[bri7465]

I have just bought a second hand pentax k1000, I went out and bought a new battery for it and I got a LR44 but when I put it in, the light meter does not move at all, it's stuck at the top even when I turn the aperture and shutterspeed dials.

Is it broken? Can i fix it or should i take it to get repaired?

[sergysergy]

make sure battery compartment is clean and also make sure the battery is not upside down

[ctrout]

Additionally, I have found that my meter wont turn on in some of the dimly lit areas of my house. I have to point it at a light source to get it to turn on and then it will meter those dim areas. So make sure it's getting enough light to kick it on.

[Adam]

Could be defective if the needle is stuck at the top. Without power it should rest at the bottom.

Adam
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[bri7465]

When I take the battery out it goes to the bottom and goes back to the top when I put the battery back in however I have tried pointing it at a bright light and have tried changing everything but it still won't move from the top!

[calsan]

I presume you have tried changing the aperture and shutter speed!
Is the film speed setting correct?

I 'think' they were designed for silver oxide batteries - you could try SR44 or Energizer 357 and see how you go.

[pathdoc]

I'd make a test shot with a DSLR as a Polaroid

There are some very flat compact point-and-shoot cameras which allow manual adjustment & review of shutter speed and aperture, and while their image quality is not exactly DSLR standard, it's probably good enough for taking such an "exposure Polaroid". I know if I were out and about with a film SLR, I wouldn't also want to take a dSLR with me just to do exposure checking - in my case my primary DSLR is bigger than my primary meterless film body, so it's almost like asking the President to take a bullet for his bodyguard!!!

I don't know what cellphones are like these days, and whether they can do something similar. Anyone out there want to let me know?

[Ontarian50]

In most cases, with the K1000 needle shooting to the top when a battery is put in, means either of the two resistor plates have failed.

There's the one around the lens, which is more vulnerable to the environment, and the one below the shutter dial.

Sometimes, these plates can be disassembled and cleaned, and things return to normal. But more often, replacement is required.

[c.a.m]

OP - you indicated that you tried different aperture and speed settings to no avail.

The K1000 uses a 'galvanometer' in its metering circuit - this is basically an electromagnet with two electrical sides. If the electrical currents from two photoresistors are balanced (equal), then the needle will go to the middle position (proper exposure settings). If the needle pegs at '+' or '-' that doesn't change with the lighting level, then there is probably a short in one circuit or an open wire in the other. Alternatively, the meter might be fine, but the camera may be experienceing an overexposure situation. You indicate that you pointed the camera at a bright light; have you tried pointing towards a dark area?

The K1000 has a battery check function that will also 'peg' the needle at the top '+' part of the exposure scale. Set the camera to ISO 100, speed on 'B'. A good battery will peg the needle.

Your LR44 battery is suitable for the K1000.

If you are comfortable troubleshooting basic electrical circuits (following a schematic, using a ohmeter, soldering, etc) then you might be able to fix it. The K1000 service manual is available online, and there are many discussion threads in various forums on K1000 meter problems.

Here's a link to a short discussion in another forum with several ideas: The Classic Camera Repair Forum: K1000 Light Meter



- Craig

[rkraneis]

Thanks to this thread and other threads of information on the Internet, my Pentax K 1000 light meter is now working.

I had a used Pentax K1000 I was giving away to a 3rd grade photographer but the light meter did not work.

Background info:

1) Fresh 357 battery.
2) Battery chamber pristine.

Light meter worked "only" for the B shutter speed setting on 100 ASA. But light meter did not respond to other aperture settings or shutter speeds.

Methods to Repair:

1) Tried another fresh battery. No luck.
2) Tried rotating the ASA film speed dial back and forth as recommended on various sites, no luck.
3) Tried "flicking" the aperture follow lever on camera. Take off the lens, look for a lever. Push the lever to its limit, let go. Did that many times. No luck.

I knew I would not be able to re-solder a corroded light meter wire. Not in my skill set. (Bad at it in 7th grade.)

Final Fix:

Sat on my back porch on a sunny Chicago morning listening to the birds. Working on my Pentax K 1000.

Then I thought, why not "slowly" move aperture follower lever on body of camera INSTEAD of flicking the lever with its spring tension. Push the aperture follow lever to its full limit, do NOT let go, and slowly let the aperture follow lever return to its resting position.

So for about 30 times I worked the aperture follow lever (hope that's its name) back and forth slowly through it's range of about one inch.

HURRAY. I put the lens back on the camera body and tried adjusting shutter speeds and aperture settings. The light meter jumped properly. HURRAY.

I was tempted to "do it some more" thinking it might help "even better". Then I stopped with that thinking. When an old camera starts working again, just be happy. Re-doing my aperture follow lever "slow technique" might have ruined things.

Thanks to this thread and other threads for helping me get my Pentax K 1000 working again. I'm gifting it to a 3rd grader and I think she will be delighted with a working Pentax K1000.

Richard

[Ontarian50]

If I read you correctly, you exercised the resistor plate attached to the aperture input follower.

This would have polished off some corrosion/tarnish that had apparently built up on the contacts or surfaces of the resistor plate. Good for you.

As I said before, this is the most environmentally vulnerable part of the K1000, and does give trouble.

I'm not sure if your "slowly" method did anything more or less than being more vigorous in exercising the contact surfaces, but at least it worked.

Old timers remember that when their old radios started sounding scratchy, or the TV started looking snowy, racking the knobs back and forth a few times polished off the corrosion and put things back to normal. The K1000 resistor plate is pretty much the same thing.

[bri7465]

Thank you everyone for your replies! At this stage im just ignoring the light meter all together and trying to figure out the correct exposure in my own (sunny 16 rule, using my dslr), however I'm still holding out hope it might tick back into life with more use (it's been locked in a safe the last 20 years) but thank you for all your advice!

[Xmas]

Thank you everyone for your replies! At this stage im just ignoring the light meter all together and trying to figure out the correct exposure in my own (sunny 16 rule, using my dslr), however I'm still holding out hope it might tick back into life with more use (it's been locked in a safe the last 20 years) but thank you for all your advice!

Some use smart phone apps.
If shooting transparency used Weston incident dome.

[rkraneis]

Camera friends,

I don't know if this helps, but I wanted to give you an update to my Pentax K1000 fix. All of this began with the ASA 100 and B shutter speed technique to verify the battery was good.

My three methods were documented above (learned from this group and others).

1) Move the ASA speed dial from low to high settings for about a minute. (Still not convinced it worked.)
2) Take off the lens and "flick" the aperture follow lever for about a minute. (Still not convinced it worked.)

3) I thought my "invented" technique of moving the aperture follow lever back and forth slowly helped the camera work. Maybe.

After two days the meter stopped working.

I repeated steps 1-3 with no luck.

Then I just started dry firing the camera (no film) at about 1/4 shutter speed several times. Then I looked into the camera and saw the light meter jump to life. Hurray.

For today, going through steps 1-3 and then just shooting the camera at 1/4 speed was magical. Then I fired the camera at multiple shutter speeds and the meter is working fine, "FOR TODAY".

Richard

PS: Is it within forum guidelines to add my camera website to my posts? Thanks.

Something.

[calsan]

PS: Is it within forum guidelines to add my camera website to my posts? Thanks.

Do it in your signature, but just keep it simple.
You can set it in your control panel:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/profile.php?do=editsignature