Originally posted by monochrome It is remarkable how few people know the K1000 was a cheapened afterthought - merely a line-extender before introduction of the ME
Indeed. Someone in the reviews here of the KM says : "
I just don't really feel like the KM has a reason to exist in the K lineup. The K2 and KX I get, totally, and the K1000 as well. But adding the fourth is kind of like having three thoroughbreds and, for fun, then getting a musk ox"
they think the KM was the fourth, an addition, and like a musk ox, in which case the K1000 would be a musk ox with its horns sawn off. In fact the K2, KX and KM were introduced simultaneously in 1975 and the K1000 was added about a year later. It followed a tradition of adding a self-timer-less cheapened model at the bottom of the range. The SP 500 was the cheap version of the SP II, [in]complete with the fastest shutter speed being blocked at 1/500 (for no technical reason AFAIK); then the Spotmatic 1000 was the cheapened version of the SPF. At least the Spotmatic 1000 retained the 1/1000 shutter speed, as did the K1000 - hence their names I guess.
I understand that a specific aim of the K1000 was to offer the cheapest "big name" SLR on the market. But I wonder how much omitting the self-timer and DoF preview really saved given that the tooling for it already existed. The lack of a ST rather undermined it's appeal as a "family" camera; I worked with a guy who had bought one and was disappointed afterwards to discover the omission.