I found my first Pentax Me Super in a local charity shop for £15 and fell in love with its super compact form. Being the pathetic aesthete that I am, I decided that I also wanted one in black so I bought another off an American on Ebay .
Dials and controls are at a minimum- I love a bit of automation so I use it in aperture priority mode, but for fans of full manual you can adjust the shutter speed via two buttons (yup, buttons) that send the shutter speed higher or lower – you can see what you’re choosing via a light in the viewfinder that shows you what speed you’re at.
The viewfinder is large, giving you a roomy view of the world for such a compact SLR, and there’s a clean split circle centre focusing area to help get your shots right.
I’m totally in love with the way the shutter sounds on this camera- a satisfying dull clunk that isn’t tinny and metallic in the slightest. It just feels great when you fire it. It’s my second favourite shutter sound after the Leica M7.
I’ve decided to show 5 shots from the first ever roll I shot with my black ME Super. I used Fomapan 100, a film with a lovely slightly soft retro feel. The lens is a compact “SMC Pentax-M 1:1.7 50mm” which works brilliantly..
I suggest you buy Pentax ME Super off eBay this instant. Ciao! x
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Beautiful photos. Sold! I’m with you on the black by the way. Black cameras are just sexier.
I knew I had a problem when I ordered another camera just for its colour…
Excellent images Anil. I have tried Fomapan 400 and really liked it, and my nephew loves his Pentax. By the way your website is tremendous. It might be the kick up the backside I need to sort mine out.
Thanks Chris that’s very kind. I’ve just got an m42- k mount adapter through the post today sonthe silver me super is gonna become my Russian glass guinea pig
I agree with everything said here, and I also really love the portraits 🙂 . I don’t think a quieter SLR exists and although the buttons get a lot of hate for some reason, I think they’re easy and fast to use. After 4 purchases I’ve finally found one which is in perfect unused condition and it’s great.
Lovely photos! That ghostly one, Jay, is really special. Thanks for the interesting thoughts on a camera I’ve never used (in any colour 😉
Thanks Eddy- that was shot through a glass door. The ME Super is still relatively cheap so maybe you should give one a try. People go on about the Olympus Om 1, 2, etc but the mE Super is just more fun to use (in my opinion of course)
Great camera with outstanding lens, those pentax fifties with F1.7 does contain magic in any form (M, A, F). My fave picture from this set is “JAY”.
A lovely set of pictures there Anil and a great camera too! Your portraits are fantastic and I love the stark shot of those commuters. They look really happy to be having their picture taken ha ha! I love an old SLR and that Pentax is a classy looking camera. I’m glad to see that they’re compact enough to fit the 35mmc category! By that reckoning, my old Minolta will just about squeak in as well. I have to confess that I used to be a bit snobby about automation in a 35mm SLR, until I tried one with aperture priority mode. So much easier to shoot, so yeah I ‘m with you on the automation front as well. Great stuff – keep it up!
Thanks Richard- I love a bit of automation for street photography, it’s one less thing to worry about- some people see using any automation as “cheating”- an affront to photography. I say try everything and do what works for you and keeps you shooting. I chose the Leica M7 because over the M6 it has aperture priority, and the same for my Nikon FM3A. `A lot of my pics are shot this way. I recently got a Yashica 635 and have been shooting portraits fully manually using a light meter- yes, it’s fun but I don’t want to do this every time I shoot.I’d lose my bloody mind and miss every moment.
Yeah I understand that totally! My Voigtlander is great when you want to shoot slowly and deliberately. Probably not the ultimate tool for street photography though!
Das Foto von Kara ist natürlich toll !
Ich liebe die Pentax ME und die ME Super beide sehr. Echte Kultkameras. So klein und so ein schönes Design. Beide haben einen leisen Verschluss und einen sehr grossen Sucher.
Die SMC-M Objektive sind extra dafür gebaut worden. Das SMC-M 50mm f1.7 und das 50mm f1.4 sind beides magische Linsen. Das 28mm f 2.8 ist unglaublich klein.
Die ME oder die ME Super passen mit Objektiv in meine Manteltasche.
Two months ago i found a nice copy of a ME Super.
One of the best SLR’s i ever tried in the last 30 years !!! It’s a peace of design for me, small and beautiful.
A complete series of lenses ( SMC-M ) was built for Pentax ME, MESuper,MX.
And i agree : The 50mm f1.7 SMC-M is a lens for magic shots. But i love the SMC-M 50mm f1.4 for constant performance at all apertures.
5 great shots Anil, I especially like the one of the ladies with sun in their eyes, I don’t think I’m going to go over to Pentax just yet, but so many of those SLR’s from that period are fantastic, Pentax, Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Minolta etc etc, love them all
My first SLR which was given to me by my boss 6 years ago. Despite a stupid amount of purchases since then, I still use it all the time and I’ve got some killer shots from it. Great portrait of Max
Thank you Richard- I LOVE your work by the way- hallucinogenic, ethereal, dreamlike, all that stuff I like- I’m pretty sure I saw your site a few years ago- really distinct work.
Honestly, every ‘5 shot with…’ post before or since this one has been, well, meh in comparison. Keep up the quality work!
Thank you – perhaps you should submit one of your own to show us how it’s done!
Brilliant work, your images are so evocative and also serve as reminders of why film is so special. I’ve never tried an ME Super but I own my late father’s K1000 which works perfectly and is a pleasure to use.