[spystyle]

(I am stepping onto my soap box)

I love my Pentax K1000

Using it truly captures what photography is at it's foundation and it's fun to have so much control.

Students still buy that camera used off eBay and the book "understanding exposure"

Wal-Mart sells a Vivitar labeled Pentax K1000 clone for $200 and it has that terrible LED meter rather than the Pentax K1000's lovely needle meter.

There is a market for Pentax K1000 and it's glorious simplicity but the age is now digital - I wish a manufacturer would acknowledge this and make (or retrofit) K1000 cameras with digital sensors

(I am stepping off my soap box)

OK I feel better now

Cheers,
Craig

EDIT :

Hey read this

Luminous-landscape.com's Michael Reichmann calls the Pentax *ist DS a digital K1000

---

Last edited by spystyle; 08-22-2009 at 05:52 PM.

[GrahamD]

I will buy one, until then we can only wait

[mischivo]

(I am stepping onto my soap box)

I love my Pentax K1000

Using it truly captures what photography is at it's foundation and it's fun to have so much control.

Students still buy that camera used off eBay and the book "understanding exposure"

Wal-Mart sells a Vivitar labeled Pentax K1000 clone for $200 and it has that terrible LED meter rather than the Pentax K1000's lovely needle meter.

There is a market for Pentax K1000 and it's glorious simplicity but the age is now digital - I wish a manufacturer would acknowledge this and make (or retrofit) K1000 cameras with digital sensors

(I am stepping off my soap box)

OK I feel better now

Cheers,
Craig

What "control" are you talking about? Manual mode?

[spystyle]

(climbing back on to my soap box)

Mischivo

respectfully - if you have to ask you must not have tried it !

Get a Pentax K1000 and the book "Understanding Exposure" - the two combined are like a mini course in the fundamentals of photography You'll be amazed how awesome the K1000 is compared to the "over complicated" with "dim viewfinder" dSLR we are issued these days.

Then you'll see why people are always buying K1000 on eBay

With that camera there is nothing to get in my way, no menus or settings to mess with, nothing extra at all.

Just me and a sturdy, good looking camera, with a huge bright viewfinder with an unobtrusive needle meter inside. Nothing gets in my way as I decide the depth of field and the speed - then I manually focus and wind the shutter and take the shot at just the right moment - it's true photography!

I enjoy using my old K1000 so much

(Stepping off my soap box now)

I just wish there was a digital one Until then I'll stick with my dSLR and pocket digital for the bulk of my shooting.

Cheers,
Craig

---

Last edited by spystyle; 07-26-2009 at 04:08 PM.

[raymeedc]

With that camera there is nothing to get in my way, no menus or settings to mess with, nothing extra at all.

You don't really have to make use of the bells & whistles. I shoot with a Pentax *ist DS & a slew of M42 & P/K mount manual lenses, metering with a Gossen Luna Pro meter.

[Marc Sabatella]

(climbing back on to my soap box)

Mischivo

respectfully - if you have to ask you must not have tried it !

Similarly, I'm guessing you've never actually tried a DSLR, except maybe to look through the viewfinder, since you are correct that the viewfinders on Pentax DSLR's are indeed not as nice as the K1000. But as for control, there is nothing complicated about any DSLR unless *you* choose to make it complicated. If all you want to change is ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, then you've got it. Just because it gives you the *ability* to control all sorts of things the K1000 doesn't (eg, metering mode, AF, various aspects of image quality) doesn't mean you have to actually use those options. The K1000 lets you directly control one thing and one thing only - shutter speed. The lens lets you control aperture, and the film lets you control ISO. Well, every single DSLR ever produced also gives you independent control of those three parameters. If that's all you want to control, then the perfect DSLR already exists: all of them. Well, except for the viewfinder - you'll need a "full frame" DSLR (which Pentax doesn't make) for that.

Get a Pentax K1000 and the book "Understanding Exposure" - the two combined are like a mini course in the fundamentals of photography You'll be amazed how awesome the K1000 is compared to the "over complicated" with "dim viewfinder" dSLR we are issued these days.

Actually, the K1000 is pretty seriously limited by not providing DOF preview - if Pentax were to put out a simpler DSLR, there would be much better cameras to use as a basis.

Nothing gets in my way as I decide the depth of field and the speed - then I manually focus and wind the shutter and take the shot at just the right moment - it's true photography!

Ditto with my digital SLR's. I don't know if you imagine those buttons and menus just press themselves and force you to do things other than set aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, but I can assure in the 5+ years I've been using these cameras, that hasn't happened once. Setting aperture, shutter speed, and ISO is pretyt much all I've been doing.

[mischivo]

Spystyle, I'm not certain I understand what you're referring to. Thank you for the advice about learning exposure and the fundamentals of photography, however, my knowledge of photography and exposure is well beyond the fundamentals (although I'm liable to make mistakes, as I'm not infallible).

I would be grateful if you address my original question regarding the K1000's controls, as it's not practical for me to purchase a 1970s-era camera, considering that I have perfectly viable modern equipment. I was curious about your referral to having "so much control". Are you referring to manually setting the exposure parameters? If my assumption is correct, can you please distinguish how it differs from using any other camera in manual mode, be it film or digital? Thank you.

P.S. I shoot film. More often than not, I expose in manual mode using readings obtain from my trusty Sekonic lightmeter.

---

Last edited by mischivo; 07-26-2009 at 04:44 PM.

[captmacq]

k1000 shutter speed, iso setting for the meeter, apature was set on the lens. manual focus thats it.

[KungPOW]

These "I wish there was a digital k1000, MX, LX" threads pop up every 4 months or so.

And yes I have thought about what it would be like to have a DK1000. But the fact is you need to sacrifice far too much flexibility to be able to make a DK1000. You would need to strip so many features that the camera would never find a market.

Why not use your DSLR like a K1000? Set the ISO to 400 amd leave it. Set WB to sunlight, meter to center weighted, and mode to manual. Shoot JPEG, and get you shots printed before you look at them. Remember, no chimping. Maybe some gafer's tape to hide the rear LCD would help.

[noblepa]

This idea comes up every once in a while. Its a nice dream, but I don't think its practical.

As others have said, such a dslr would not find much of a market. Just look at all the arguments that occur whenever Pentax or any other manufacturer releases a new dslr. Everyone is complaining about the "bell" or "whistle" that was left out and spells doom for Pentax.

The biggest problem is that many of the features that you would leave out would do nothing to reduce the price of the camera. Most of the features of dslrs are implemented in firmware. While firmware costs a lot to write and debug, it adds virtually nothing to the marginal manufacturing cost of the camera. I'm sure that much of the firmware is re-used from one camera model to the next, so they wouldn't save much on development costs, either.

Deleting some of the switches and dials might save a little. That's hardware, which does cost money. Any such savings would probably be offset by the limited market and therefore, limited profit of such a camera. The biggest cost savings would come from eliminating auto-focus and shake reduction, as these involve some relatively complicated (expensive) hardware, but I think that this would be the kiss of death in today's market.

I learned photography on a Spotmatic, which is very similar to the K1000, but with a screw mount lens, so I understand the appeal. However, I wouldn't give up the additional features of my K10D, such as white balance, changing ISO from one frame to the next, chimping and re-shooting a bad shot, choices of metering modes.

[Marc Sabatella]

Actually, don't get me wrong I think there *would* be a market for such a camera if it were priced low enough that people could buy one just for fun. And make no mistake, it *would* be a fun camera. I just took exception to the claim that the mere presence of more advanced features on a camera made it harder to use. If you want to operate a modern DSLR camera as simply as a K1000, you have that option. And indeed, that's pretty much what I do - manual focus much of the time (with AF permanently in center point mode when I use AF), M exposure mode all the time, center weighted metering all the time. Just as with a K1000, I only mess with ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, and I set them myself with the help of the in-camera meter - although I would find it hard to give up the "Green" button for quickly setting a shutter speed that zeroes the meter that I can use as a baseline. And as I said, DOF preview is a pretty basic feature in a DSLR, although of course with digital you can always shot and chimp.

[Lowell Goudge]

.....in a land far far away, there was discussion about a replacement back for old film SLRs with a digital sensor.

it died.

in reality, although it would be "fun" to have I can;t see it being useful. On my KX or Ricoh XR2-s it would be such a reduction in overall capability, 1/1000 shutter, average only metering, 1/125 or 1/60 sync,...... that I can
t really see it after the novility wore off as being a real worthwhile venture, especially considering it would be full frame.

Now if there was a replacement back for my PZ-1, that would be a little different. A full frame sensor, with the 1/8000 sutter, 1/250 sync speed etc, could be interesting on a body that gas good AF etc. but it'll never happen either

[séamuis]

I would NEVER purchase a digital K1000. NEVER. I still fail to see the appeal for the K1000. even in the mid 70s you could get better cameras that all did the exact same thing. would I love to have a digital MX or even better a digital LX? your damn right I would. but why exactly the K1000? this sounds to me like someone who has only used a K1000.... most of us here would love to have a much more simple, stripped down digital that gave us only the needed controls, just like a film SLR. but since that doesn't exist, one could always do as suggested in this thread already. youse a digital SLR just like a film SLR. I do it myself.

for example. on my digitals, to get the closest results in RAW as I would get with my fim SLR's, I:

use a Takumar m42 lens
limit my shutter speeds to 30 to 1/1000 or on occasion 1/2000
if I use the camera's meter I use center weighted (have to with a manual lens)
otherwise I use my Sekonic light meter
keep the LCD turned off and never use it for reviewing photos
only shoot in manual. set the ISO, shutter speed and aperture manually
when i get my istD I will even use my old super-lite II flash (need that lovely X sync)
use a split-image focusing screen (wish I could find a fresnel with microprism)


I often use digital and film side by side. and other than the obvious such as viewfinder size and brightness and control layout, I find there is no serious difference in user experience between the two this way. its more akin to using a modern AF film SLR and a 60s/70s film SLR side by side. but by your views I bet you have a problem with AF SLRs as well? I mean most of the last Pentax ones were virtually identical to their digital SLRs in features and controls.

[spystyle]

k1000 shutter speed, iso setting for the meeter, aperture was set on the lens. manual focus that's it.

BING ! That's it That's what I'm talking about

That along with a big bright viewfinder and an unobtrusive needle meter = perfection in my opinion

If you can't understand the appeal of a K1000 you must not own one

Anyway, that's that. I just had to tell someone - I'd like a K1000 with digital sensor, I think the K1000 is the coolest Period. Nothing to debate, just a guy who likes his old film camera

You all make compelling comments and I find it interesting

Have fun!
Craig

p.s. I have used a bunch of dSLR and SLR and owned dozens of lenses, I got to try out and briefly own a huge amount of gear - in the end :

I *enjoy* using the Pentax K1000 the most

I kept the Nikon D40 with Targus grip + it's 18-55 VR lens and 55-200 VR lens for everyday shooting

My daughter and I also have Kodak v803 pocket cameras

I have not yet tried a Pentax dSLR but I will eventually

[séamuis]

If you can't understand the appeal of a K1000 you must now own one

ive owned several. still don't understand it. it didn't even have a shutter lock for cripes sake... ill take my MX any day of the week over a cheesy K1000.