Pentax ME Super or P30t?

Carter64

Carter64

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Mike
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After a fit of Pentax nostalgia, I'm in possession of x2 ME Supers, a P30 and a P30t. I've got over it and decided to keep just one. I'm not sure which one, though!
I've narrowed it down to: one ME Super or the P30t. The P30 is just pants, Manual or Program. :shake:
The ME Super was my first 'proper' SLR and I have a soft spot. However, the P30t, while not as pretty, gives me access to Pentax-A/KA lenses, and the addition of a Program mode, not that I'll use it much but nice to have?
Are there any other differences, such as metering patterns, build-quality, meter accuracy, anything else I should also be taking into consideration?
 
Go with whatever you feel lets you shoot better pictures. The spec for the P30t seems worse than the ME Super (excluding the program mode of course) with only a 1/1000th top speed vs the 2000 on the ME Super, it's more plastic but has exposure lock and it's electronics are probably more reliable than the ME Super. The differences between them are not too big.

You can still use A/KA lenses on the ME Super so you could buy those lenses anyway and use both bodies. I use a ME Super so i'm slightly biased towards it.
 
Thanks!
Probably the only better thing I thought about the P30t was the Program mode. As I rarely use this, even on my dSLR, I'll more than likely take your advice and stick to the ME Super :) I'm so much more familiar with it, too.
As for lenses, I won't be hoarding loads but the option of K (M) or K (A) will be simply down to availability and price.
That said, I've just bought a cheap-ish Prinzflex 80-200 PKA lol. I have it in M42 also and was pleasantly (very!) surprised at the quality, it's the 'Made in Japan' version, which I believe is Chinon.
 
How do you set the ISO on that P30T? DX encoding only? Well, that would send it to /dev/null for me. YMMV. ;)
 
Excellent point, one I'd missed tbh! Could some-one pass me the last coffin nail for the P30t, please :)
 
At the end of the day, when the mirror lifts it doesn't matter what body you using! It's really a choice of versatility and build quality.

Personally, I'd go with the ME Super. Great camera and outstanding build quality in my experience. Nice compact body and a great looker.:love:

I've got a couple of ME Supers, a few MX's, a K1000 and a few Program A's. I feel that the ME Super falls into the MX/LX standard when Pentax were making great cameras. I definitely prefer it to the P30.
 
I've got a soft spot for the LX/MX/ME/K1000 generation of cameras, so the ME Super.
 
I loved selling ME Supers when I worked in a shop, they were reliable, built well and felt good with the thumb grip on the back door.
 
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