Ralph Turner
Well-Known Member
Bit of a long story, but recently I acquired a Pentax ME Super with this f1.7 std lens attached. Sadly the camera suffers with a stuck mirror/shutter - apparently a common issue with these. The lens, though, works fine and is in very good condition all round, particularly the glass, which looks as good as new (apologies for the dust on the filter in the pic). I had no K mount bodies to use it with, but came across this Centon whilst wandering the ‘Bay. It came with a matching 28-70 zoom and both are in virtually as new (working) condition for less than £30. There are various theories online of the K100’s heritage - Pentax K1000 clone or Cosina copy, likely manufactured by Seagull). Centon isn’t a brand I’ve considered before, but I’m surprised how good it looks/feels (the body potentially a better prospect than the lens, but I’ll wait until I’ve seen some results from it before I judge it). Looking forward to seeing how the lend behaves on the roll of Ilford Ortho I have loaded in the combo. Never tried the Ortho before, so potentially a number of variables at okay, but we’ll see how it goes
. It looks and feels very similar to my Yashica FX3 Super 2000 (I believe, a Cosina made model for Kyocera) even down to the metering display in the viewfinder, though it’s actually a simpler machine (no self timer), more like the K1000. Rumour has it that a lot of the tooling etc for the Pentax was sold to (presumably) Seagull in China, so it’s anybody’s guess what the actual story is. Centon is or was the house brand for the Dixons consumer electronics chain of shops here in the UK and was aimed at the budget end of the market. I rather like the fact that it’s mechanical like the Yashica.
