Originally posted by photolady95 Here are three photos of the one I bought. Click on them for a bigger view.
It is a standard K1000 with a split prism screen & not a SE.
Obvious clues from images
Black leatherette without engraved SE. All SE's with
STANDARD black leatherette were engraved with SE on the top plate.
Made in Japan - No SE's were made in Japan as all SE's were HK origin. I have had a few ppl claim to have had Japan origin SE's but have never been able to verify one as original as all bodies showed signs on being tampered with.
No obvious evidence of any 'parts swap' .Serial number is consistent with body & suggest production date of approx. April -> December 1980.
However, with all that being said, what you have is for all practical purposes a 'SE' as the split prism focus screen & SE engraving was the only difference at that time.
As a side note:- Although very approximate due to limited sampling data I have the original M50/2 lens sold with this body would have
MOST LIKELY had a 43XXXX prefix.