Pentax K1000 - Does It Deserve The Hype?

 During the second half of 2022 I was contacted by a friend who wanted to find a home for a couple of Pentax cameras owned by a family member whom sadly passed away. All my friend could tell me was the cameras looked in good condition, but he doesn't know anything about cameras. I decided to accept the cameras and see what I could do and sent him some money for the postage.

A few days later the parcel arrived and inside I found two holster style bags, one with a Pentax MZ-5 in it and the other a Pentax K1000. The MZ-5 needed batteries so I couldn't really test it, but the K1000 was clean and needed a lens fitting. I popped my Hoya 28mm lens on it and held it up to my eye. "Oh dear" was a polite way to describe my feelings when I discovered its flaw.

It had a black splodge in the viewfinder.

I gathered my cleaning cloth and rocket blower and removed the lens to clean the mirror and focus screen. I also cleaned the viewfinder and tried again. Nope, still there. The camera needed a repair and I did a little research to see if could it be fixed or not. An article on Johnny Martyr's website (link below) caught my eye and revealed the root of the problem.

Pentax had reduced the budget to make the darling of photography students more affordable. This K1000 had been assembled in China and there is a known issue with the prisms in the Chinese K1000's de-silvering over time. I needed a solution and got in touch with Pierro at PPP Cameras to see if he could help me out.

We discussed a few ideas via email and it appeared that a prism from a later camera, the Pentax P30 might just fit. I was in the fortunate position of having a spare P30 as a parts donor thanks to my friend Mike who gave me three of them in May 2022. Pierro did a little research and as it looked promising, he was willing to give it a try. I booked the repair and posted both cameras to him.

Pierro never ceases to amaze me with his skills and he repaired and tested the camera for a very reasonable price. It was delivered to me during the first week of the new year and I set about choosing a lens and film to shoot with it. Agent Shadow 400 was loaded, my Tamron Adaptall 2 28mm f/2.5 wide angle prime fitted and I went for a walk.

With this being my first taste of the most recommended student camera in history I looked for ease of use and all I can say is "yep, It's a doddle". My Pentax Spotmatic SP1000 is exactly the same layout as the K1000. It uses the same match needle type of light meter in the viewfinder and has that reassuring Pentax "clunk" when you release the shutter. Bar cosmetics, a built in hot shoe and an easy to find battery, the only real difference is the lens mount.

The K1000 introduced the Pentax K mount to the photography community and it is still in use to this day on Pentax DSLR's. When Pentax refreshed the Spotmatic range in the mid 70's they left everything good about the Spotmatics in the K1000 and decided to change the lens mount rather than continue with the universal M42 screw mount the Spotmatics have.

Pentax took the opportunity to refresh their Takumar lens range with better coatings and the K mount. They also introduced an adapter that enabled long time Pentax owners to use their M42 mount lenses on the new camera. This allowed Pentax to take a bit of time to pad out the K mount lens range with the popular focal lengths and zooms over the next few years.

I have said in a previous blog that "KISS Theory" works. "Keep It Simple Stupid" is what Pentax did with the K1000 and 40+ years after it's introduction it is still the camera that every college has in stock to loan to students as they begin their photography course. This popularity with colleges and students kept the K1000 in production from 1976 through to 1997, outlasting all that came after it. It also spawned a multitude of K1000 clones made by Centon, Cosina and Ricoh who liked it so much, they bought the company.

With an introductory price in 1976 of $229.50 for a K1000 with a 50mm lens, (that's around $1100 today), it was a big investment for a student. As the years have gone by its value on the used market has remained pretty healthy despite there being around three million of them out there. Yeah, Pentax sold 3,000,000 K1000's, I checked. I am going to enjoy using it for many years to come.

Please check out Johnny Martyr and the PPP Cameras websites via the links below. Here's a few shots from my first roll of film shot with the K1000. I chose the soggiest day of the year thus far here in Wigan to take photos, but that just showed me what great performance Pentax cameras have in the direst of weather. It also showed me I haven't learned a damn thing about leaving my blog to the last minute! To be fair it has been persisting down a lot this week and I might shrink in the wash. I have placed them and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Pentax K1000 - Tamron 28mm f/2.5 - Agent Shadow 400
PPP Cameras
Johnny Martyr Is There A Gremlin Lurking In Your K1000?