Cosina C1 35 mm film SLR

I got interested in Cosina cameras  while reading about the cameras they make for Big Name companies - companies like Canon, Nikon and Olympus. I started, many years ago, with the impression that Cosina only made cheap, low-spec cameras. That impression is now updated. My first Cosina was a CT1 (article coming) which is (still) sold by Nikon as their FM10 and was sold by Canon as their T60 and Olympus as their OM2000.

Cosina C1 - (C) John Margetts

lens: Cosina 35-70 mm zoom

focal length: 35-70 mm

apertures: f/3.5 to f/22 (nominally)

focus range: 0.5 metres to infinity

lens fitting: Pentax K-mount

shutter: Cosina metal focal plane

speeds: 1 second to 1/2000 seconds

flash: hot shoe, X synch

film size: 35 mm

This camera, the C1, is a much later camera.  The outside is plastic and so is (as far as I can tell) the chassis. This makes it feel to hold much like a modern DSLR. That is not a criticism of the cameras as a photographic device but as a collector of old cameras, the tactile component is important to me.

Once manufacturers turned to plastic mouldings, shape restrictions were removed. With this camera, while the internal chassis seems to still be rectangular (cuboid?) the outside has flowing curves. This is partially aesthetic and partially ergonomic. The camera is clearly designed to be held right-handed. There is a curved. raised portion on the front to give the middle two fingers a good grip and a second raised portion on the back to give a secure grip for the thumb. This leaves the index finger to comfortably sit  on the shutter release button. The curves continue around the pentaprism hump and in the junction between the body and the lens mount. my personal preference is for more classically designed cameras.

Cosina C1, top plate (C) John Margetts

The top plate has the standard layout - film advance lever, shutter release button and shutter speed selector on the right of the pentaprism hump and the rewind crank/door latch on the left. This camera has a standard hot-shoe accessory shoe (and no PC connector). The film advance lever acts as a shutter lock and light meter switch when the lever is flush with the body.

The front of the camera is unadorned apart from the Pentax K-mount lens mount and the name C1. This is the plain vanilla mount with no electrical contacts or autofocus screw. The rear of the camera is similarly unadorned - there is the viewfinder eyepiece and a window to allow the user to see part of the film cassette: ideal for those of us with virtually no memory.

Inside, the camera has no surprises. The shutter is a vertical travel metal shutter which is, I think, Cosina's own make. This offers speeds from 1 second to 1/2000 seconds and is synchronised for flash at 1/125 - marked in red on the speed selector dial. The speeds on the selector dial go anti-clockwise from 1 to 1/2000 seconds (the opposite way to the Cosina CT1).

Cosina shutter

The plastic back fits without light seals. the technique of moulding the plastic allows for sufficient light baffles without the use of foam. there are two exceptions: a small piece of foam by the hinge and a larger piece around the window to the film cassette. These are in good condition and the camera should still be usable without replacing them.

This camera comes with a TTL (Through The lens) light meter. It is powered by two LR44 batteries which are still available. On this camera, the meter does not work.

The lens that came with the camera is, I assume, the kit lens that Cosina provided with the camera when new. It is Cosina's own 35 - 70 mm zoom lens. It has an aperture range of f/3.5 to f/22 at 35 mm and f/4.8 to f/22+ at 70 mm. It is multi-coated and claims macro ability. This macro ability gives an image:subject ratio of 1:5 rather than the 1:1 ratio that is usually thought of as true macro. Focusing is from just under 0.5 metres (1.5 feet) and the focus scale is marked in both metres and feet.

The aperture scale is rather confusing. The aperture ring sets the size of the aperture (as you might expect) but the f-number is a ratio between focal length and aperture diameter. This means that the marked f/ stop depends on the zoom setting. For setting the aperture at 35 mm focal length there is a red dot for the aperture ring and at 70 mm focal length there is a green line (on the zoom scale, 35 mm is in red and 70 mm is in green). For zoom settings between 35 mm and 70 mm, neither mark will be quite right and you could be up to 1/2 stop out on your exposure, depending on whether you use the red dot or green line. in use, 1/2 stop + or - is neither here nor there. marked f/ stops are from f/3.5 to f/22 but this is clearly the case with  zoom setting of 35 mm. At 70 mm, the widest aperture is f/4.8 and the smallest is significantly less than f/22 - I would guess f/32.

The lens mount is Pentax's K mount. It is the plain vanilla mount as introduced in 1975. There are no electrical contacts or auto-focus screw so the lens is fully manual. Any K-mount lens will work with this camera so long as the lens has an aperture ring, and this lens will work on any K-mount camera - but only manually.

The lens is entirely plastic and does feel rather 'plasticky' but the adjustments are all very smooth and the lens looks to be well made.

Asahi Pentax ME-F

Pentax were the leading 35 mm SLR cameras through the 1960s and 1970s. During the 1980s, there were a lot of technological advances (not just in photography) and Asahi (the makers of Pentax cameras) were leading the push to develop modern automatic cameras.

The act of producing cutting edge, state of the art cameras necessarily meant also making mistakes. There were a number of innovative dead-ends during this period and the result was that Asahi lost their lead as prime camera makers to Nikon and Canon.

With this particular Pentax model the innovation was auto-focus. this was the first consumer auto-focus camera but using a technique that did not prove to be very effective. Asahi's next auto-focus camera approached the task very differently. As I only have the camera body and not the special auto-focus lens I can make no comment about how well the auto-focus worked in practice.

This Pentax ME F is a development of the Pentax ME Super - itself a development of the Pentax ME. The ME series of Pentax cameras were introduced in 1976 with the ME. The ME Super was introduced in 1980 with the added option of manually setting the shutter speed and this ME-F in 1981. Other M series Pentax cameras were the MG, MV, MV1 and MX.

The M series were smaller and lighter than the Spotmatic and K series cameras - following the lead of Olympus with the OM series of cameras. They also all had aperture-priority automatic exposure (the MX had entirely manual exposure).

lens: none supplied

focal length:  n/a

apertures: n/a

focus range: n/a

lens fitting: Pentax Kf mount

shutter: Seiko metal focal plane

speeds: 4 seconds to 1/2000 seconds

flash: hot shoe and PC connector - X synch

film size: 35 mm

This camera measures 132 mm wide by 87.5 mm high and 50 mm deep not including the lens. It weighs 480g.

The top plate is fairly cluttered resulting in fiddly controls that my rather large fingers struggle to manipulate. On the far right, as usual, is the film advance lever. This moves through about 140 degrees to advance one frame but the first part of the motion - around 45 degrees - is required to engage the advance mechanism. The lever also has a secondary rest position which usually indicates the presence of a light meter switch - I do not know if this is the case with this camera, it could just be to make fast winding possible.

In front of the film advance lever is a window to the frame counter. This counts up from one. Opening the back resets the counter to -2 - indicated by an orange dot - which encourages you to waste two frames to get to frame one. I find I get get an extra frame in by starting at -1. To be honest, I actually ignore frame counters and just shoot until I cannot advance the film anymore which gives me 26 exposures from a 24 exposure cassette in the main.

Next to these is a large black mode dial. This locks in place and it is necessary to depress a (very) small white button to be able to turn the dial. For me, this is a two handed job and is the most awkward part of using this camera. The modes available are L, Auto, M, 125X, and B - more on these later. In the centre of the mode dial is the shutter release button. This fires the Seiko metal focal plane shutter.

Between this dial and the pentaprism hump are two small buttons which alter the shutter speed when in manual mode. These buttons are actually plenty large enough even for my fingers but they are in a rather restricted space. The pentaprism is of the size needed - there is not much scope fore reducing this in size as cameras get smaller as it still has to show the full 24 x 36 mm frame. On top of the pentaprism is am accessory shoe. At this date it is basically a flash shoe and has hot-shoe connections. This is a large central contact  allowing the use of any hot-shoe flash gun. There is also a small secondary contact for Pentax specific flash guns with added functionality. It is also possible to use a cold-shoe flash as there is also a PC (Prontor-Compur) connector on the front of the camera.

On the left of the pentaprism is a switch to activate the auto-focus function. This is useful even without the dedicated auto-focus lens as the camera has a focus confirm function with any lens. This switch has three positions - off, 2.8 and 3.5 The last two relate to the maximum aperture of the lens being used. Behind this switch is a second switch which turns the audible focus-confirm on or off.

To the far left of the top plate is the folding rewind crank. Around this is the film speed setting for the light meter. This ranges from 12 to 1600 ASA (ISO). 12 ISO seems very slow by modern digital standards but films available in 1980 were very slow. This setting is set be slightly lifting the outside of the ring and turning. This ring also sets exposure compensation from x4 to x1/4 (that is, +2 stops to -2 stops) which is set by turning the ring without lifting. Pulling up on the rewind crank itself unlocks the door.

The front of the camera is uncluttered. Right of centre (looking at the front) is the Pentax K mount bayonet fitting. this is an adaptation of the original K mount known as Kf mount as it has four sprung electrical contacts and one unsprung contact. These allow the camera to communicate with the special auto-focus lens. This is the only camera with this version of the K mount. There were later variations on the K mount with electrical contacts in other parts of the mount ring. All these are backwards compatible. I am successfully using a lens with the later version of the K mount with this camera. I lose the later functionality of the lens but it still works fine as a fully manual lens.

On the right side of the mount is a PC connector which allows the use of flash off-camera. On the left of the lens mount is a delay action lever. This is not connected to the shutter release button. First  you wind the mechanism by turning the lever down in an anti-clockwise direction. Second, you start the process by pushing the lever back up very slightly. The delay is about eight seconds.

On the back of the camera (which is made from painted steel) are three items. most obviously is the viewfinder eye-piece. This is nice and large and works well for those of us who wear glasses. When looking through the viewfinder you get the expected ground glass screen. In the centre is a ring of micro-prisms and a split-image centre to aid focussing. On the left of the viewfinder image is a vertical list of shutter speeds. These range from 4 seconds to 1/2000 seconds. The selected speed is indicated by a small green or orange LED. There is also a reminder at the top of the list if you are in manual mode. At the bottom centre of the viewfinder is a green hexagonal LED flanked by two red triangular LEDs. The red LEDs light when the lens (any lens) is out of focus and the green LED lights when the lens is in focus. There is also a noise if the switch mentioned earlier is on.

On the right of the rear of the top plate is a small window revealing vertical red and black bars. These 'dance' when you advance or rewind the film. The idea is that if the film is not properly loaded the bars do not dance saving you taking pictures with no film in place. Personally, I always watch the rewind crank turn for the same reason. However, the dancing bars do work.

In the middle of the back is a device that all film cameras should have - a holder for the end of the film carton. If, like me, you have more than one camera on the go at a time, it is easy to forget what film is in which camera. Below this holder are two more electrical contacts for the optional data back.

On the base plate there are a number of items. on the left under a round cover is a mechanical connection for an electrical film winder. Next to this is the button to release the rewind mechanism. In line with the centre of the lens is a 1/4 inch UNC threaded tripod socket (the old standard was 1/4 inch Whitworth which is as near as dammit to the modern standard). To the right of this is the battery compartment. This holds four button batteries which are still available today. Beyond the battery cover is a release button to undo the battery cover catch.

In use.

Loading film is as easy as it can be made short of full automation. The back is opened by pulling up on the rewind crank - as was usual with cameras of this age. The film cassette goes on the left - the rewind crank is pushed back down to hold the cassette in place - and the film is pulled across the camera and the leading edge is pushed between any two of the many white bars on the take-up spool. Very simple and hard to go wrong.

Above the white bars on the take-up spool is a fairly loose plastic ring. As the film moves past this ring when advancing the film, the movement in the loose ring is transferred to the red and black dancing bars. visible through the window on the back of the top plate. Once you have loaded the film and closed the back you need to 'waste' two frames as these have been fogged while the back was open. At this point, the frame counter should read '1' - remember to put the end of the film carton in the memo holder and you are ready to go.

The photographer needs to set his choice of aperture and focus the lens and the camera does the rest. The viewfinder is nice and clear and the split-screen centre works as it should.

This is a delightful camera to use. My only real niggle is turning the camera on. this involves pressing a very small white button on the black mode dial and turning the dial to Auto or M or 125x. The L position is off and this switches off the meter and locks the shutter release button - the shutter can still be fired in this position by using the self-times lever.

Auto reads the aperture from the lens and selects the most appropriate shutter speed - this is not restricted to the displayed speeds, any intermediate speed can be selected. The M mode requires the user to set both the aperture on the lens and the shutter speed using the two buttons next to the pentaprism - in this case only the displayed speeds may be selected.  The 125x speed is used to synchronise the shutter and the flash at 1/125 seconds. There is also a B setting which leaves the shutter open as long as the shutter release button is depressed. I find using this dial very difficult and have to use both hands. Once the mode dial is set, I leave it set until I have finished for the day.

To use this camera with the full complement of shutter speeds requires working batteries. If they are flat, the camera can still work in mechanical mode but this restricts the camera to 1/125 seconds shutter speed. This is clearly less than ideal but does mean that you can continue to take photographs if you have no spare batteries.

I do not have the auto-focus lens but the auto-focus system will give focus confirmation with any lens. this is in the form of a green LED indicating focus and two red LEDs which indicate the direction you need to turn the focus ring on the lens to obtain focus. I found these to be completely useless - they did work but the audible confirmation is rather more useful - actually, my eyes offer a faster focus confirmation.

Test photographs - Agfa Vista colour negative film.

Hand held, indoors 

A nosey of twitchers

Pentax Spotmatic SP 1000

The Spotmatics were the first autoexposure SLR - or, at least, the first successful autoexposure SLR. They built on Pentax's earlier success with the manual SLRs. Despite the name, the exposure system was not a spot system but was a centre weighted system. 

Asahi Pentax SP1000

lens: none supplied
focal length:  n/a
apertures: n/a
focus range: n/a
lens fitting: M42 thread (AKA Pentax fit), automatic
shutter: horizontal cloth focal plane
speeds: 1/2 to 1/1000
flash: PC connector
film size: 35mm

The SP1000 (and SP500, which was introduced at the same time) built on the design of the original Spotmatic. For anyone who is used to SLR cameras from the 1960s and 70s there are no surprises here, partly because this camera helped to define the genre. They were made between 1973 and 1976.

So - a general description. The camera measures 143 by 92 by 88 mm and weighs 610 g (body alone). This is heavy by modern standards - particularly compared to Pentax's later K-mount ME series. I have no objection to weight in a camera if only because weight helps with stability and results in less camera shake.

The layout of the camera is pretty much standard. On the left is a fold-away rewind crank. Around this is an aide memoire for the type of film in use. This gives the options of Empty, Panchro(matic), daylight colour and tungsten colour. The Empty setting is particularly useful as I often have more than one film camera on the go and on occasion open a camera only to find a part-used film inside.  Panchro refers to black-and-white film (which is usually panchromatic). The two colour options are for outside and inside use respectively and refer to the white balance of the film.

Pentax SP1000 - top plate

In the centre of the top plate is the lump of the pentaprism with the viewfinder behind. Traditionally, this is where the accessory shoe is put but the SP1000 has no accessory shoe as standard. Those who needed one could buy one as an optional extra which fitted into a groove around the viewfinder surround.

To the right of the pentaprism is the speed selector. For shutter speeds this simply turns to click-stops and it is quite possible to move directly from 1/1000 to B. 1/60 is marked with a red X to indicate that this is the electronic flash synch speed. The shutter speed dial also doubles as the film speed dial. To alter the film speed, it is necessary to lift the dial and turn. Film speeds are from 20 ASA to 1600 ASA. No DIN scale is available but the selector moves in 1/3 stop click-stops each of which is equal to one degree DIN. (For my younger readers, ASA = ISO [very nearly!])

To the right of the selector dial is the film advance lever. This is metal and is slightly curved to allow the user's thumb to access it. I prefer this to Pentax's later style of a plastic tipped lever that stands proud of the body.

The centre of the film advance contains the frame counter. This automatically resets to -2 when the back is opened. When you advance the new film to get rid of the fogged portion on loading, the counter will point to zero.

Between the selector dial and film advance and slightly forward of them is the shutter release button. This is threaded for a standard cable release.

Pentax SP1000 - inside view

The front of the camera has three items (the back is entirely clean). These are the meter switch and two PC (Prontor-Compur) flash connectors. The meter switch switches on the TTL (Through The Lens) meter and stops down the diaphragm. This is basically a shutter priority system.  The user sets the required shutter speed and then turns the aperture ring until the needle in the viewfinder is centred. When you switch off the meter (and you need to remember to or you will rapidly flatten the battery) the diaphragm should then open again to allow you to finesse the composition. On my specimen, this did not happen initially, I assume from the lack of use as it will eventually open itself. I have soaked the linkage with naptha and worked the switch repeatedly and it now works.  The diaphragm stop-down system operated by the shutter release works fine as this is a completely separate system.

The two PC flash connectors are marked for FP and X. FP is for fast flash bulbs and will synch at any shutter speed. X is for electronic flash and will only synch at 1/60 or slower.

This is an old-fashioned camera and it is fairly heavy (610g) - much more so than a Pentax ME Super (445g) or OM10 (450g). Weight is not necessarily a bad thing as it enhances stability. It is much easier to hold a heavy camera steady than it is a very light one. The down side is when you are carrying the camera all day especially when hung around your neck.

The focusing screen is a Fresnel screen with a microprism ring in the centre.  The microprisms break-up the image when it is out of focus. Best focus is achieved when the microprisms disappear. There is no split-image centre here as many SLRs have but the camera is easy to focus without it.

When you press the shutter release, the action is quite light - no heavy 'clunk' as with my Zenit or Praktica cameras, although it is still noisy compared to my leaf shuttered rangefinders.

Sample pictures.

Very impressed - both with the camera and with the Helios-44M lens.  I had no battery for this test, so exposures were manually sorted with my Ikophot meter.

Thimbleby, Lincolnshire

Choir screen, Lincoln cathedral

New carving, Lincoln cathedral

Lincolnshire wolds

Pentax ME Super

This is a very compact SLR from Pentax, Japan.  By the time of the K-mount cameras, the company had changed its name from Asahi to Pentax.  Originally, the Pentax name belonged to the East German Zeiss Ikon as a contraction of PENtaprism conTAX.  This camera is a development of the Spotmatic series.

lens: Sirius automatic
focal length: 28mm
apertures:  n/a
focus range:  0.2m to infinity
lens fitting:  K mount bayonet
shutter:  vertical metal focal plane
speeds: 4 seconds to 1/1000 seconds
flash:  hot shoe plus PC connector
film size:  35mm

The camera has an automatic exposure system that has aperture priority, the user setting the the required aperture and the camera selecting the shutter speed.  There is also a fully manual setting, the shutter speed being set by + and - buttons.

Pentax ME Super front view showing K-mount bayonet

The top plate is rather cluttered.  Starting on the left there is a combined rewind crank, film rewind crank, film speed setting (marked ASA) and exposure compensation.  The rewind crank is standard for the age of camera.  It folds out and is nearly too small for large hands.  Around this is a slightly knurled ring to set exposure compensation in one stop steps: +2 stops to -2 stops. Lifting the slightly knurled ring allows you to set the speed of the film for the light meter.  This runs from 12 ASA to 1600 ASA. That range is pretty much standard for automatic exposure cameras.  This is adjustable in one third stops which equates to a single degree DIN - there is no DIN scale available: even the Germans had gone over to ASA only by this time, at least on export models.

Pentax ME Super - top plate

In the centre of the top plate, on top of the pentaprism, is an accessory shoe with contacts for flash. This has the central contact that has become standard, and a smaller offset contact that is specific to Pentax flashguns.  This second contract allows elementary communication between camera and flashgun and lets the flashgun set the shutter speed to 1/125 seconds (the synchronisation speed) without the user doing anything.  With other flashguns it is necessary to set the shutter speed to 1/125 manually. There is a red cross embossed in the base of the accessory shoe to indicate that it is suitable for electronic flash.

In addition to the hot shoe connections there is also a PC (Prontor-Compur) socket.  This has two uses. First, it allows you to use a simple flashgun with no hot-shoe connection.  The second use is to allow the photographer to use off-camera flashguns.  This is of particular use in a studio where the photographer might have two or three flashguns all triggered from the camera.

Next to the accessory shoe on the right are a couple of buttons.  These are not marked - the markings by them refer to the mode dial.  These two buttons are used to set the shutter speed in manual mode - one button increases shutter speed, the other decreases it.

Beside the buttons is the mode dial.  This has five settings - Lock, Auto, Manual, 1/125x and B.  To turn this mode dial, you need to press down a very small white button on the dial pointer.  This is not impossible but I find it very hard to do.

The Lock position locks the shutter release button.  There are two reasons why using this is important. First, it prevents you taking accidental photographs while handling the camera.  The second reason is that partially pressing the shutter release activates the metering system and slight accidental pressure will run the batteries down.

Auto is the expected way of using this camera.  In this mode, the user sets the required aperture on the lens and the camera will decide on the shutter speed.  Cameras of this age do not have any electronic connection between the body and lens, communication being by two small levers.  In Auto mode, the camera selects the exact shutter speed needed for a good exposure, not just they nearest standard speed. The shutter speed selected is indicated by a LED on the left side of the viewfinder.  The speed indicated will be the nearest standard speed even if the actual speed is slightly more or less.  These indicator LEDs are in different colours.  Green means OK, yellow means a slow speed and a tripod is advised and red means no good.

Manual mode allows for manual operation of the camera (a bit of a give away in the name there!). Here, the user must select both aperture and shutter speed.  Shutter speeds are restricted to the standard speeds in one stop steps.

1/125x is for using non-Pentax flash guns.  Shutter speed is 1/125 and the user must calculate the aperture from the flashgun's guide number and the distance to the subject.  The reason electronic flashguns need a specific synch. speed with focal plane shutters is that the shutter exposes the film by a moving slit.  Shutter speed is determined by the width of the slit.  The flash from an electronic flash is very brief (1/10 000 seconds or so compared to 1/10 seconds for a flash bulb) and the width of the slit needs to be the width of the negative.  If you use electronic flash at a higher shutter speed, only a narrow portion of the negative will be exposed.

The last mode, B, is an extension on manual mode where the photographer must time the shutter himself - the automatic system only going as long as four seconds.

In the centre of the the mode dial is the shutter release button.  This is threaded for a standard cable release.  As already mentioned, partially pressing this button will activate the metering system.

To the far right of the top plate is the film advance lever.  This has a closed position with the lever parked over the top plate and a rest position where the lever sticks out at about thirty degrees.  The lever moves through about 130 degrees to advance the film one frame.  By the tip of this lever when in the parked position, there is a small window.  When you take a picture this turns to black.  When you wind on the film, this changes to red.  This is supposed to tell you if the camera is ready to use or no.  I find it easier to gently turn the film advance.  If it will not move, the camera is ready.  In front of the film advance is the frame counter.  Opening the camera resets this to -2 (indicated by a red dot).  On loading a film, you need to wind on the fogged start of the film which is two frames. Once you have done this, the counter will be at zero.

On the front right of the camera is a delayed action lever.  To use this, you turn it through 90 degrees to set it and then to activate it you nudge it upwards.  You then have ten seconds to get yourself in the frame.

On the bottom plate are a number of items.  In line with the lens is a tripod boss.  This is the standard 1/4 inch Whitworth.  Next to this is a battery cover.  this takes two button batteries of 400 size.  The meter electronics have a bridge circuit which means the exact voltage from the batteries is not important so when using alkaline batteries you can continue to use them safely until they are entirely flat.

At the opposite end of the base plate is what looks like another battery cover.  Under this is a mechanical connector for a motor-wind unit.  There are also three electrical contacts in a line which I assume are also for the motor-wind unit.

On the back is one of the most useful innovations in photography - a holder for the end-flap of the film carton.  Using this, you always have a reminder of the type of film in the camera.

Also on the back is a strange indicator.  This consists of a small window with black and red stripes in it. When the film moves - either advancing or rewinding - these stripes wobble.  The benefit is twofold - it tells you the film is inserted correctly and is advancing and it also tells you the film is rewinding.  When rewinding film, when these stripes stop wobbling you cans top rewinding.

Pentax ME Super back view

The lenses I am using with this camera are a Sirius 28mm macro lens and a Rokoh Riconar 55mm lens. Although Sirius lens is called a macro lens it is not really as the best reproduction ratio is 1:4 - macro is usually taken as being 1:1.

The Sirius lens focusses down to 0.2m (8 inches for my older readers) which is why Sirius call it a macro lens.  Looking on the Interweb, this lens does not have a good reputation but I shall make up my own mind when the test film is finished.  The claimed fault is that the lens is very soft.

Any softness apart, this lens is a delight to use.  Both the aperture ring and focusing ring are easy to find by feel - the aperture ring has wide ribs and the focussing ring has a coarse rubber knurling.

Focussing is through very nearly a complete circle giving very precise control over focussing.  This compares well with my modern Canon EOS lenses that only move through 80 to 90 degrees.

This lens is a prime lens and is multicoated.  The focussing scale is in both metres and feet which will benefit some although I am entirely metric.  The lens is made for a more modern K-mount standard than the camera.  The lens contains electronics (I can clearly see a resistor through the mount end) and has two electrical contacts in the bayonet.  It also has an aperture setting marked (A)P which I assume is to do with the electronics. The camera mount is plain machined, chrome-plated brass with no electrical contacts. However, this lens fits well and works well with this camera - the more modern K-mount is clearly backwards compatible with the original K-mount.

The Riconar lens is to the older standard - it has no visible electronics inside the lens and no contacts on the bayonet mount. This lens focuses down to 0.8 metres which is just under three feet.  Its aperture range is less than the Sirius lens - f2.2 to f16.  I am now using this lens with a roll of film and will post the results when I have finished the roll (the results below are for the Sirius lens only).

This camera is very small and light - it measures 130 x 45 x 85 mm - compared to most SLR cameras. It is certainly much smaller and lighter than the Spotmatic. The body of a focal plane shutter camera is always going to be longer than the body of a leaf shutter camera as the mechanism for the shutter plus the rolled shutter blinds must fit in there somewhere. Lighter will go with smaller.

Having made the camera smaller, Pentax have left enough room for my not-too-small hands to hold this camera securely. The final weight of the camera will depend on the lens attached but with no lens attached it weighs 445g. My two lenses are small prime lenses which reduces the total weight compared to using a zoom lens. On the other hand, these two lenses have metal barrels which will add weight compared to a modern polycarbonate lens. Any road, the lens/camera combination is one of the lightest of my collection.

I have created a small problem with this camera in that I have bought two lenses which focus in opposite directions. This is a camera I really like and I intend to use it as one of my go-to cameras. I am helped by the fact that I frequently change from SLR to rangefinder to viewfinder cameras and from German to Japanese so I have no instinctive expectations as to camera controls.

The only controls on the body that you use frame-to-frame is the on/off control and the shutter button. I find the on/off control hard to use as you need to press a very small white interlock while turning the knob. I am unable to do this with one hand and switching the camera on or off is a two handed affair.

The film advance lever, while the camera is not in use, sits very close to the body which is slightly awkward to use, but after the first shot it sits slightly proud which makes it much easier to use.

Walking around with this camera slung around your neck is much nicer than with most of my other SLRs - my OM10 being the exception. Both the ME Super and the OM10 are similar in size and weight. It is no hardship to use either of these two cameras on a long day out which is more than I can say for any of my German SLRs or my modern digital SLR.

Sad note: I picked up this camera today after cleaning it and the back swung open and my thumb went through the shutter - it is well passed repair.  But they are common enough so I don't expect it to take too long to find another one in good condition.

Sample pictures.  

These are taken on Agfa Vista + colour film, 200 ISO (actually made by Fuji) and the Sirius 28mm lens.  With the third picture, I have taken a detail from the centre to see how the lens performed as I have been told this Sirius lens is 'soft'.  My test reveals very little as the scan the lab did was only a medium resolution scan but this lens does not seem to be unduly soft to me.

Cannon Street, Lincoln

Wheat Harvest, Lincolnshire

Broadgate, Lincoln

Detail from above