Light weight. Strongly built. Manual. Excellent beginer or learning camera. An advanced photograher will need an automatic camera for speed, but for what it is, it''s the best.

No film viewing window. Slow to use because everything is manual. Rather loud click, sometimes scares animals. Often needs lots of light. Light meter is often under exposed.

Excellent camera. Well built. Very clear photos.

Simple, easy to use. Great supporting cast of lenses (stick to SMC or equiv Viv. Ser. 1, Tamron SP), doesn''t eat batteries. Gets along great with a Vivtar 283!

Self timer? I had to purchase a separate one that screws into the release button. Depth of Field Preview (the SP 1000 had it!), I also would like to see the shutter speed and aperture in the viewfinder as well (I know . . . buy an MX!)

I think the K1000 is great. It''s tough, easy to handle (big-hands), clear view-finder, and very easy to learn how to use. I take the camera whenever I go hiking and when I don''t take it it''s because I''m carrying my SP1000 instead. Accurate metering and a flawless film transport mechanism.

Similar Products Used:

Pentax SP500, 1000. Minolta XG-1.

Solid, reliable, the cost. great lens selection as well.

not in production anymore.

This is a GREAT camera! I can''''t beleive they replaced it with the mz-m. I was using this as my back up but as the mz-m has failed me too many times this is now my main camera. Don''''t get me wrong, the mz-m is alright I guess, but this camera is just built so much better. Its a Brick Sh*thouse!Indestructable, and at under half the cost of Nikons FM2, what a deal.Those older takamur lenses are great as well.

Customer Service

excellent.

Similar Products Used:

pentax spotomatics ( another great deal, if find one in good condition )

durability steel construction

it gets heavy

I have been using my K1000 with multiple lenses for over 20 years I highly recommend this model for the begginer who wants to truly do more than just point and shoot. This camera is extremely reliable. This camera has been working fine for over 20 years and has never been in the shop.

Similar Products Used:

None

Solid (no crappy plastic here), one cheap battery for the meter, GREAT photos, and the ability to purchase accessories that won''t break your budget.

Only one, no self timer. That''s what kept my overall rating down to 4

I just bought my K1000 with the Pentax 50mm and 28-80mm Tamurak lenses and a Vivitar 2000 flash for $150.00 from a coworker. What a fine camera, I have been without an SLR for 10 years. My last was a Pentax P30T. I ran wto rolls through it just practicing with different aperatures and lighting with awesome results. How I survived this long with a point and shoot I''ll never know. I bought a cheap used Joy of Photography book to help me regain my lost knowledge which is very helpful. If you want a camera with no frills and excellent pictures....this is the one!

Similar Products Used:

Pentax P30T, good, but not as well built.

incredibly cheap, available anywhere used 35mm cameras are sold (hit eBay, get a whole outfit for nearly nothing), and beautiful pictures... the pentax glass is way underrated -- I developed a roll of FP4+ tonight, and was looking at it afterwards, practically hopping up & down doing the pee-pee dance with delight, the images were so great -- even in the negatives, I could see incredible tonal range, wonderful contrast, and super sharpness -- I was thinking about how psyched I was about this nifty new (jewelry) camera I got (Contax G2) and how great its results were, when at the end of the roll were a couple of shots I used just to end the roll -- my wife''s holding the G2 in one of them, so these negs came from the old K1000! The standard SMC 50/2 lens on these bad boys is wonderful, it''s really top-notch. Don''t degrade yourself by getting crappy third-party lenses; pick up the 28mm & 135mm Pentax glass in addition to the 50. It''s an incredible outfit. Further, once you get used to the metering, you can predict your result based on what the meter says with remarkable precision (that is, it''s terribly consistent, whether that means over/under/accurate exposure to your eye). In

none, really -- it does what it does better than anything else I''ve used -- don''t confuse what it does, though -- no auto anything...

This is a great camera if you can work at its speed -- you''re not getting 8 frames per second advance, no 45-point autofocus, and no autoexposure, but you are getting an incredible picture-making tool (and probably a darn good value, unless you''re an idiot).

Customer Service

never used

Similar Products Used:

quite a few of the other manual oldies -- canon, nikon, chinon, zeiss

Strong build. The weight feels just right, and is not hard to carry for hours. The controls are very simple. Needs only one 1.55 volt silver oxide battery(SR-44),for it''s meter, which are cheap and easy to find.

None that I know of. Lack of features, and automation IS NOT a credible weakness, in my view, considering that the K-1000 is a very low-priced MANUAL camera.

I''ve had this camera for a little more than a month, and I have nothing but good things to say about it. I put a roll of film through a couple hours after I got it, and got perfect pics with no battery(no meter). I''ve seen the comments on film-loading difficulty, but it took me about 10 seconds to load a roll with no problem at all. My advice would be to make sure the film does''nt have any give before taking pics. The Pentax SMC 50mm lens that came with it is very sharp. My K-1000 is the metal version, which was a definite prerequisite. A quick way to tell the difference is to open the back, if the finish on the inside is a little shiny than you have a plastic model, if it''s dull you have the earlier metal model. The meter does seem to underexpose slightly. You can compensate easily by opening your app by half a stop after you get what looks to be a good reading.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon Nikomat FT, Nikon EM, Nikon N80, Nikon F3HP

Heavy, indestructible all-metal construction. About as simple to use as you can get, as long as you know how to shoot manually. Bodies and lenses are dirt cheap and very plentiful. Includes PC connector and standard cable release capability.

Heavy. No DOF preview. No split-image rangefinder in my example (other K1000''s apparently did include this). Finder gets rather grainy and dim with a smaller aperture lens. No exposure info in finder. No auto anything. Beware of inferior aftermarket lenses, there were a lot of these in K-mount. Ergonomics could be better.

One of the classic workhorse cameras, a solid, reliable, all-mechanical manual camera that will probably outlast your grandkids. Provided you equip it with good lenses, it can take pictures with the best of them--and SMC Pentax lenses are famous for their optical quality. A K1000 system would make an excellent addition to a Pentax AF system, as the manual K-mount lenses will still mount to the latest Pentax cameras and vice versa. This camera is not perfect but very far from being a dud--it delivers the essentials in a rock-solid package but skimps on some important features that would have made it even closer to perfect. Perhaps I''m just spoiled by my beloved old Nikkormat. :-)

Customer Service

Never used...

Similar Products Used:

Nikkormat FT2, Mamiya C330.

Mechanical camera, needs battery only for lightmeter. Solid full metal body. Reliable.

The viewfinder is quite dark. That makes focussing not so easy.

I bought the K-1000 because I wanted a cheap and reliable second body for my PK-lenses. My main photographic tool was a Ricoh KR-10 Super then. Meanwhile, I use the K-1000 regularly and the KR-10 as second body. It''s nice, heavy, purely manual and purely mechanical. You need the battery only for the light meter, which is certainly great when battery fails because of low temperatures (or because of age).

Customer Service

never needed

Similar Products Used:

Ricoh KR-10 Super, Exakta HS-10

build like a brick, can anything destroy this camera?

putting the film in, it can be tricky at first, but you can get the hang of it

It is a very simple basic camera, which is a great second body, nice and heavy so you can use slow shutter speeds

Similar Products Used:

pentax me-super, ricoh kr5-super, pentax z-20