DG,
My original ME had a problem with the stand-off spring on the winder lever. After
several years of use and letting it 'snap' back against the camera body on winding,
the metal spring broke, sending a metal tab into the gear train. I believe the gears
are plastic (somebody who has had one apart can tell) and that was an expensive repair
on a 3-4 year old camera.
On repair, the winder lever stand-off spring was removed. Now I push it back the last
15 degrees by hand. I took the camera for a 'free' dust off/check at a camera shop's
clinic day. The techs mentioned the problem and tried to get me to buy some
preventive maintenance. Needless to say I'd seen the repair already and knew I
wouldn't have the problem again.
Overall, I can't complain about film transport problems with these cameras. I think
the plastic gears were a manufacturing innovation at the time, and the reviewers were
used to metal gears. They saw it as a part likely to break. By now, some 20 years
later, we should know by experience if this is the case. I think they have held up
pretty well, but I'm not a repair guy. <g>
Regards, Bob S.
> The Pentax section was quite complete but when
> the author got to the M series(ME, ME Super,
> MX, etc.) he advised against purchising these
> cameras unless one was quite sure the body
> was new. He stated that the M series was
> plagued from the very beginning by film
> transport problems. Atlthough I don't own
> one, I know that it is one of the most popular
> Pentax cameras on the list. How many of you
> out there with an M camera have experienced
> the film transport problems he warned about.
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