A Good Beginner Film Camera? Pentax ME Review 

thanks for watching. 🙌 Do you know the Pentax ME or one of its alternative variants? What do you think of aperture priority only would that be a problem for you?

For the average point-n-shoot new age film buff who doesn't want to get into professional photography....the basic ME is a great choice. It's small, built like a battleship, takes superb photos, and will probably last another 50 years.

Even if I have no ambitions to build up my analog camera stock by now, I really enjoy watching your videos. It's always that calming vibe of your clips that I like a lot.

The ME is a pretty bullet proof camera. They seem to keep on working! It's a aperture priority. Great for certain kinds of shooting. I love them. If you don't like it, get a all manual camera. They are cheap enough. Then you will have both. Oh yeah, ME Supers are good cameras but they have more plastic parts and do tend to break or just die.

I LOVE your GERMAN Accent when you say 'Shutter Speeds' Vielen Dank !

wow the ME looks teeny in your hands haha. Dude I knew sooner or later your channel would get a crazy bump. loool the reenactment scenes. As an OM1 shooter, I would love to try the ME.

Wow you're making me want to try ColorPlus now. I have a Pentax LX with the same lens and they're really good cameras.

Still can't get over how small the body is! I have the Pentax MX (which is actually the camera I started shooting film on) and even though I don't use it as often anymore, I still love it. Great video, as always! :)

Bought this as my first real camera, film and digital. I shot about 6 rollsl but I quite want to get a me super because of your point about the aperture priority. The ME really has a tendency to want to go for the low shutter speeds in anything but great lighting conditions. When you do line up all the settings though, the ME does take stunning photos.

Just binged a dozen of your videos, great stuff sir. A friend of mine just gifted me an old Canon AE-1p collecting dust so I'll be frequenting your channel often for shooting tips. Subbed and looking forward to seeing your channel grow.

Beautiful review man! Your b-rolls are so nice. Lately, I’ve been watching many reviews as I was thinking of getting a film camera so this was very helpful. Indeed the camera has a fav built quality but that light meter problem is very annoying.

The Olympus om1 started the trend in making smaller SLRs and ME and MX were Pentax’s answer to that trend. I worked in a camera shop in London at that time and the ME MX cameras with their new k mount lenses felt like premium products. Pentax use to advertise “just pick up hand hold a Pentax…” and to me these new smaller cameras just felt “right” in the hand.

great review of one of the greates cameras of all time. The ME was the first camera i bought as a 12 year old in the 70s. I decided for it because Nikon was out of reach and it was much smaller and lighter and therefore the best I could get for my travel fotography. The kit/Standard lenses of Pentax have always been much better than standard lenses of the competition so is the 1.7 50mm which I also used - fantastic lens. I later noticed the Pentax was the far better choice over Nikon because its much more reliable and robust. You will not believe what my ME had to endure. 3m falls on rock, landing in salty water, Sahara sandstorms, 99% humidity in jungle and -38°C during a 3 week hike in Lüneburger Heide. The funny thing is, the Pentax LX that i bought 3 years ago because i always wanted one for even more robustness is weaker ;-) the ME/MX's are just animals BTW is there any 35mm out there with a bigger viewfinder? EDIT: yes the limit to aperture priority was an issue first until I learned that i would always think of my aperture first because of depth of field and sharpness/bokeh. Then just moving the aperture to get to the shutter speed time i wanted was absolutely ok as i am not a pro sports fotographer. in the end its worked just fine for me and in case i tweaked the iso like you mentioned

My Canon Av-1 is exactly the same man! Also aperture priority. I’m also constantly changing my compensation 😂 learning to ‘trick’ the light meter was tricky. But at least it’s made us both more familiar with bracketing exposures 🤷‍♂️ Great review 👏

I love the video the only small thing that I have to say is that this camera is not fully electronic because you can use it without batteries the only downside is that you can not use all functions in that case!

The Pentax MX is the one to get. The all manual sibling of the ME and ME Super. The MX is totally mechanical except fir the light meter so operates completely without batteries if you wish and happy to use sunny 16 or an external meter. If the electronics of an ME or ME Super fail the camera is pretty much unusable. They are reliable but let’s face it, most are around 40 yrs old. When I was a teenager all I wanted was an ME Super (which my mate hadj but all my parents could afford was a Praktica MTL3. It’s all manual too and still going fine but my mates ME Super dies 20yrs ago. Now I have an MX and it’s rock solid. The Praktica sits on my bookshelf as a reminder of how I learned photography

grainy days for germany as you see yourself. lovely

I've been using a Pentax ME for a couple years now. Had to replace the light seals and its good as new. I got it for $25 at an estate sale. Prices for film cameras are insane now even at estate sales. Mine came with the 50mm f1.7. Sometimes the lack of manual shutter speed is annoying but at least it takes modern batteries.

I have 4 Canon AE1+Ps which I adore obviously. I also have Pentax K1000, MX, ME Super and ME SE - these Pentax cameras are all excellent. The MX is my favourite. The ME is capable of producing images just as good and all the shooter needs to do is get their head in the right space. A much under rated piece of gear.

richtig fresh die bilder erinnert mich echt an so 70s :D

I just bought this today the ME......so thank you for pointing out the issues will keep in mind.

Wish Pentax would just start reproducing film camera again, I'm sure there would be heaps of people entering film photography willing to buy a brand new entry level film camera. You mentioned that the focus ring is the smoothest you've ever used, even more than voigtlander lenses?

I have the me super and i use it in manual mode. Small silent the 50mm and 28mm are small lenses but with the pancake 40mm is even more pocket-sized. And the lenses are amazing

I have an ME-F and it has M mode where you can change the shutter speed in the view finder using the up and down push buttons

It's not only for beginners. I've got 2 of them, on equipped with a winder and I've been shooting for about 40 years. But tbh I mainly use my other Pentaxes (K1000, KM, KX, K2, LX and MX). However, it's really fun to use and it has never driven me crazy in any way... ;-)

Wow, the camera look tiny when u hold it. The camera can cover my whole face when im taking picture. Btw great video!

Great camera review! I am interested in several questions: which exposure meter was used and on which film the photos were taken in the review?

A very interesting review with understandable arguments. Maybe you'll find an alternative at the next flea market. :)

I just ordered my self an me super and am excited to possibly win an auction for an mx

STUNNING PIX, GrenMa! AS ALWAYS!

I am looking at the ME Super with 35mm f 2.8 small and light is very attractive option. It has some manual capabilities but now I see that MX you have and wonder about it.

Pentax Me Super coming to my house soon😊

Found one for 50€ in fully working conditions with a F/1:1.4 50mm lens As for aperture priority that's what I use 80% of time anyway, rarely needed shutter priority and full manual is for the brave so I guess I'd be fine with it, maybe sometimes locking it to 1/100s shutter and working around it with the aperture Tbh I'm mostly thinking about it because of the lens

Bro, there is a manual mode for sure, set the dial to 'M' and use the little black buttons. The upper and lower led's indicate over/under exposure. When the leds are yellow, it indicates that you need to be super steady. I really like the ME super, but your right about the lack of exp-lock.

Nice video and shots 🤩👏🏻

Nice to meet you! I'm Japanese. What kind of film do you use for this live-action? The picture is too nice…😭

trés bien, a great review. these flea markets sound interesting. Are there many cameras there?

Use a VND it may solve some of your aperture priority problems

Hi, maybe I missed it in one of your other videos, but ...how / where do you develope and scan your films? The tones come out awesome. Thank you. Heiner

Hey I really liked your review. I got my Pentax ME while living in Japan for about 10,000 yen. I wish there was a manual mode too, because I don't develop my rolls until I have a bunch ready to develop and by that time I have totally forgotten what settings I used or the light conditions. I assume it's the light meter sabatoging my shots! For travel/street daytime photography I'm thinking of just putting it at f16 and leaving it alone. What do you think??

My me super has a manual mode, I like it more than my MX, but I lent it to my sister in law and don't know if ill get it back again hahaha

This one has no manual shutter speed? Thankfully I see your video before buying !

beautiful photos mate

Memory lane. About 40 years ago I had its mechanical sibling, the MX. It replace my first camera, the K1000 😊

This is vintage ... i like it

Pentax k1000 or Pentax me super?

Pentax MG was my first SLR camera (bought new), which I got as a kid. Aside of bigger / better LED diodes for auto exposure it was the same camera as the ME. And yeah, no exposure lock button. Frustrating to no end...

It is a very nice video!

Hello) good video, thank u! Do you know which flash feet for Pentax me ?

What settings would you suggest for shooting moving subjects like skateboarders handheld? I’ll have to trick the shutter for a sharp shot right?

I kinda like that model but it’s kinda heavy imo like canons seem lighter 😩

How do you put film on the camera

i have the kam but dont know how to use the viewfinder

Found one for 150$ should I buy?

What is the better camera between the ME, ME Super and ME F?

Is it possible to use the camera without batteries?

i got this camera but there are some mossing parts, like that black ring thing around the shutter button and a battery cover coin, does anyone knows where can i get these parts?

is it a heavy camera?

COOL ！かっこいいｗ Ｍシリーズ　華奢で壊れやすいけど　ＭＥは安定してていいよね　（＾＾ｖ

Looks like Fuhrer 😂🤣 5:30

Even if no raccoons were seen the dog is so cute. 🦝 My father once had such a camera I think. But it was never thrown against a wall.