Kostas wrote in defense of the SF1, saying among other things that it was better than the ME super.
You got my goat here! I owned 4 ME supers and you will never hear me lauding them. Yes, they are small, light and cheap, and I got plenty of great pictures with them. I also had them into the shop almost in rotation to address meter problems, impact damage, and other mechanical issues. They just weren't very tough. I'd probably have been happier with a bunch of K1000s or MXen, but the ME supers were initially free (on the grandpa-gets-new-camera plan). Some of my comments on his comments on my objections: >> The AF stank (OK, all AF stank back then, but it was my only AF >> experience) >I can assure you it is much better than that of the ME Super and the >pointless P-series cameras. The ME Super with manual focus produced more in-focus pictures than the SF-1 with autofocus did for me, especially if the subject was moving. Maybe nothing else was much better, but the AF on the SF1 was not good enough for me to use. The P-series may also suck here, but my M and K lenses do not care. >> and the build quality and visual appeal of the F lenses was >> lousy. >So? First of all the plastic barrel does not scuff. Second, according >to some of us, the F28-80 is rugged and has very good optical quality. So, I'd have killed stuff. I'm not gentle on my gear, both due to heavy use and low dexterity. I've never had any complaints with Pentax optics, only the fact that the neccessary mechanical support systems for them have not always been made to the same standard in terms of quality and features. I could not have used anything as slow as the F28-80 zoom on the job--I didn't have ANY zooms in my bag at the time, or indeed until the current millenium. >> -no threaded cable release socket visible. I'm sure it takes an >>expensive >> electronic cable release. > It depends what you class as expensive. I class buying a new electronic release because the old mechanical one won't fit as expensive. Electronic remotes work better, yes. I had to buy one for my F4 eventually. My point was that overall the SF-1 gave me the impression of being a fragile, ugly camera that required special accessories and batteries and had less capability in ways I needed than the Super Programs that it replaced without adding useful additional features. Since this was the current top-of-the-line Pentax I decided that Pentax was not the way of my future. If the PZ-1P had come out in 1993 when I started shooting professionally instead of 1995 by which time I had 2 F3s and an F4 I might have decided differently. DJE
