Leslie Wyatt

Film Photography

Back to Basics - The Pentax K1000

If I have two brilliant Pentax ME SLRs and two classic mechanical rangefinders why on earth would I want a basic mechanical Pentax K1000? Well, precisely because it is an SLR, mechanical and manual. No 'auto' anything! Don't get me wrong, I'm not a technophobe. In fact, I spent most of my working life as an electronic system designer and builder. But, I just love the sound of the sophisticated mechanics of vintage film cameras and the simplicity of film speed, aperture and shutter speed. I don't really want to drag around a computer image processing system on my camera especially when I prefer to do as little post processing as possible. Also, when 40 year old electronics fails I'm more likely to be left with a useless paperweight but provided the mechanisms have been looked after, mechanical cameras keep going and can at least be more easily fixed. Having said that of course, I am impressed that the 50 year old electronics of the Voyager spacecraft are still trucking. But the Pentax K1000 is a manual SLR and I find it slightly easier to focus quickly than a rangefinder especially with a standard Pentax 50mm SMC lens. It has a large clear viewfinder and it does have a through the lens light meter which I do like but even this is an analogue meter with a pointer moving across an open scale. Easy to judge over and under exposure if required.

So after reading about its iconic status and several positive reviews I decided that I must try one. Coupled with the fact that I also have half a dozen lenses that will fit the K mount. Prices are gradually moving upwards and so I think that other photographers have the same idea. I have managed to buy one in pristine condition for only £170 ( 2023 ).

They were manufactured for over 20 years producing over 3 miliion units but went through several cost reduction iterations when production was moved first to Hong Kong and then China. Some plastic casings were introduced and the Asahi logo disappeared. The orginal all metal, hand assembled Japanese cameras as shown here had the Asahi Optical logo on the prism housing and the name engraved on the rear of the top plate. This version was slightly larger and a bit heavier than the ME super but feels secure in the hand.

It has a horizontal travel rubberised silk cloth focal plane shutter operating from 1 second to 1/1000th second in 10 intervals and a Bulb setting. Film speed can be set by lifting the shutter speed dial and runs from an ISO of 20 to 3200. Like the ME super it has a shutter primed indicator next to the shutter button. It has no on/off switch and so a lens cap should be used when the camera is not in use otherwise the light meter will drain the battery.

The fact that it takes all the K mount lenses makes this camera a delight to use. It only has a microprism spot focussing aid but manual focussing on the standard 50mm lens is fast and accurate even without a split screen focussing. So, as the title of this article suggests, it is back to basics with aperture, shutter speed and focus. Brilliant!

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