All you need to know about the Pentax ME

The Pentax ME is small in profile but big at heart. The first thing you notice picking it up is the overall heftiness the camera has to it. The official dimensions measure out to 131.5 × 83 × 49.5 mm, and weighs almost exactly 1lb (not including a lens). Curious as to how that stacks up against, say, a Canon AE-1? Well, here you go.

Pentax ME: 131.5 × 83 × 49.5 mm

Weight: 1.01lbs

Canon AE-1: 141 x 88 x 48 mm

Weight: 1.25lbs

It’s noticeably shorter and less wide, if not just a hair taller than the AE-1. All thanks to the arched view finder classic to these old Pentax cameras. Yet despite this, I actually enjoy the heavier feel of the camera on the smaller body. It’s balanced and fits perfectly in your hands. Handling this camera reminded me of my trip with the Canonet 28. Except this time, I had a lot more control over how my shots came out.

TESTING IT OUT

I recently got my hands on this camera after acquiring it from a friend of mine for $30. As to be expected with a $30 film slr, this camera most definitely has its quirks. The Asahi 1:1.4 50mm lens that came with it jiggles at the front like a bobble head. In fact, if I wiggle the front element of the lens long enough it’s tempted to completely pop off the camera.

Despite this, and frankly I couldn’t even tell you how this is possible, it has one of the smoothest focus rings I’ve ever used. Seriously, it’s that good. The focus ring is buttery smooth, has a tactile grip on it, and really doesn’t require all that much turning to get it where you need it to go. The action of the focus is light years better than a 50mm lens I have on my Minolta X-700, and a step up from Canon’s 50mm FE lens. Being an f/1.4 lens, the depth of field was extremely narrow, which did end up biting me on a few shots.

Other quirks are that the light meter doesn’t work and neither does the auto mode. While not necessary for this camera to work, it does limit you to only shooting manually. It’s also got some cosmetic dings on the body, but that’s to be expected when dealing with a camera that is this old. One final thing I will add about this camera, is that I did not enjoy the loading process… The take-up reel is unique and feels like it tries too hard to be different. It has spindles you’re supposed to thread your film into before winding the film advance lever for the first time. I spent around 10 minutes trying to load my first roll into this thing because I couldn’t get the film to stay in it.

KERCHUNK

My favorite part about my Pentax ME is by far the shutter sound. It’s what sold me on it. It reminds me of the Pentax 6x7 and its legendary shutter. The best way I can describe it is that it sounds like a “KERCHUNK”. Cameras like the AE-1 and Minolta X-700 have a distinct electronic whine when you fire the shutter. In my opinion, those cameras do not deliver the same level of satisfaction as this little Pentax does. I honestly don’t know what I look forward to more when shooting on it, the sound of the shutter or the result of the photo!

THE SHOOT

On the same day I bought the camera, I ended up in Winsted, CT with my friend Jared. Winsted is a small town located in the northwest corner of Connecticut. A river bisects the town, and along this river runs the main street in town. Parrel to this street, you’ll find old factory buildings. Most are used for storage or are privately owned for business, but they served an industrial purpose some years ago. You’ll also find old gas stations, and relics of the past that are fun to stare at when passing through. The area is a fossil of industry that has left this part of the state and has taken on a new life. For the areas I shot in, I made sure to stick to parking lots and generally public areas to respect the privacy of the properties.

Before I could get cracking with this camera, a rain squall opened up. I was ready for a little bit of rain; I had previously loaded up a roll of Fomapan 100 Black & White film. This overcast weather was perfect for it and really helped create some mood.

As the rain got heavier, we opted to hit the town’s Dairy Queen and see if we could wait it out. I ended up grabbing a New York Strawberry Cheesecake Blizzard (yum) and himself a strawberry milkshake. Conveniently protected from the rain, I snapped the first few shots I could on the camera beneath the cover of a plastic awning. I shot at f/1.4 for almost all of the shots I took that day, and as a result my first few photos missed focus. The intention for the shoot was to create as much distance between subject and their surroundings. I should note though, I did not use a light meter at all during this trip, so all of my exposures here were done with guess work.

As I write this (early April) I actually don’t know how these shots came out. My assumption is that they will be slightly overexposed, and I’ll have to do some minor editing to balance them out. However, I am pretty confident that I got the exposure somewhat correct.

The Results

Well, now it’s early May and I can report on how these shots turned out. Overall, I am really happy with how this first roll came out. I missed focus on a few of the shots, but exposure wise things turned out alright. As a rule, for articles like this I try not to edit my photos when speaking to the kind of work a camera can produce. I think it helps remove any bias and lets the reader draw their own conclusions.

One issue I ran into with the Pentax ME happened on the second roll of film I put through this camera. A roll of Ultramax 400. Upon rewinding the roll, the winder knob suddenly came under a lot of tension and popped. Spinning freely with zero tension in the winder, I knew exactly what had happened. The film napped off inside the camera. Not sure if it was due to a loading error on my behalf, or a fault of the camera, but it’s worth noting that it happened. I ran into a similar issue while unloading the roll you see here. I noticed that it was very difficult to rewind back into the film canister, to the point that I almost stopped because I felt I was going to break the rewind knob.

I wouldn’t let that influence your decision in purchasing one of these cameras. I believe it’s an issue with my own copy and will have to do some tinkering to alleviate the issue.