Aesthetically the most beautiful of all the single lens reflex cameras made by Asahi Optical. The ME exemplies the company's advertising slogan of the 1960's - "just hold a Pentax".

The ME was introduced in 1976 as "the World's Easiest-to-Use 35mm SLR". An aperture preferred AE camera, it was intended for the amateur photography market. Measuring only 131 x 82.5 x 49.5mm and 460 grams, the ME is the smallest ever 35mm Pentax single-lens reflex. It featured an electronically controlled Seiko MFC vertical metal focal-plane shutter, with a flash synchronisation speed of 1/100 second. The ME utilized a fast, open-aperture, center-weighted metering system, shutter speed was controlled by the aperture selection, along with film speed (ASA 10-1600) and exposure compensation (-/+ 2 stops) settings. In 1980, the ME was replaced by the ME Super.

This working example was purchased "used" in 1982 for a bargain price of $60(US). It's Shown with the SMC Pentax-M 40mm f/2.8 introduced with the ME.