[Lee]

I've recently come back to photography in the last couple of years after a hiatus of several years. My old camera was a Minolta X-700 that I took everywhere, was a blast to use, and I even took one or two decent photos. Having sold it nearly a decade ago I have some regrets on the one hand, severely tinged by nostalgia I would think, but am more than pleased with my K10. It is an amazing camera that will take a long time to master but I have become proficient in its use over the last 18 or so months.

I bring this up for the simple reason that I miss the simplicity of the older cameras. Before I get hammered on this please let me explain. I know that I can simply use manual mode and that all those extra buttons are truly helpful at particular times, but what I'm looking for is a minimalist camera with a clean layout, small size and excellent quality. To me the K10 is a spectacular camera with more bells and whistles than you can shake a stick at, and I understand the manufactures are selling a product that gets compared with its competitors based on a feature list and performance, but I would love a stripped down digital camera with a smaller, more camera-like form factor. When I say more camera-like I am picturing something like the cameras of the K1000 era or the AE-1s. LCDs are nice and all, and the rear display is a requirement but I do miss the shutter speed dial and the aperture ring - call me a Luddite I guess. The Leica Digilux 3 is more to my liking in appearance and form, but I’m not a fan of an even smaller sensor or over paying for a label (I know Panasonic makes the same camera, but that’s not the point).

Pentax represents, to me at least, a considerate company. They aren’t trying to gouge the consumers who have bought into their system and they have the wisdom to ensure legacy products continue to work with their new models. It is highly doubtful that Pentax would take this kind of leap, but I’m curious if anyone else has been struck by the same desire for a stripped down high quality sensor traditional form factor camera?

[KungPOW]

Allot of us feel this way. Soon this thread will be full of the camera dreams of other Luddites.

I still shoot film for the very reason of how the film camera operates. Kind of like driving an antique car.

It saddens me to know a simple MX style camera will never appear as a DSLR. I would like to be wrong.

[Wheatfield]

Funnily enough, I ran into this situation myself yesterday. A bit of a preamble, I photographed weddings professionaly, starting in the early 1970s, and then I "retired" from the game around 10 years ago. My front line wedding cameras after I went Pentax in the md 80s were a raft of K1000 bodies. Simple, and they did the job. They were perfect for my needs. I coupled those bodies with a Pentax 6x7 (imagine the same thing as a K1000, only bigger) for better quality portraits.
My flash of choice was a Metz 60 CT-2, which was, when I bought it, the best that could be had.
Fast forward to yesterday. I hadn't shot a wedding for several years, the last time was with an *istD, which offered fairly good compatability with the simple TTL that is supported with my old Metz flash unit. Yesterday, I was using a K20D, and thinking, this is great, I can plug my PC cord into the camera and it should be just like the old days, except better.
It wasn't that easy, unfortunately. I found myself constantly having to make adjustments to the exposure that I never had to make with film, the dials kept getting knocked and buggering up the settings.
It was, overall, a most unsatisfying day because the camera wouldn't stay set where i wanted it to be, and because with digital, you really need to watch your exposure more closely than with colour print film.
With my K1000, I set the lens to 5.6, the shutter to 1/60, set the flash to 5.6 and didn't worry about anything after that. Underexposure was taken care of by the flash, overexposure was easily printed through and I never had bad quality prints shooting this way.
My digital work is going to take a lot more work after the fact, a lot more time spent in front of a comuter than I ever spent in front of a printer.

[heliphoto]

I wouldn't mind having a K-1000D. All you really need is that little needle on the right side of the viewfinder right?

Add a screen to look at the histogram and blinkies for when I'm exposure challenged...

[heatherslightbox]

I wouldn't mind having a K-1000D. All you really need is that little needle on the right side of the viewfinder right?

Add a screen to look at the histogram and blinkies for when I'm exposure challenged...

Me too! As much as I like my K10D, I wouldn't mind having a smaller, minimalist-type of body as a second body. There's just something about the manual film bodies that the other bodies don't have. No need for SR or dust removal or a gazillion shooting modes--just give me P,M,A,Tv, and B and I'm a happy camper. Autofocus and a built-in flash would be nice, but not a necessity. 6-10 MP would be fine, as well.

Starting price: $450 or less and I could very well be in.

Heather

[chrisman]

I started in photography with an all manual Halina - no rangefinder, no metering, no TTL, no built-in flash etc etc.....

Now I'm not saying I'd like to return to those days but I did enjoy the simplicity of it all - and it taught you a lot about camera control.

A Leica MP with digital capture instead of film would be fantastic - not that I would be able to afford one, though.

I love my K10D for its feel and control but miss the simplicity of no menus, buttons and automation.

Dream on.......

[straightshooter]

What we need is for some genius to design a replacement digital back to fit some of the old SLR's. Imagine a replacement digital back for your LX or MX. Won't happen but I can dream can't I?

CW

[christinelandon]

...snip.
A Leica MP with digital capture instead of film would be fantastic - not that I would be able to afford one, though...snip.

The Leica M8 awaits you...and I can't afford one, either!

[Wheatfield]

What we need is for some genius to design a replacement digital back to fit some of the old SLR's. Imagine a replacement digital back for your LX or MX. Won't happen but I can dream can't I?

CW

http://www.sitmark.com/Portfolio/SiliconFilmOverview.pdf

[Lee]

That is exactly what I was thinking about when I was writing my original post. How great it would be for a Leica MP, Zeiss Ikon or K1000 to be maintained but given a sensor and histogram. The bells and whistles are very helpful at times, but sometimes you just want a simple device to record an image that allows total flexibility. The simplicity of the iPod is one of its most endearing features - can we not do something similar with a dSLR?

[alohadave]

http://www.sitmark.com/Portfolio/SiliconFilmOverview.pdf

One of the great vaporware products in all of electronics! Too bad this was never brought to market, it may have changed the entire game for digital photography.

[Lowell Goudge]

this thread has been done MANYtimes before.

The biggest problem I see is that to get what you really want is such a small niche, I am not sure the cult status of the K1000 would apply here.

WHile I don't own a K1000, I do have a KX (a much better camera in my opinion) as well as a Ricoh XR-2s, PZ-1, *istD and K10D.

while I did like the KX, and XR-2s, moving th ethe PZ-1 was a pleasure.

the dual thumb wheels (just like *istD, K10D and K20D) never gave me a problem with changing settings, and I used the PZ-1 just like my *istD and K10D. Manual mode, metering occasionally off a neutral grey surface. I never had issues with exposure, with film, and still don't with digital.

Although people often discuss going back to the k1000,
- do you really want to go back to a cloth horizontal shutter limited to 1/1000 and 1/60 flash sync?
- Do you want to give up spot metering, and matrix metering for matched needle?
- Do you want to be limited to "auto" mode only for flash?
- Do you want manual focus only on a dark, by today's standards view finder?
- do you want to give up motor drives and high frame rate for manual winding and advancing of the shutter?

While it would be nice to have a digital back, I wouldn't want one for my KX, and you could not do it anyway as there are no contacts available to pick up to turn the sensor on, connect to shutter release, etc. Maybe for the PZ-1 however a digital back (full frame of course) would be interesting.

[reeftool]

I leave my K10D in M most of the time and tweak the dials for aperture and shutter speed just like my old film camera. Its nice to have the auto modes for those quick shots. After a few months I became spoiled and don't really miss my old camera that much. Saturday night I shot around 150 pictures, came home and downloaded the card and had my pictures in about a minute. With film that would be several rolls, drop them off to get developed, pick them up a couple of days later, shell out over 50 bucks and throw out a third of them. As i've grown older my eyesight isn't what it once was and auto focus is a real blessing. I can change my ISO every other shot without throwing away half a roll of film. I could go on and on. Just a turn of the dial to M and the K10D is as minimal as you want it to be.

[Lee]

Lowell - I'm not really looking for a return to the past so much as a return to simplicity. Nor am I interested in the digital back idea, though I'm sure it appeals to some if this topic keeps emerging. I'm looking for a camera that has straight-forward functionality and simplicity of form. I know this is a pipe dream and not on anyone's drawing board - except for maybe Leica, and then at an absurd price. Nevertheless, why can't a camera be designed for a middling price with classic lines and a clean layout? I do not want to return to the film era, rather I want the digital era to lose the self important, all black, buttons everywhere, shiny techno toy look and remember that the bloody thing is just a tool! Sorry for the rant.
Lee

[Lowell Goudge]

Lowell - I'm not really looking for a return to the past so much as a return to simplicity. Nor am I interested in the digital back idea, though I'm sure it appeals to some if this topic keeps emerging. I'm looking for a camera that has straight-forward functionality and simplicity of form. I know this is a pipe dream and not on anyone's drawing board - except for maybe Leica, and then at an absurd price. Nevertheless, why can't a camera be designed for a middling price with classic lines and a clean layout? I do not want to return to the film era, rather I want the digital era to lose the self important, all black, buttons everywhere, shiny techno toy look and remember that the bloody thing is just a tool! Sorry for the rant.
Lee

The problem is it will cost as much as a Leica,

the issue will be exactly what functions do you want?

take off the LCD and you will be back to waiting until you get home to check exposures.

take away the options, and what metering would you have? or do you only want a single button to access all menues so that to change a single setting you have to take hours to find the function.

My take on this is really simple. accept a few more buttons, but pentax has made the best use of what it has, while limiting the number