Pentax K1000
What can one say about such a utilitarian camera, other than it just works. It’s that just working that made it so popular as a photography teaching tool. Additionally it’s completely mechanical controls mean that it can be used without batteries and it’s rugged metal build make it a survivor. My first encounter with the K1000 was to take pictures of a CRT screen from a pipe inspection system. At the time ( I used a Minolta X700 personally) it seemed ridiculously simple but it always worked.
In fact I don’t recall coming across any that haven’t worked in some manner no matter how beat up they looked. That being said they can develop shutter issues as with this unit. It seems like the shutter at 1/1000 is in need of some adjustment as it left one side of some images slightly darkened. There is plenty of information on the web about the history and use of this camera so I won’t rehash what’s already there but I will say that with all the developments in the arena of digital photography one thing that is missing in my opinion are cameras that embody the nature of the K1000. There are cameras that take styling cues from the past but not many of them strip down the photography experience to just dialing in settings and taking pictures.
