Good Pentax K-Mount bodies?

35millimetre

35millimetre

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Charlotte
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Hello all, am thinking of looking for another body for my K-Mount lenses just in case I can't fix the light leak in my cosina - anyone have any recommendations? I'd be looking to use it mostly for portrait, street photography, close-up stuff rather than landscapes, if that makes any difference :)
 
Super A , ME Super , K1000 to name but three
 
If you want a K-Mount body for street photography, forget the K1000. It's a wonderful camera, well engineered, simple and elegant, but the mirror slap is enough to tell everyone within a 30 mile radius that you are there :)

On the street photography basis, I'd consider one of the ME Super/MX cameras. Compact bodies (although this doesn't suit everyone, so keep it in mind) so they are discreet, especially if you have the 40mm f/2.8 prime on them, huge viewfinders and so on.

If you want a camera who's price hasn't been artificially hijacked by reputation (the K1000 costs far more than it should do, really) have a look at the forgotten Pentax KM/KX, which have a similar body to the K1000 but more features.

Pentax made some damn good cameras.
 
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thanks very much, both :)

I was looking at the K1000 on eBay but it seemed to be much more popular than most older cameras on there... I didn't really want to get drawn into a bidding war over a casual buy!
 
mothdust said:
I was looking at the K1000 on eBay but it seemed to be much more popular than most older cameras on there... I didn't really want to get drawn into a bidding war over a casual buy!
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Yeah, they seem to go for a fair bit more than any other camera considering it only has a simple needle light meter, no depth of field preview, no information in the viewfinder on aperture/shutter speed, no way of locking the shutter...

(thus why I have an MX)

but that's the power of it's reputation and it's engineering excellence and reliability, really. What's your budget?
 
freecom2 said:
Yeah, they seem to go for a fair bit more than any other camera considering it only has a simple needle light meter, no depth of field preview, no information in the viewfinder on aperture/shutter speed, no way of locking the shutter...

(thus why I have an MX)

but that's the power of it's reputation and it's engineering excellence and reliability, really. What's your budget?
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About £20 but would go a bit higher if something special came up. It's mostly just a "what if" if I can't find and fix the light leak in my main camera, I do love the Cosina. Really nice and light for such an old camera.
 
What have you done to try and remedy the light leak? And do you have any examples?

And do you want an all manual camera, or not too fussed? Could probably find an ME Super for that price.
 
MX all day long - you just can't beat 'em for the money - wonderful little camera.
 
freecom2 said:
What have you done to try and remedy the light leak? And do you have any examples?

And do you want an all manual camera, or not too fussed? Could probably find an ME Super for that price.
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I've got about 10 shots left on the roll, then I'm going to open it up and have a look. Hopefully it's as simple as replacing some thread or foam.

I'd prefer an all-manual camera, I think. Simple is ok with me :)
 
mothdust said:
Hopefully it's as simple as replacing some thread or foam.
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I wouldn't even bother thinking about any other bodies then, because it really should be as simple as changing the light seal foam. There's lots of seal kits on eBay, although nothing marketed for your specific camera so you may have to get a generic one and cut it down to size. I've never personally resealed a camera before (although I've recently spotted that my Nikon F2 has no mirror buffer... at all) but many have and apparently it is reasonably easy and straightforward to do with some patience.
 
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freecom2 said:
I wouldn't even bother thinking about any other bodies then, because it really should be as simple as changing the light seal foam. There's lots of seal kits on eBay, although nothing marketed for your specific camera so you may have to get a generic one and cut it down to size. I've never personally resealed a camera before (although I've recently spotted that my Nikon F2 has no mirror buffer... at all) but many have and apparently it is reasonably easy and straightforward to do with some patience.
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Fingers crossed :) An example is here:
5686515292_37889a2248.jpg

See the white area on the left. It seems to happen only on some photos and not others though, very odd.
 
Was there sun coming from behind you? It's possibly the seal at the point where the catch is to hold the back closed which is gone.
p.s. is that taken on London Bridge?
p.p.s. I tried to Google to find out more on the camera, and I was going to post a link - then I realised that it was your blog, hah!
 
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Super A with 40mm f2.5 (Cosinon) is compact as hell. My one niggle with this camera is it only does full EV steps.

P1060255.jpg
 
Ooh but that's a lovely-looking camera, Alan. Love the chunkiness! :D
 
freecom2 said:
Was there sun coming from behind you? It's possibly the seal at the point where the catch is to hold the back closed which is gone.
p.s. is that taken on London Bridge?
p.p.s. I tried to Google to find out more on the camera, and I was going to post a link - then I realised that it was your blog, hah!
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That is London Bridge, can't remember where the sun was coming from, think I'd had a few to drink by then :) And glad my blog is getting about, for all its 4 posts, hehe :)
 
Centon K100 should be cheap, not pro quality but simple/basic and mine gets results.
 
I used Mxs for years - great and reliable little cameras.

I always lusted after an Lx though. Never managed to own one. They always seemed to be daft prices, even 2nd hand.
 
desf said:
I always lusted after an Lx though. Never managed to own one. They always seemed to be daft prices, even 2nd hand.
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There's a person on flickr who mentioned about how they lusted after an LX, got one, and it was just the most unreliable thing ever - ended up falling back on his trusty K1000 (obviously!). They do command crazy prices, I can get several nice MXs and have them fully CLA'd for the price that one LX goes for - I know which one I'd rather have.
 
desf said:
I used Mxs for years - great and reliable little cameras.

I always lusted after an Lx though. Never managed to own one. They always seemed to be daft prices, even 2nd hand.
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The LX was Pentax's big bid to enter the pro camera sector with a top end system camera. It never really sold in any great numbers. I owned one a few years ago. I can't say it was unreliable but it was a bit quirky in design in some respects. The clip on hand grips were particularly naff. The nice thing about cameras with a removable prism is the ability to just pop out the focusing screen and clean it with no hassle. That was about the only thing I missed about it when I sold it.

I actually reverted to two MX bodies - cracking little cameras which were adopted by a lot of pro users.
 
Plus the LX had perhaps the most sensitive TTL metering ever, it went down to -6.5 EV at ISO 100 i.e for example 125 seconds at f1.2 or 96 minutes at f8!
You have to admit that is pretty incredible.
 
I won a Chinon CP-X with a 50mm 1.7 for less than a tenner a few weeks ago, great little camera;

Here it is with my Super Tak attached (via a m42-pk adapter).....sorry if the pic is offensive in any way, just trying out a diy light tent for the first time!!!

5702952889_16e973f51f_z.jpg
 
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