I’ve picked up some new cameras this week. Today I collected a box very kindly gifted to me containing a Pentax ME Super, with 50mm, 35mm, 70-200mm and 70-150mm (Tamron adaptall) lenses. Oh, and a teleconverter. There was also a Topcon RM300 with 55mm Topcor lens and a faulty Pentax MG. The ME Super appears to work ok (although I’ve not done much other than dry fire it so far, and the previous owner had not used it at all, so we’ll see). The Topcon appears to work, but the film-advance lever is loose with a long stoke, so will have to see with that one too. It’s also missing it’s battery cover, so it can probably only be used with manual metering of some sort. The MG is in pretty tatty condition so I doubt I’ll do much with that.
Even if the other two cameras turn out to be faulty, the lenses are all hopefully in good working order, so I can use them with my Pentax P30T.
The other camera I got this week was a purchase – one that I’ve been mulling over since the summer when I put some money I’d saved aside. After watching the prices gradually increase, I decided to finally take the plunge and hit the buy button before they went above what I was willing to pay. So I’m now the proud owner of a Fujica GW690. I’m hoping to get time (and weather!) to try it out this weekend. It came with a roll of Velvia already loaded with one shot taken, so I’ll finish that off and hopefully get it developed next week. After seeing what this camera is capable of, I’m looking forward to it. While I was expecting the size – it’s not nicknamed the Texas Leica for nothing – the weight was a little unexpected. Someone else I know had described theirs as a “big plastic box”. I’m assuming that they must’ve had one of the more recent models because the one I have is built like a tank, and weighs about as much too!
Photos will appear here in due course.
All the photos in today’s blog were made back at the start of the month while walking past the cathedral on a day of lovely sunshine, which granted me some great contrast and shadows to work with.
Yashica Mat 124G & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.
Taken on 1 November 2020
Steel City Snapper photography 
That’s a very nice building. I like what how you dealt with shadows there.
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I hope the ME Super really works so you can try it out. I evangelize the ME & ME Super all the time as terrific little SLRs and so far everyone I know who’s tried one has agreed!
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Likewise. While I probably don’t need another SLR, I’d like it to work and will give it all the best. I think I might change the light seals as the back has a slight rattle to it, but otherwise – based on my quick look at an online manual – it seems to function properly.
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I’ve been out in the woods with my Pentax ME Super today, which I bought for £29 in a camera shop. It works great and, since I was shooting at ISO50, I was glad to find that although the shutter speed scale is marked to (I think) 4 seconds, it will actually take a much longer exposure when needed – I counted about 12 seconds.
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I’m hoping to get out an shoot it before too long although, if worst-comes-to-worst, I have some leave booked over Christmas which will hopefully provide opportunities otherwise. I’m thinking that I’d like to try some long-lens landscape stuff with it using the 70-200mm that I got with the camera.
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