Originally posted by jaieger Hey guys, so I've been shooting the hell out of my K-x since I got it, but lately it's been a bit of a burnout, and one thing I've been considering is finding an old k1000 and doing some film stuff.
I first learned photography through a K1000 in a high school course and it's an appealing notion to go back to one now. However, I've only ever done my own film processing in the high school class, so if I were to pick it up again now - how do I know what film to use, and where to get it from?
Since the whole point of going back to a k1000 is just to go back to the basics, and forget about all the technicals, I don't need something that's super high IQ (well, at least passably decent), just something that's cheap.
If it helps, the film I used most in class was (somethingsomething ilford) somethingsomething tri-x, ISO 400, if that helps
. Though that was mostly because I didn't get the correlation between grain and speed; I only saw the speed part.
Also, how would my FA 43 or Takumars work on it?
Thanks all!
K1000's are readily available on eBay, KEH or any other seller of used cameras. Its probably the most common film SLR ever made, since it was in production for 21 years. On eBay, a decent one will run between $50 and $100, with a 50mm, f/2 lens. You may pay a little more at a place like KEH, but you would probably have more confidence in the quality.
Ilford still makes film. Kodak has discontinued a lot of their emulsions, but Tri-X is still available. Check B & H for film. Finding film locally is getting more and more difficult. B & W is probably just about impossible. If you live in a big city, you might have better luck, but the typical places, like K-Mart, drugstores, etc., have more or less gotten out of the film business. Here in Cleveland, our one regional chain of camera stores, Dodd's, carries very little film.
Getting film developed is becoming harder. Many drugstores, including Walgreen's and CVS still offer film processing, but only for C-41 process films. Costco and Walmart still offer film development in some of their stores, but that number is shrinking.
If you develop your own film, you don't have to worry about finding someone to do it for you. To start, though, you might try Kodak's ISO 400 B & W film that is developed in C-41 chemistry. The advantage is that it can be developed anywhere that has a one-hour photo machine.
Does the FA-43 have an aperture ring? Many autofocus lenses do not, so the K1000 would not be able to control the aperture. Any k-mount lens should mount on a K1000. If the Takumars you refer to are screwmount, you need a relatively inexpensive adapter, but they will work fine, although you must use stop-down metering, even if they are SMC Takumars, with the aperture linkage for wide-open metering on a Spotmatic F, ES or ES-II.