The Pentax K1000.
Such a famous 35mm SLR and I can definitely see why. We didn’t get along though - let me tell you why.
I picked my K1000 up in the spring of 2021. Found it on marketplace for a $100 about 15km away from home an absolute steal! I drove over, met up with the lady who was trying to clean up her father’s items which she inherited after his passing. Everything functioned as expected except the view finder had some funky looking black squiggles running through it. I inspected it once I got home and determined that the squiggles were in the view finder and not on the lens or mirror and therefore would not affect the image. A great buy and a functional camera - how exciting!
Fast forward about 8 months and this camera sat on my bookshelf unused and gathering dust. I contemplated moving it on but decided to run a roll through it and see what the fuss it about for this camera first produced in 1976.
Driving down to Cotter Dam in Canberra, ACT I put through a roll of Kodak Ultramax 400. My experience with the Pentax was really good. Being able to see the aperture through the viewfinder was very handy and corresponded well with the camera’s lightmeter. The lightweight body and the 50mm f2 lens was very familiar to me because of my experience with my Canon AE-1 which uses the 50mm f1.8.
Exctied to get home and send the film away for development, I felt the film winder jam as I was winding the roll up and then start to spin freely much sooner than I anticipated and I knew something was up. Opening up the film chamber revealed the ripped roll of Kodak Ultramax. I was shocked but surprisingly understanding as I knew someday this would happen to me.
A few days later I put through another roll of Ultramax through the camera to give it a chance to redeem itself. This time the roll did NOT rip and I was able to send it away to get developed. (See gallery down below)
All in all, the Pentax K1000 was a fun little camera. Small and lightweight with a very nice piece of glass on the front. A timeless design and a joy to use however we didn’t get along too well. Is it because I made it sit on the shelf for months on end without use? Is it because I was thinking about my Canon AE-1 the whole time I was using it? Is it just evil and decided to not work for me? Who knows.
Click the button below towatch my video on the K1000
