Pentax ME vs ME Super vs MX: Which compact Pentax is right for you?

The Pentax ME, ME Super and MX share an almost identical body, yet a used MX costs nearly three times as much as an ME. The ME is aperture priority only: you choose the aperture, the camera picks the shutter speed. The ME Super adds manual shutter speeds, set with two push buttons. The MX does nothing for you. Its shutter is mechanical and keeps working even with a dead battery, and in the biggest viewfinder of the three you see both shutter speed and aperture without taking your eye off the subject. That makes the ME Super sound like the easy middle ground. But those very buttons are the most debated feature of the series: some people get on with them right away, others never do. If you only want one, get the ME Super anyway. The MX is worth the extra money if you want to set every exposure yourself.

Cover photo: Thomas Backa, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Contents

1. How Pentax answered the Olympus OM-1
2. Specs side by side
3. How do you set the exposure?
4. Why the viewfinder is the underrated reason to buy
5. Which batteries do they take, and what happens when they die?
6. Weak spots and a used-buying checklist
7. Which one is right for you? (And why the K1000 is overpriced)
8. Lens recommendations to get started
9. Accessories and scanning

How Pentax answered the Olympus OM-1

In 1972 Olympus launched the OM-1 and, overnight, made every other SLR look fat and heavy. Pentax took four years to answer. In late 1976 the ME and MX hit the market together: two cameras in almost equally small bodies, but built on opposite philosophies.

The ME was radical: aperture priority only, with nothing to adjust apart from the aperture and exposure compensation. The MX was the opposite: fully mechanical, fully manual, built as a smaller alternative to the pro bodies. In 1979 Pentax followed up with the ME Super, which gave the ME manual shutter speeds via push buttons and a 1/2000 shutter.

A bit of context, since the M series gets confusing fast: the MV and MG are stripped-down budget automatics, the ME-F from 1981 is the world’s first production autofocus SLR (technically interesting, practically irrelevant), and the LX from 1980 is the weather-sealed pro flagship with interchangeable finders. The K1000 isn’t part of the M series at all. It’s bigger and heavier, but thanks to its reputation as the classic student camera it now costs as much as the technically better MX.

Smaller than an OM-1: The ME measures 131 × 82.5 × 49.5 mm and weighs 460 g, making it slightly smaller than the Olympus OM-1 in every dimension and around 50 g lighter. At 135.5 mm wide and 495 g, the MX is marginally bigger, but still slimmer and lower than the OM-1. That puts the ME and MX among the smallest 35mm SLRs ever made.

Specs side by side

*Working, unserviced bodies on the EU used market; dealer-checked copies with a warranty cost more. All three take any Pentax K-mount lens with an aperture ring, from 1975 right up to current Limited lenses.

A note for anyone looking up specs: the English Wikipedia lists the MX’s dimensions for the ME (a copy-paste error). The correct ME figures are the ones above.

How do you set the exposure?

Pentax ME: the uncompromising automatic

The ME has no shutter speed dial. You set the aperture on the lens and the camera picks the shutter speed, steplessly anywhere from 8 seconds to 1/1000. That sounds like the camera is telling you what to do, but in practice it works remarkably well: the meter is center-weighted and gets it right reliably. CasualPhotophile put it to the test and didn’t see a single misexposed frame in more than 72 shots, concluding: “one of those rare values”.

If you like to use exposure creatively, you reach for exposure compensation (±2 stops on the ring around the rewind crank). That’s all the manual control you get. And that’s exactly what makes the ME the right camera for anyone who just wants to take pictures, and the cheapest way into the M series.

Pentax ME Super: automatic plus push buttons

Like the ME, the ME Super has aperture priority, plus manual shutter speeds from 4 s to 1/2000. You don’t set them with a dial but with two push buttons next to the shutter release. That’s the most controversial design decision in the whole series. Some people get on with it straight away, others never do. Hamish Gill of 35mmc was bothered by the tiny lock release you press to change modes and by the lack of an AE lock; his verdict: “Not for me, but a great camera regardless”.

If you only want to own one M-series camera and need both automatic and manual control, the ME Super is where you’ll end up.

Pentax MX: the mechanical one

The MX does without electronics in the shutter entirely. The shutter speed dial sits on top of the body, and you set the aperture on the lens. Five LEDs in the viewfinder show how far you are from the metered exposure (green = spot on, orange = half a stop off, red = a full stop or more). The battery only powers the meter; the camera itself runs without one.

Over on the Photrio forum, Ian Grant sums it up: “I have both but prefer the MX, it’s a mechanical shutter so will keep working even if the battery goes flat. I also find it much quicker to use.” And CasualPhotophile calls the MX “the Mazda Miata of 35mm SLRs … a street photography machine”.

Shutter speed dial at eye level: The small MX dial is a bit fiddly to turn while you’re looking through the finder. That’s down to the design, not a fault. A tip from the community: rest your index finger on the knurled edge and brace the dial with your middle finger instead of turning it between two fingers. After two rolls you’ll have the hang of it.

Why the viewfinder is the underrated reason to buy

On paper there’s almost nothing between the three: 0.95× to 0.97× magnification. Hold them up to your eye, though, and the difference is bigger.

The MX shows 95% of the frame at 0.97× magnification, the biggest and brightest viewfinder image in its class and larger than on some pro cameras. On top of that you get eight interchangeable focusing screens (shared with the LX), and the viewfinder shows both shutter speed and aperture. You see your entire exposure without taking your eye off the subject. The ME and ME Super only show you the shutter speed.

A fair point from the Photrio thread: in low light, the ME Super’s LED shutter speed display is easier to read than the MX’s small LEDs. If you shoot a lot at dawn or dusk, it’s worth putting both to your eye at least once.

Which battery do the three take, and what happens when it dies?

Unlike the classics from the mercury battery era (think PX625), all three Pentax models simply take two 1.5 V button cells, either SR44 or LR44. You can still buy them anywhere, and you need neither an adapter nor any voltage correction. The meter uses a bridge circuit that doesn’t much care about the exact cell voltage.

Silver oxide (SR44) holds its voltage steady until almost the very end and lasts considerably longer than alkaline (LR44). Stick to branded cells: leaking no-name cells are one of the most common causes of corroded battery compartments in used cameras.

The ME’s silent misexposure: With a dead battery, the ME does not lock up in auto mode. It keeps firing, sounds perfectly normal and still gets the exposure wrong. No LED lights up in the viewfinder anymore, and if you miss that, you won’t find out until the film comes back from development. The ME Super, according to camera-wiki, behaves the same way. Without a battery, only the mechanical settings work on either camera: 1/100 and B on the ME, 125X and B on the ME Super. The MX is more forgiving, since its shutter needs no power at all. On the ME and ME Super, put in fresh cells before running an important roll, and check that an LED lights up in the viewfinder when you lightly press the shutter release.

SR44 batteries (4-pack), enough for two cameras or years of spares (€11.95)

Disclaimer: We sell some of the products mentioned here. Even so, this article is meant first and foremost as a helpful guide, not as a sales pitch.

Weak spots and a checklist for buying used

All three cameras are 40 to 50 years old. At that age, the spec sheet matters less than two questions: what breaks, and what can be saved?

ME and ME Super: the gummed-up mirror damper

The best-known problem with the electronic models sits in the mirror box. The mirror’s air damper contains rubber parts that turn sticky and gum up after decades. Symptoms: the mirror gets stuck in the up position or moves sluggishly, or after a longer break nothing at all happens at first when you press the shutter release. Steve Roberts puts it bluntly on the Photrio forum: the aging rubber parts are turning “steadily into goo”. The repair is doable (iFixit documents a complete mirror box service for the ME Super), but with bodies selling for €40–120 it’s rarely worth paying a repair shop. It’s more a job for tinkerers, or a reason to buy a better copy.

The ME Super has two more trouble spots of its own. The winding mechanism tends to fail on heavily used copies (one forum user simply buys the next one: “They aren’t worth repairing — I just buy another”), and oxidized contacts on the film speed and exposure compensation ring (around the rewind crank) make the display jump to extreme values now and then. That last one can often be fixed by turning the ring back and forth a few times.

MX: almost everything can be fixed

The MX ages differently. Its light seals and mirror bumper crumble, which is standard for any SLR of this era and something you can fix yourself cheaply with a light seal kit. The mechanical shutter can be serviced like a clockwork movement. A specific, rarer MX problem is pinion wear in the horizontal shutter, which causes uneven exposure across the width of the frame (“step exposure”). You’ll only spot it on a test roll, for example on an evenly gray surface shot at 1/1000. As a rule, though, there’s nothing electronic in the shutter that can die, so the MX is the longest-lived of the three. If you’re wondering whether a full service (CLA: clean, lube, adjust) is worth it, our article “Does every broken film camera need a CLA?” will help. In our repair shop directory you’ll find workshops that still work on Pentax.

Checklist for buying used

1. Bring fresh SR44s. Without a battery, there’s almost nothing you can test on the ME and ME Super.
2. Mirror test (ME/ME Super): Fire the shutter ten times in a row, and again after a one-minute pause. Any hang-up or sluggish flip-up = damper problem.
3. Film advance (ME Super): Work the advance lever through several cycles. It should spring back cleanly, and the shutter has to be cocked afterwards.
4. Run through every shutter speed (MX): At 1 s, count along to check the timing. For the fast speeds, open the back and look through the shutter at a bright surface: the slit should travel across evenly.
5. Cross-check the meter: Compare the reading with a phone app or a camera you know; on the ME Super, test the ASA ring for contact problems (if the shutter speed jumps around wildly, the contact is oxidized).
6. Light seals and battery compartment: Sticky black crumbs on the back door are normal and cheap to fix; green deposits in the battery compartment are a warning sign of deeper corrosion.

Which one is right for you? (And why the K1000 is overpriced)

Since the question always comes up: the K1000 is a good, nearly indestructible camera. But used ones now sell for €120–230, as much as an MX and more than the ME Super, which is twice as well equipped. And you get less for that money: no self-timer, a light meter you can’t switch off, and a bigger, heavier body. The flash sync speed is the same as the MX’s. The premium is pure name hype from twenty years of being the go-to recommendation in photography classes. An ME Super is the smarter K1000, an MX the better one.

Independent voices from the community: The Photrio thread “ME Super vs MX: most reliable?” is the best collection of long-term user experience:

1. On the MX: “The MX is a tank and the meter is excellent. Slide film or night shots are no problem.” (Don Promillo)
2. On the ME Super: “The ME Super is prone to failure in the winding mechanism.” (Jeff Bradford). Michael W pushes back: he calls the image quality “excellent” and says only the buttons are a matter of taste.
3. A balanced view: “Which of these two cameras is more reliable? Neither.” Both are old, and what really matters is the condition of the individual camera (dynachrome)

Lens Recommendations for Getting Started

All three cameras take any K-mount lens with an aperture ring. To get started, these four SMC Pentax-M lenses have proven themselves:

Rule of thumb: buy the body with a 50/1.7, since the lens often comes bundled for next to nothing. Add the pancake later, once the format has got its hooks in you.

Accessories and Scanning

The most useful accessories for a 45-year-old Pentax aren’t exciting: fresh batteries, new light seals, caps for the body and lenses. That’s exactly what we stock:

Light seal kit for film SLRs, fits the ME, ME Super and MX (€24.95) · Body cap for Pentax K, protects the mirror box on the shelf and on the go (€16.95) · Rear lens cap for Pentax K (PK, SMC), for your lens collection (€16.95) · Film Scanner Set for 35mm, scan your negatives at home with a digital camera (€54.95)

And once your first rolls are developed: if you scan them yourself, you save the scanning fee on every roll, as long as your lab will develop without scanning. Our scanning guide shows what a complete setup of camera, film holder and light source looks like.

Video Picks

Two comparisons and reviews of the M series that are well worth watching:

Romping Bronco puts the ME Super and MX head to head, including the buttons-versus-dial question.

David Hancock takes a detailed look at the MX, with sample photos and practical tips.

3 questions, a tailored recommendation, in under 60 seconds. Try the Film Scanner Finder.

Batteries, light seals, caps: everything for the ME, ME Super and MX. Shop Pentax accessories.

From the Rollei 35 to the Canon F-1: our buying guides to classic film cameras. All articles.