Originally posted by boriscleto The sticker "SE" is an aftermarket upgrade. It's not an official factory SE...
As for the OP's lighter K1000, it's probably a late production model. They were made in China and used a lot more plastic...
From op's description the second SE is definitely a later China version of SE.
The 'After market upgrade' is yet another K1000 myth.
- SE sticker shown in Pentax marketing material.
- Sticker versions were sold worldwide. If retailer/camera wholesaler upgrade sales with sticker would be limited to one area & not widespread.
- If 'dealer or aftermarket upgrade' why were the sticker versions released before the engraved version? Did Pentax decide that the 'dealer' was on a good thing & decide to follow them?
While we're on myths, as far as I am aware ALL brass/chrome K1000 SE's (series I -> IV) were assembled in Hong Kong. I have never seen or been able to confirm a original K1000SE for Japan. I have seen a few where people have tried to fake it but if you know what to look for there is always evidence of it being a Frankenstein body. The inclusion of the 'bump' on top plate is not a indication of a Japan assembled body as many people believe. Both Hong Kong & Japan bodies from series I used the bump.
Originally posted by Moe49 "From what I've gathered", literally
there are 5 versions of the K1000-SE.
1. black Diamond Grip, SE sticker, with KX bump & s/n on top plate
2. brown leatherette, SE sticker, with KX bump & s/n on top plate. I have the Pentax brochure for this one
3. brown leatherette, SE sticker, s/n on bottom plate
4. brown leatherette, SE engraved, s/n on bottom plate
5. black leatherette, SE engraved, s/n ? (I do not have one of these)
The K1000-SE's I have all have split-image focus screens and some have the micro prism, too.
Hi Moe,
That's a good start to the variations but you have a few more years to cover yet. You appear to be collecting them in chronological order.
From what I can tell the 'standard' K1000SE focusing screen was split prism + micro prism + collar up to somewhere during the series IV bodies. Somewhere during series IV production Pentax dropped the collar to become the split prism + micro prism.
I have broken them down into series groups (or production runs as it is sometimes referred ) but have continued your series of numbering the variations during the full K1000 production period.
Series I
1. Black Diamond, AOCO logo, bump & s/n on top plate. SE sticker on front. ( 775XXXX -> 780XXXX confirmed range)
2. Brown leatherette, bump & s/n on top plate, SE sticker on front. (779XXXX -> 781XXXX confirmed range)
Series I transition.
I have verified a number of K1000 bodies in this category. 793#### highest s/n I have confirmed in this range in SE variants, 795##### in standard K1000 variants. S/N's from the series I range were used but, located on bottom plate of series II bodies.
3. Brown leatherette, AOCO logo, no bump on top & s/n from Series I range used on bot plate, SE sticker on front.
Series II
Engraved SE logo & black leatherette become the standard for series II bodies. A number of the early series II bodies used up the remaining brown leatherette from late series I production.
Once again there is a transition period between series II & series III where s/n ranges from both series were used on either bodies (686XXXX -> 702XXXX).
4. Brown leatherette, AOCO logo, no bump on top & s/n on bot plate, SE engraved on front, S/N range 686XXXX - 702XXXXX
5. Black standard K1000 leatherette, s/n on bot plate. All black series II engraved SE bodies use series II s/n range 600XXXXX ->
Series III
6. Black standard K1000 leatherette, AOCO logo, s/n on bot plate. All black series III SE bodies I have confirmed use series III s/n range 700XXXXX -> 83XXXXX with exceptions for blocks of numbers which were used in transition period from series II (68XXXXX - 702XXXX)
Series IV
- going from s/n's this is the smallest production run of all series
7. Black standard K1000 leatherette, no AOCO logo, s/n on bot plate. All series IV SE bodies I have confirmed use series IV s/n range 83XXXXXX -> 84XXXXXX
Series V
Production moved to china. Plastic top/bot plates.
Although the plastic top/bot plates did make a considerable difference to the weight of later bodies the biggest weight difference also come from the change in alloy used for the chassis. This change in alloy started to become evident during the series III bodies.
8. Black standard K1000 leatherette, no AOCO logo, s/n on bot plate, plastic ASA/shutter speed dial, chrome/black metal rewind knob on chrome plastic shaft. All series V SE bodies I have confirmed use series V s/n range 500XXXX ->
Series VI
9. Black standard K1000 leatherette, no AOCO logo, s/n on bot plate, plastic ASA/shutter speed dial, all black metal rewind knob on black plastic shaft. All series VI SE bodies I have confirmed use series VI s/n range 600XXXX ->
Once production moved to China bodies I have not extensively studied serial number ranges, so there may be numbers outside the ranges I have listed for these series. The 600XXXX serial number range on Chinese bodies in particular would be interesting to study closely as the 600XXXXX prefix was used in series II. From my extensive study of series II body s/n's I have not been able to pick out any large blocks of numbers missing from series, only relatively small blocks at random throughout the series. Most likely only the missing blocks of serial numbers from the series II range were used in the series VI bodies but it is a very intriguing question as to if Pentax may have reused some of the serial numbers from series II.
Last edited by Tool_Horder; 05-05-2018 at 06:53 PM.