Life with the Super A
by Ph Santiago
The Pentax Super A (SuperProgram in the U.S.) was reviewed in the May 1983 issue of Practical Photography. The technology is thus already fifteen years old as of this writing, and if you should buy a Super A today, it may have seen fifteen years of use as well. So why buy one?
For some, the love of metal-bodied SLRs is reason enough. But personally I
bought a used Super A because I have manual focus lenses. That's right, I prefer
a manual focus body when using manual focus lenses. I find the split image and
microprism collar valuable aids for manual focusing. I even prefer the Super A
to my PZ-1p when using manual focus lenses. But even if I fit the PZ-1p with a
manual-lens-compatible focusing screen such as those from Beattie (I don't know
how that would affect metering), the Super A is still as good a backup as any.
So why choose a Super A over other manual bodies? Spec-wise, even when compared
against Pentax's latest manual offering (the ZX-M), the Super A does not lag far
behind. In fact, it may not be inappropriate to say that the Super A is better
specified than the ZX-M (of course I would really prefer an LX, but that's
another story). For instance, the Super A has through-the-lens (TTL) flash
control, a feature missing in the ZX-M. The ZX-M's longest manually-set shutter
speed is 2 seconds against 15 seconds in the Super A (although in Æ or aperture
priority, the ZX-M can go as long as 30 seconds, as against 15 in the Super A).
In fairness to the ZX-M, it has several features I find quite appealing, such as
the bar graph meter showing exposure value at ½ stop increments (1 EV
increments in the Super A), the viewfinder display you can see in the dark
without having to push a button, the electronic depth-of-field preview, and 2
frames per second film advance (although the Super A takes a winder or motor
drive).
Overall, however, I prefer the Super A over the ZX-M because of the former's TTL flash control capability. And with proper care and use, there should be a lot of life left in these little Super As.