[conniption]

So, here's the KX. Pretty good shape, guts are clean (at least under the bottom plate), aperture window works, meter works,
I've tested for capping, seems ok (thx to everyone who educated me on this). Seals are still barely ok. I'll redo the seals and mirror bumper
myself, i'm good with my hands. The only quibble is the winding post is slightly bent and the ASA dial is stiff after 800. Likely just gunk under there.
In the end I feel like a bandit. $130 CAD for the camera, a K28 3.5, K55 1.8 and a K135 3.5.
I'll be snap happy this weekend, hope I don't waste too much film in my excitement...

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[pathdoc]

How fast can you get the film developed (if you're not developing it yourself)? My policy when buying a new film camera is always to put ONE roll of cheap colour film through it to test the general integrity of the meter, film transport, shutter firing, etc. etc. I take pictures of things that are completely boring - lamp-posts, wilted flowers, the dog next door, etc. etc. Stuff I won't mind losing if the camera is wonky and betrays me.

(For me this process currently takes two or three weeks, as it has to go out of province.)

If it passes all that and behaves consistently, it goes into general service (on black and white film, which I develop and DSLR-scan myself).

Sure, I could buy a B&W test film of 24 exposures and develop the test roll at home, but having a machine do it in C41 eliminates the variable of me and my darkroom technique (not to mention how fresh - or not - my chemicals are), both of which are a bit rusty right now after a prolonged snow season and not much time available to shoot and develop B&W.

[conniption]

How fast can you get the film developed (if you're not developing it yourself)? My policy when buying a new film camera is always to put ONE roll of cheap colour film through it to test the general integrity of the meter, film transport, shutter firing, etc. etc. I take pictures of things that are completely boring - lamp-posts, wilted flowers, the dog next door, etc. etc. Stuff I won't mind losing if the camera is wonky and betrays me.

(For me this process currently takes two or three weeks, as it has to go out of province.)

If it passes all that and behaves consistently, it goes into general service (on black and white film, which I develop and DSLR-scan myself).

Sure, I could buy a B&W test film of 24 exposures and develop the test roll at home, but having a machine do it in C41 eliminates the variable of me and my darkroom technique (not to mention how fresh - or not - my chemicals are), both of which are a bit rusty right now after a prolonged snow season and not much time available to shoot and develop B&W.

Out of province? Where the heck are you?

---------- Post added 05-05-17 at 05:51 PM ----------

Out of province? Where the heck are you?

But, yes it did occur to me to shoot a roll of 12 just to test

[jtkratzer]

I'd say you got a pretty decent deal even if the camera body is a paperweight. I have one of those and two of those lenses. What hood is on the K55?

[conniption]

I'd say you got a pretty decent deal even if the camera body is a paperweight. I have one of those and two of those lenses. What hood is on the K55?

The 55 is on the table, just a generic 58mm with a 52-58 step up ring.
The 28 is on the camera, that's an eBay special

[pathdoc]

Out of province? Where the heck are you?

---------- Post added 05-05-17 at 05:51 PM ----------


But, yes it did occur to me to shoot a roll of 12 just to test

Central Newfoundland.

[ctrout]

The best thing about what I see in the pictures is that you got a shooter there. I think that the biggest mistake I have made in all of my purchases is that I have always looked for the pieces that are in as close to mint condition as I can find. Then I'm afraid to get them out and use them. Sure, I'll take them out and very gently load them into their eveready cases and walk around with them in only the very best weather or controlled conditions but I need to drop them and dent them and scratch them so I can then fearlessly take them into any situation that I find a worthy subject. Your KX has been well used and hopefully well loved. It would be interesting to see the best 100 or so shots it has made over its 40 year history.

[conniption]

The best thing about what I see in the pictures is that you got a shooter there. I think that the biggest mistake I have made in all of my purchases is that I have always looked for the pieces that are in as close to mint condition as I can find. Then I'm afraid to get them out and use them. Sure, I'll take them out and very gently load them into their eveready cases and walk around with them in only the very best weather or controlled conditions but I need to drop them and dent them and scratch them so I can then fearlessly take them into any situation that I find a worthy subject. Your KX has been well used and hopefully well loved. It would be interesting to see the best 100 or so shots it has made over its 40 year history.

I like the way you think!
I build guitars (sometimes for a living) and I've known people who purposefully dent a 4 thousand dollar instrument just so it doesn't remain so prescious that they're afraid of using it.
This camera was apparently passed down from the original buyer to his daughter who used it a lot on her trips abroad. It's nicer looking for it

[Jonathan Mac]

That looks like a very nice setup. The 28 and 55mm lenses are really good and the KX itself is great - a simple but capable camera that's extremely well built. I haven't used mine in a while, I should put some film through it and give it some exercise.

[pathdoc]

I think that the biggest mistake I have made in all of my purchases is that I have always looked for the pieces that are in as close to mint condition as I can find. Then I'm afraid to get them out and use them ... I need to drop them and dent them and scratch them so I can then fearlessly take them into any situation that I find a worthy subject.

Or you could go to the opposite extreme: The Dodgy Pentax Project. - PentaxForums.com

I don't make a habit of this by any means, but it's interesting and potentially useful to have a film camera that I am truly not afraid to abuse and/or have destroyed in the field. I've got an Industar I'm not afraid to lose, and the two form a good combination - and possibly a useful training camera for my kids one day.

[monochrome]

Cameras were made to be used, not abused. I like to buy cameras that don't qualify for a display case but have been used respectfully. It really isn't hard to carry and use a camera in any situation without risking breaking it. Almost all the damage I've ever seen done to cameras and lenses happened while they weren't being used* or from careless tripod accidents.


* my sister-in-law once picked up a camera bag I had placed on a chair next to me and dropped it on the floor - and didn't think a thing about it until I turned purple.

[pathdoc]

Well, not deliberately smash up, but at the very least not coddle. It's similar to those guns that some Americans call 'beaters', the workhorse rifle or shotgun you'll happily toss into the back of a pickup truck to go out to the corner paddock for vermin control, as opposed to the target rifle you carry around in a padded case whenever it gets used. Are you going to carefully clean that beater if it falls in the mud? Of course you are. But you're not going to fret about the fact that it fell in the mud either, except to be sure there are no barrel obstructions before you pull the trigger...

[jtkratzer]

The best thing about what I see in the pictures is that you got a shooter there. I think that the biggest mistake I have made in all of my purchases is that I have always looked for the pieces that are in as close to mint condition as I can find. Then I'm afraid to get them out and use them. Sure, I'll take them out and very gently load them into their eveready cases and walk around with them in only the very best weather or controlled conditions but I need to drop them and dent them and scratch them so I can then fearlessly take them into any situation that I find a worthy subject. Your KX has been well used and hopefully well loved. It would be interesting to see the best 100 or so shots it has made over its 40 year history.

I have a KX I bought a few years ago that was allegedly owned by an employee of the local newspaper. I'd love to see what this camera has been through and seen.

Or you could go to the opposite extreme: The Dodgy Pentax Project. - PentaxForums.com

I don't make a habit of this by any means, but it's interesting and potentially useful to have a film camera that I am truly not afraid to abuse and/or have destroyed in the field. I've got an Industar I'm not afraid to lose, and the two form a good combination - and possibly a useful training camera for my kids one day.

I have two ZX bodies that fit this bill. Just took two of them to Morocco for a military exercise where the ground turns to brown baby powder after it's driven over a few times. I took measures to protect them from the dust, but wasn't going to be heartbroken if something happened to them. One of them was my first SLR. There just isn't much sentimental value to it.