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Hi:

Of late, I have been prowling around on some of the usual auction sites looking for some old film bodies to pick up, anything from the mid-60s through very early '80s. My first love is the Spotmatic and its early K-mount cousins, the KM, KX, and K2 and the fabulous lenses you sometimes find attached to them...I find that simple match-needle light meter suits me very well...., but I was also looking at K1000s...

Holy crap, those things have held their value! Or at least, as compared to most other film bodies. Find a decent body for under $50 and you have done a good days work, and kits with even a blah lens attached seem to go for $80 and up, sometimes WAY up. And I am getting working Spotty or ME Super bodies for more like $10 or $20. I liked the K1000 I had back in the day, but the are not THAT great a camera...Especially compared to a Spotmatic.

So, what is going on? I hear that film is making something of a resurgence but I thought that was mostly hipsters buying Lomography crap...

Thanks:

-Tom

[aaacb]

It's a popular camera, gets mentioned a lot in guides for people that want to try film and don't read about other options. For some it seems easier to spend more money than to do a little bit of research. I also find it incredible that it's more expensive than most other manual focus Pentax cameras (super program, km, kx, sometimes even mx). On Google trends, last time I checked, it was the most popular Pentax cameras of the ones I tried, including some recent digital models.

[Moe49]

Holy crap, those things have held their value!

Ha!
Wait until you check out the prices attached to various K1000 'Specials'

[MossyRocks]

Blame articles like this one. I'll stick with my beloved Spotmatic F that I have had for 20 years now.

[Alex645]

I was also looking at K1000s...

Holy crap, those things have held their value! Or at least, as compared to most other film bodies.

So, what is going on?:

-Tom

Supply & demand. Many of the auto focus cameras with all the electronics, simply don't have the longevity and relative ease of repair of an all manual SLR that was mass produced for many years.

Now that the likes of the Vivitar V3800N, Promaster 2500PK, or the Nikon FM3a are no longer available, the used market will become tight and prices of the K1000 will only go up.

I truly wish someone made a new 35mm SLR that was half the price of an entry level DSLR.

[limestonecowboy]

At this time of year, photography students will be buying them for courses starting this month or next.

[MossyRocks]

I truly wish someone made a new 35mm SLR that was half the price of an entry level DSLR.

All the patents on the K1000s and older Spotmatics are long expired so I'm surprised there isn't someone making clones of one or both. Either one would make a great learner film camera. It isn't like the electronics were all that complex in either one.

[disconnekt]

All the better to buy the other higher spec'ed pentax slr's & other 3rd party k-mount camera's for cheap lol

[leekil]

The MX now seems to be creeping up there, too.

[reh321]

Blame articles like this one. I'll stick with my beloved Spotmatic F that I have had for 20 years now.

So you purchased it used?

When I purchased my Super Program in 1983 {thirty-five years ago}, I specifically chose it because it seemed so svelte compared to the K1000 {which seemed so 'clunky'} even though it eats those tiny button batteries like candy. When I have a desire to use film, I just go back to it.

[TwoUptons]

All the patents on the K1000s and older Spotmatics are long expired so I'm surprised there isn't someone making clones of one or both. Either one would make a great learner film camera. It isn't like the electronics were all that complex in either one.

I don’t think that’s ever going to happen at a reasonable price. Even with today’s inflated prices, you’d be hard-pressed to build a new film body that could sell for close to a used K1000.

There was a kickstarter recently for a new film SLR that was completely mechanical and simple. It was something like $1200 (with a choice of mount). That’s frankly absurd.

And really, a used K1000 is perfect for someone who wants to play with film for a while before they move on to something fancier or back to their phone...

Sure, a MESuper or KX is just as good, but so is a Minolta 570 or Canon Rebel.

But the K1000 has the cachet of being the ‘original’ completely basic SLR (nevermind that it isn’t), like the VW Beetle of cameras...

And when they’re done, it can sit on a shelf and they can say, ‘see, I had one’.

-Eric

[Lord Lucan]

Supply & demand. Many of the auto focus cameras with all the electronics, simply don't have the longevity and relative ease of repair of an all manual SLR that was mass produced for many years.

Yes we realise that, but the question was why do K1000's have a significantly higher price than other manual, mechanical SLR's of that era? There were better cameras such as the KX and MX, and equivalent models from other major brands.

Citing "supply and demand" does not answer the question either, because it only poses another question "Why the demand for the K1000 in preference to other manual SLRs?". Moreover, as film cameras go, the supply is not short - there must be millions of them around as they were the most popular 35mm SLR for years (as they were cheapest big-brand SLR), and Ebay usually has dozens of them at any one time (I've just checked*).

I can see two reasons. One is that as a film SLR, a K1000 is likely to be newer than the equivalents - KM's and KX's were only made up to about 1976 but K1000's were made from 1976 to 1997, although later models were of lesser quality and most buyers and owners cannot tell the age anyway. The other reason is, being that they out-sold every other 35mm film SLR in history, if a young guy wanting to try film asks his dad or grandad for a recommendation, the chances are they will be told a K1000 because that is what Dad/Grandad owned back in the day and they do not remember anything else - ignorance of the alternatives in other words.

* Many in the £200+ price bracket - insane :
Pentax K1000 35mm Film SLR Manual Camera with Pentax-M 50mm F/1.7 SMC Lens - Ex+ 27075045002 | eBay

[ChrisPlatt]

They're hipster bling.

Chris

[Alex645]

Yes we realise that, but the question was why do K1000's have a significantly higher price than other manual, mechanical SLR's of that era? There were better cameras such as the KX and MX, and equivalent models from other major brands.

I was a teenager in the 70's. I remember a time when the K1000 became the default camera in most American high school photography classes. There would be a class set for students to use. I think the low price, simplicity to the point of having less to break, and durability were the combination that got these cameras to become an institution.

You're right, there were much better cameras, but then it's like years from now wondering why everyone starts getting nostalgic over the Canon Rebel when there are much better cameras made by Canon.

[LesDMess]

What Is Up With K1000 Prices?

I liked the K1000 I had back in the day, but the are not THAT great a camera...

They obviously must be a great camera as this question is always asked and people are always lamenting the "high" cost which is usually in the neighborhood of $100. If that is considered a high cost then it will just stun you to know what an equivalent spec'd Leica M camera cost - and it's not even an SLR . . .