This is the not-so-super version of one of my favourite cameras. I bought it from Vinted as I was looking for a Pentax A lens for another camera body and noticed one attached to this camera for basically the same price, so why not?

The ME non-super lacks a manual mode, so it is an aperture-priority camera. It also has a slower top speed of 1/1000th compared to the 1/2000th super version. It is still lovely and small, plus it will work at 1/100th without a battery. It was released in 1977 and is one of the smallest SLRs ever made. After reading Jim Grey’s blog about it, I was quite excited to try one.

Unfortunately, you may already know, but the UK has had nothing but rain for a few months. Some parts of the UK have not had a single day without rain in 2026 so far. That meant going out and about with a non-weatherproof film camera was a little tricky. Eventually, the rain stopped enough for me to load a roll of Ilford Pan 200, which I still had to push to 800 in processing, and went for a muddy local walk. The results were atrocious; many were still underexposed. These are the only two I was slightly happy with. I thought the results were due to the conditions, but I might have been wrong.

I am not someone who gives up easily, so I reloaded it with a Christmas present from a friend, Amsterdam Now 100. I had not heard of it before, but with it being a 100asa film, I waited for a brighter day with a little less rain. Finally, there was a break, so I rushed to Elsecar for a wander along part of the walkway. Lots of other people had decided to do the same thing, and how happy we all were. We didn’t care about the mud and puddles. There were many dog walkers and families. I stuck to shooting the foliage, though.

On the walk, I noticed the light meter choices, displayed in the viewfinder, seemed off. It was sometimes showing 1/1000th when it was clearly too dark for that. In the end, I decided to force a manual setting using the 1/100th flash setting. I took a reading using my phone app for that speed and set the aperture based on that. As the light didn’t really change, I left it set to that for the rest of the film. I finished the film in Wakefield using the same method.

I wasn’t sure how to develop the film as I couldn’t find anything on the massive dev chart. I eventually opted to develop it in Rodinal 1:50, 20 degrees for 14 minutes, with 1-minute interval agitations. I based it on a few different film times and went middle of the road. In the link above, it says to use Astrum Foto 100 times, but the app I use didn’t have times for that either. So guesstimate it was.

Here are the results.

Well, the camera worked that way, but clearly, there is an issue with the light meter. I wondered if the issue was switching to an M version lens rather than the original A, but this camera should be compatible with both. I will try the camera one more time and take careful note of the readings being displayed.

As for the film, I liked it and read that it is infrared sensitive. I have another roll and will use that one when the sun finally reappears, with a red or IR filter just for fun. Maybe in another camera, though.

If the camera worked absolutely as it should, I would have really liked it. I love the lightness and didn’t mind the lack of a manual mode. The light meter does adjust when you change the aperture, so watch this space. Maybe it was user error and the lack of sunshine!

Here is another review you might be interested in.