MichaelL

Back in the early 80s I had a Pentax ME Super Camera. I just found it in a box that has been in storage for a while. My first digital camera was purchased in 1989 or 1990. I do not believe I have used that camera since then.

Looking at the lenses I had accumulated, I am surprised by the variety not sure of the quality but that remains to be seen. Wife says to sell it but I think I will invest in a couple of rolls of film and see what comes out.

Now that my digital photography has taught me a few things about how cameras work I wonder what will come out?

I will post pictures later if they are worth bothering. But three more weeks of Marching Band Videos first - I am the video guy for a High School Marching band and take a lot of videos.

Hope you all had a nice weekend.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

That was a nice camera back in the day.
If you tried selling it, the body won't be worth much.
The lenses may net you more, depending on what they are. They can most likely be adapted to a mirrorless camera. If you like it, keep it.
I'm wishing I would have kept a lot of my old cameras out of nostalgia's sake.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Michael, best wishes for happiness and many hours of enjoyment with your Pentax ME. Should be fun and instructive in some unexpected ways. Recently made a partial transition from digital back to film myself and was surprised how much I had forgotten about film - took it all as a 'new' challenge. Now I have both film and digital gear and can enjoy both for what they offer (and require). A great learning experience for anyone.

dandi Loc: near Seattle, WA

I had Pentax ME for many years, it was fun camera. I would keep it and use sometimes. I still have and play with my old Chinon SLR which I like a lot. My wife also tells me to sell it, I am not gonna do it, it brings so much memories.

BebuLamar

Which was your first digital camera? I am curious.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

If you do bands, watch the movie 'Brassed Off!' It has a lot to say about economic changes and their effect upon communities. It's also a good movie!

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

No need to go MILC. Virtually every Pentax lens ever made will work on modern Pentax DSLR's; the ones built 1975-83 require a minor work-around for metering, but otherwise they work the same as they did when they were new.

Leicaflex Loc: Cymru

If you purchased a digital camera you could use your ME lenses on your digital.
and if your film lenses have Asahi Optics on them, these were excellent.

blackest Loc: Ireland

Pentax lenses have been through a few changes but they are all compatible with all Pentax DSLR's including the new full frame K1.
Pentax DSLR's all feature in body stabilization so that is one less concern.

The K mount comes in 4 families km ka fa and da (ok there are some variations but this a post not an essay).
km manual focus you set aperture and press the green button to stop down and meter at that aperture.
ka manual focus you dial in your aperture metering is automatic.
With manual focus the centre spot is used and a green hexagon lights up solid when focus is achieved with an optional beep.
kaf automatic focus and automatic aperture i think you can use your focus points not just centre spot. Some may have aperture rings some may not These are the least use on a mirrorless camera although to be fair there is an adapter that can adjust the aperture
Da pretty similar to the kf series but designed for pentax crop sensor DSLRs.

You are likely to have km ka and maybe fa type lenses. If you look at the lens mount a km has a plain mount the later versions have spots plus a recessed contact. these work as a code which defines maximum aperture and minimum aperture.

Third party lenses are also common most third parties made k mount variations of their lenses quality is variable, most pentax lenses are pretty good quality, primes are the best of course. There is a pentax website which if you google a pentax lens will show up at the top of your results it has most of the pentax compatible lenses and usually has a price history with each lens. Decent lenses are going up in value and fa type lenses are in demand by K1 owners especially.

Honestly it would be a shame to put them on a mirrorless body especially if you don't own one, used Pentax Dslrs are very affordable some new bodies are too to be fair, a k30 tends to be pretty affordable and capable. If you want to do video work you would want to choose carefully which model to buy. Some don't support video and some do.

It is fair to say there is a ready market for Pentax lenses as they work with current models unlike some brands where the mount is obsolete. These obsolete mounts tend to be best used with mirrorless camera's

Finally do you have any that are Tamron adaptall mount lenses? The lens mounts are interchangable with these lenses and they tend not to be that expensive so if you had a pentax adaptall mount lens you could buy a canon or nikon adaptall mount and use that lens on your canon or nikon camera. Have fun, if nothing else put a film through that ME body and see how you get on.

rjriggins11 Loc: Colorado Springs, CO

I overhaul these for a living and a good one goes for about $150 with a 50mm lens. Believe it or not, there's still a film camera market out there. It's getting smaller every year though.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I had a Pentax ME Super at one time. It was a pretty good film camera. But I still have and occasionally use my real film workhorse, my Pentax K2 DMD camera. Wow, was it expensive in its day. It cost me $365 when a Pentax KM was only $120.

rjriggins11 Loc: Colorado Springs, CO

I heard through the grapevine that Pentax finally went completely out of business. It's a shame to see them go.

James Slick Loc: Pittsburgh,PA

Well, Their Website would seem to indicate that they're still alive.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

The grapevine is totally WRONG!!! Pentax was owned for a while by Hoya, which allowed the brand to slip, but now Ricoh is reviving it.

This year they released the full frame K-1, which got a lot of attention.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Grapevines are best at growing grapes, and sometimes consuming the fruit of the vine can cloud a person's judgment, however Mr. Google and Wikipedia easily add clarification to things like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentax