SLR Stories: Pentax K1000

Yup…it’s time. It’s time for me to write about the most internet-hyped 35mm single-lens reflex film camera of all time. Yes…this is the film camera you saw Kendall Jenner, Kylie Jenner and Drew Barrymore holding – and yes…this is the camera that your Google searches led you to when, with nowhere else to look, you typed “best starter 35mm film camera” into the search engine. And yes… I am talking about the simple and effective workhorse in the Pentax K1000.

Pentax introduced the K series of 35mm SLR film cameras in 1975, named after the newly designed bayonet lens mount featured on the front of camera. The K series included the Pentax K2, KM, and the KX. Each of these cameras has a very similar body design, but varied in the amount of features on each model. Pentax realized that they needed a simpler, more cost friendly model of a K series camera for the market, and they delivered. Introduced in 1976, the Pentax K1000 was precisely the Pentax KM – but with no self timer and no depth of field preview – a less expensive and simpler camera. It has also taken on a familiar role as the go-to camera for budding photography students. The K1000 was sold by Pentax from 1976-1997 – and still stands as one of the company’s most famous cameras ever.

Fully mechanical (springs, levers, and gears), the Pentax K1000 does not need a battery to operate whatsoever. An LR-44 or SR-44 battery can be placed in the camera to power the needle light meter (TTL), but otherwise the camera can be used with no power. Shutter speeds range from B, 1s, 1/2s, 1/4s, 1/8s, 1/15s, 1/30s, 1/60s (flash sync), 1/125s, 1/250s, 1/500s, and 1/1000s. Besides basic settings of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO – the Pentax K1000’s simplicity made it unrivaled among the 35mm SLR market during the entire time it was being manufactured. From its reasonable cost, simplicity, and ruggedness of the all-metal body, the Pentax K1000 makes an amazing camera for beginners and advanced amateurs alike.

Finding a Pentax K1000 online is very easy, but finding one with a lens for under $100 is difficult. I had to make magic on OfferUp or LetGo – and like usual I did. After sending probably 10 different people lowball offers for their beat up K1000’s, I got a reply from a guy who lived in the South Loop of Chicago, just a few streets from where my apartment was.

We decided to meet at the Roosevelt Red Line Station at Roosevelt and Wabash Avenue – literally a 5 minute walk from my apartment. As always with buying things from OfferUp or any online buying/selling platform, you have an awkward 5 minute “what are you wearing?”, “what do you look like”, or “what car are you going to be in?” conversation right before you meet up – but for whatever reason we never did. I’ll never forget finding the guy at the subway station, though. We both kind of looked at each other from like 30 feet away and just nodded our heads and I knew it was him. I’ll always laugh about that interaction.

Anyway, I checked the functions on the camera as I usually do and noticed when I opened up the back of the camera body that there was still a roll of film in it. I quickly shut the door so I didn’t let any light expose film that had been shot on and I asked him if he wanted me to take out the roll of film – but he said it was fine and I could just keep it. I thought it was weird, but I obliged and carried on with buying his Pentax K1000 with a 50 mm 1.8 lens for $30.

I was really excited to finally get to shoot on the camera but was still weirded out when I remembered he had a roll of film in there with many exposures already shot. Me, being the weirdo I am, not being able to imagine losing a roll of film of my own, sent him a message again on OfferUp asking him for his mailing address, because I’d mail the roll to him so he could get it developed one day. I most definitely took some of my own photos on the rest of his roll of film, got his address, and mailed the roll of film to him. I mentioned to him that he should get the film developed and he said he would – but I have heard nothing from him yet. I hope to get a random message on OfferUp again from this guy, I’d love to know what he thought of the pictures I took on his roll of film – it would make a great update blog.

I had the camera, though. Once again, I had gotten away with buying a high quality 35mm SLR film camera with a lens for only $30. I truly think that after I bought my Pentax K1000, I was hooked on searching for and collecting SLR film cameras. There is something addicting about purchasing equipment or goods for a fraction of the market value, especially when it is something that you will use for the rest of your life. I’ve taken the Pentax K1000 to so many places, and have taken some really sharp images with it. Enjoy a few of them!