My Favorite Film Camera the Pentax K1000SE
What is my favorite film camera? Well at this point in time I would have to say the Asahi Pentax K1000SE. A fellow photographer may ask, since you are a Pentax user why this camera and not one from the classic Spotmatic series? They might even ask, how about a more advanced K series camera such as KM, KX or K2? The 1st and most important reason for me is the focusing screen. To the best of my knowledge none of the previous mentioned cameras including the standard version of the K1000 came with a split image focusing screen as a standard feature. From what I understand though, back in the day, some of the K series models could be sent out for factory service and have the split image screen installed. The Pentax K1000 was a very popular camera. This model was produced from 1976-1997 with the split image screen being available only in the SE version as a standard feature. Everyone's eyesight is different but in my case the advantage of a split image screen as a focusing aid is paramount.
The Asahi Pentax K1000SE - No bells and whistles, photography in it's purest forms.
Having owned a Spotmatic many years back and it being one of my all time favorite designs in a 35 mm film slr, I wanted a camera of similar style. Enter the K1000SE. Besides a slight cosmetic change to the front of the camera the K1000SE is essentially an updated version of the SP1000 with a split image focusing screen. Other upgrades to the camera were the addition of a hot shoe, open aperture metering vs stop down metering and of course the biggie, the newer K series bayonet lens mount vs the m42 screw mount. This camera gives me the best of both worlds, the look and feel of a Spotmatic with split image focusing and the advantage of the newer K mount lenses which even today can easily be used on my Pentax digital slr.
The original Spotmatic debuted in 1964 with various versions running till 1976
In 1976 keeping that same basic body style, the Spotmatic evolves to the K series.
The overall design and build quality of this camera make it the perfect no frills photographic tool. Photography in its pure form, no autofocus, no aperture priority, no shutter priority, no motorized film advance, just a manual mechanical camera with a built in light meter. It's controls are simple and to the point. Shutter speed dial which doubles for the ASA setting control, aperture ring on the lens, thru the lens light meter indicator, manual focusing, manual film advance and rewind. This is what makes this camera my favorite. It puts me in complete control of my photographic experience.
Top of the K1000 displaying its picture taking controls - Focus, exposure, ASA and film advance.
Due to it's durable construction, simplicity of operation and reasonable street pricing at the time, the K1000 was considered the ultimate student camera but it is truly more than that. With an incredible selection of excellent lenses even the seasoned photographer looking to slow down from the high paced digital experience can find this camera to be a capable high quality tool. Pentax sold over 3 million of these cameras making them plentily available on the used market. Until recently this camera could be had fairly inexpensively but the resurgence of film photography has caused the price of the K1000 as well a many other film cameras to start creeping up. From what I've seen the SE version is not as plentiful and may cost a bit more than the standard K1000 but there are still quite a few available.
My K1000SE set up with and auxiliary self timer.
The K1000 is not every ones cup of tea. It does lack a couple of features that may be important to some photographers. There is no lens stop down control / depth of field preview and it is also missing a self timer. I can easily work around the timer issue by adding an auxiliary self timer as shown in the photo above. As for depth of field, the scale on the lens plus my 50+ years of shooting experience gives me a pretty good feel for my background focus, especially with normal to wide angle lenses. I always refer to depth of field scale on the lens, a habit I developed early on. I must admit though, the focus and depth of field scale on those older manual focus film lenses are much easier to read.
I started shooting film again in March 2020 and here are the models I currently own.
I do own several different Pentax film cameras but the SE version of the K1000 is by far my favorite. I sometimes carry along the ME Super or the Program Plus as a second body with my 2nd choice of film for that days outing. All three models have one thing in common though. A nice large bright viewfinder with a split image focusing screen and full manual exposure capability. Below are photos I have taken using the K1000SE as well as a link to my K1000SE Gallery. If you get a chance please take a look and thanks for viewing my blog. :-)
K1000SE w/ Helios 58mm f/2.0 on Fomapan 200 b&w film
K1000SE w/ SMC F Pentax 50mm f/1.7 on Fomapan 200 b&w Film
K1000SE w/ SMC F Pentax 50mm f/1.7 on Ilford HP5 b&w Film
K1000SE w/ SMC M Pentax 28mm f/2.8 on Ultrafine eXtreme 100 b&w Film
Click here to see more photos taken with the Pentax K1000SE