just because it’s cheap doesn’t mean it’s falling short. Here are some of the things that I love about the Pentax ME Super.

1. The high, and accurate shutter speed

The ME Super can shoot up to 1/2000th of a second, guess which camera can do the same thing but is a lot more expensive? That’s right, the Nikon F3. Also, don’t take my word for granted but there were some rumours that because the Pentax (and F3 too) uses electronic and magnet to time their shutter, that’s why they don’t usually go out of whack after a while like full-mechanical cameras; and I guess that’s somewhat true, as my camera (both the now-ex Nikon F3P and the ME Super) still produce accurate shutter speed.

Furthermore, because the ME Super is so cheap these days, I usually have 1-2 backup bodies and if it breaks, I’ll be just a nice cute-looking paperweight and I wouldn’t be so sad as to say, if an F3 breaks.

2. The accurate auto mode and huge viewfinder

The metering on the camera is “Super” accurate, I have never ever doubted this camera for its metering capability. For all of the shots I take, I usually get 36-38 shots of perfectly exposed images per roll. This is the only manual camera, aside from the F3, that I would trust it with my slide films.

The viewfinder is also “Super” huge with the 0.95x magnification in a compact body with metal shutter, even bigger than its rival Olympus OM-1 with only 0.92x magnification with a cloth shutter.

Here are some photos to showcase the metering of the ME Super, all shot on Kodak Portra 400 (the wedding photos) and Kodak Gold 200 (the cat photos) using the SMC-M 50mm f/1.4 and SMC-M 28mm f/2.8

3. Easy loading mechanism and film check

The ME Super has a mechanism where you can easily load your film, all you need to do is slide your film into one of those white slots on the left of the film bay and voila, you’re done.

I never had to worry about my film not loaded properly, as there are two other things on the camera that can also help me check to see if the film is loaded correctly. First is the rewind lever (obviously on every camera) and second the other window on the side of the film leader (see right photo above ) to let you know if your film is loaded correctly: it will start to move once you advance the film, if it’s not moving, it means that something is wrong.

The Cons

Nothing is perfect, and neither is this beloved baby.

Nightmarish manual mode

This camera is made to be used in Auto mode, thus, using Manual mode on this is a nightmare. It doesn’t have any metering needle so adjusting the shutter speed using the up/down button (yes you read that right, there’s no dial, only a button) to the desired speed is not really fun.

No AE-lock

The ME Super does not have any Automatic Exposure / AE lock function, so as you move your camera, the metering changes based on what’s in the center of the frame. So sometimes if you run into really difficult lighting situations it can mess up your metering (it’s going to lean towards the highlights). But that’s when you do metering of the highlight, mid and shadow then you change it to the manual mode, or exposure compensation (more on this in the next heading)

The Exposure Compensation is confusing

This is just me, but I think the exposure compensation on the ME Super and pretty much a lot of Pentax cameras is confusing AF*. Seriously, “no compensation/zero/0” is 1x, 1 stop over is 2x, 1 stop under is 1/2x is really not easy-to-understand for a camera that was supposedly made for the average consumer.

The numbering system relates to the additional/reduced amount of light each +/- stop of exposure provides and I mean, you will get used to it but it’s really annoying when you are a first-time user of this camera.

Conclusion

All and all, this is a “Superb” camera (sorry for all of the horrible puns). It’s tiny, compact (a little smaller than the Olympus OM-1), provides accurate metering, a high top shutter speed and is not an over-hyped film camera. Pentax lenses have always been great with their super-multi-coating that reduces flare, nice contrast and good resolution.

Thanks for reading!

~ Trevor