Surprisingly, given it’s decidedly amateur auto-only positioning, this MV1 was “rode hard and put away wet”. It’s one of the most used models in the museum, and was filthy when received. I’ve included it as an interesting reminder that even supposedly beginner friendly cameras can earn their keep through hard work.
Introduced in 1980, the MV1 is a little less basic than the MV it succeeded – it has a self timer for example, a memo holder, it can accept a data back and – as with this example – a winder. It’s still aperture priority only, with an electronic, focal plane metal shutter. It’s very clearly a member of the ME family, with the same almost implausibly compact body and featherlight controls.
It’s still very much a beginner friendly camera, and the shutter speed isn’t displayed in the finder. Interestingly there is exposure compensation, though it’s a little hidden beneath the rewind lever and requires good fingernails to operate.
Pentax introduced the MG in 1981, as the successor to the MV1 and in the line of simpler, automated, bodies going back through MV and ME of 1977.
The MG is aperture priority automatic, with no manual shutter speed other than the flash sync of 1/100th second. The metal focal plane shutter is electronically controlled – by and large photographers had overcome their initial hesitation about trusting electronics, and the increased accuracy and reliability of such a shutter was now well accepted.
Shutter speed is shown in the viewfinder, but the selected aperture is not. There’s a simple clockwork self-timer, and the hot shoe features an additional electrical contact for use with a dedicated Pentax flash unit.
Film loading is of the magic needle variety, and works well. The museum example is unique to me in that the protective film is still in place on the baseplate, and it was bought fitted with a genuine Pentax zoom – typically I find ebay cameras with some no-name zoom on them
One of the first integrated Auto Focus 35mm SLRs offered – possibly the first. There had been other attempts where the A/F system was fully enclosed within the lens, but in this heavily modified version of the ME-Super, electronics within the camera body used contrast detect sensors to determine correct focus.
The AE-1 marked the introduction of micro-processor electronics to photography. For the first time microprocessors calculated exposure and timed the shutter, which in this case was still a fairly traditional horizontal cloth design.
The Canon A-1 was the first camera to offer micro-processor controlled, programmed auto-exposure, where both aperture and shutter were determined by the camera.
A wonderfully simple and unsophisticated camera, we sold lots of Trips during the time I worked as a retail assistant in Dixons from 1981 to 1983. Despite having no battery, the trip manages to offer programmed automatic and aperture priority metering modes – made easier because it had to choose between only 1/40th or 1/200th shutter speeds!
