Would You Buy a Digital Pentax K1000?

[wgerrard]

Dear Nick,


... among the fantasists are those who believe that as long as the manufacturers graciously give you access to a few nominally manual options among the endless menu-driven options, you can compare idiot-proofed disposable consumer electronics with reasonably durable cameras that are designed to be used by people who actually understand shutter speed, focus and aperture.

R.

You're right, of course, Roger. The price of the Leicas diverts attention from from the existence of the market they sell into.

Going by this and other thread, I do think a good number of folks are a bit nostalgic about the looks of their favorite kind of camera. The Fuji X100 didn't have to look like it was made in 1959. But, it does, and that's a big deal to a lot of people even though it almost entirely emotional.

DSLR controls vary, but I'm having fun with mine. I can set shutter speed and aperture by turning a knob. I can adjust focus by turning a ring on the lens. Most of the time I don't do that because it would be redundant. Autofocus is especially a boon for me. There's no comparison between those photos and older shots I thought were in sharp focus.

The menu is extensive and layered But, after taking half an hour to set things up for my tastes, I've had no reason to be there, again.

 

[Fadly]

I wouldn't buy a digital k1000 but a digital FM3A would be excellent.

A digital scale focus like Trip 35 would be nice too.

 

[jsrockit]

Any fully manual camera with old school knobs and rings would be welcomed by me.

 

[spystyle]

What pushed be back into film is the lack of manual control and usability on digital cameras.

Going back to metal and glass, all manual, even mechanical shutters, has been a true joy to me.

I love film and the process but most of all I love using those wonderful cameras.

I know that film won't be around too much longer (for all practicality) but I hate to think about throwing the vintage cameras away.

My wish would be to have a full-frame digital sensor that would load into a 35mm camera.

My thoughts exactly 🙂

 

[Ronald M]

Not enough volume to make it profitable, so it wont happen. RF mechanism is all expensive and then there is engineering and tooling costs. Then the special lenses to go with it.

I suggest a Nikon D3200. Smaller and lighter than a Leica RF, full manual control or auto everything, take your pick. Put a finder on top and you get a street shooter .

24 MP and will outdo any 2 1/4 and smaller film camera.

 

[rjbuzzclick]

Actually, any of the recent Pentax dSLRs are pretty close. Just mount the old manual lense, set the dial to M, and use stop-down metering with a display in the viewfinder, same as the old Spotmatic. And for a bonus, you can always mount the autofocus lenses and set the whole show to auto. Best of both worlds!

This is what I do. I bought a K110d many years ago and it works well this way. No, it's not exactly the same but it works for me.

 

[chrishayton]

Do you know how hard it is to find Pentax K fit lenses (except the basic range). That one reason alone would keep me away from pentax digital or film
Plus when you do find them they are crazy expensive. (They are very good however.)

 

[Godfrey]

Ken Rockwell has posted a typically Rockwellian look at the Pentax K1000. I don't won't to focus on that, but use it as a springboard to ask if a digital interchangeable lens camera like the K1000 would be successful today?

Would you buy a digital -- SLR or RF -- that allowed you to set aperture and shutter speed and forced you to focus manually? And did nothing else? (Let's assume it produces RAW files, since conversion to JPEG is a frill, right?)
...

Lessee: My digital cameras are the Olympus E-1, Leica M9 and Ricoh GXR with M-mount module.

Set aperture and shutter speed manually, and with metering? yes, all three.

Force me to focus manually? Yes, GXR and M9. Yes, if I use adapted Nikkor lenses on the E-1.

Do nothing else? No, all three.

I want the focus peaking and magnification in the GXR - essential focusing tools. I want histogram analysis and image review in all of them. Outputting JPEG as well as raw files doesn't cost anything extra, I want that too for its convenience, although I could do without most of the image processing settings. I like having aperture priority exposure automation, and auto-ISO with settable top and bottom limits. And so on.

The M9 is as close to the K1000 as I want to go. The E-1, aside from the ability to do autofocus with its own system lenses, is pretty much the same. The GXR has a lot of other stuff in it, most of which I ignore. ;-)

G