Pentax ME

My first SLR was a Pentax ME, which I bought on August 15, 1977. It was a great little camera.

I had first learned 35mm photography on a Pentax SP1000 when I joined the photography club at my high school. While that was a totally manual experience, with the older Pentax screw mount, when it came time to buy my own, I selected the newer, more compact automatic ME. I could have bought its heavier-duty all-manual sibling, the MX, but I liked the convenience of the aperture-priority automatic features of the ME.

I took some ribbing from my friends who were into Nikons and Nikkormats (ooh!) because in fact the ME featured only aperture-priority automatic exposure control, with ± 2 stops exosure compensation (and B, of course) or a manual 1/100 (which was the x-sync speed). They razzed me because they said I was giving up too much creative control by not having full manual capability. Well, I was never too creative a photographer, and I figured the exposure compensation gave me enough latitude to deal with situations like backlighting.

The ME had centre-weighted metering, like most SLRs of its day. (I couldn't afford a Leica R3 or Canon F1 to get that!) It had a GPD-based metering system, which made it very nimble in figuring out changing lighting conditions. The LED indicators in the viewfinder meant I always knew what shutter speed the camera would select, and I could change that by choosing another f-stop. (Another buddy of mine preferred the shutter-priority automatic on his Konica; we used to argue for hours (well,
not really hours) about which system was better; I was firmly in the aperture-priority camp. Much of that debate was rendered moot when Minolta introduced the revolutionary XD-11, with aperture-priority *and* shutter-priority control, the following year.)

The ME was very compact. It had the newer K bayonet-mount system rather than the screw mount that the Spotmatic family had used for so long. There was a whole new line of contact SMC Pentax M lenses. I bought the f1.7 50mm lens with my camera. A power winder was available, which I picked up a few months later, and I added a couple more lenses (such as my wonderful lost Vivitar 75-150 f3.8 zoom).

The camera had the Pentax "magic needles" easy-loading system, which made inserting film a breeze. Shutters speeds went from 8 seconds to 1/1000. It would meter up to 1600 ASA - which came in handy when I would push TriX film to its limits.

There are a number of sites where you can find out more about the Pentax ME, including Photoethnography and Camerapedia. You can even download a PDF owner's manual from Pentax.

I had my Pentax ME for several years. I eventually upgraded to a Pentax ME Super. When I started looking for more compact cameras, I had a number of Pentax rangefinders over the years. Now in the digital age, I actually bought a Canon (you shudder),which seemed to have what I needed.

Back on this day 29 years ago, though, the Pentax ME was just what I needed.