Pentax K1000 - 35mm Film Uberness

One of the finest general purpose / everyday 35mm film SLR is the Pentax K1000. You want reliable? You want basic? You want good images? Then look no further than the K1000. Manual focus, reliable light meter, good ISO/ASA range (20 - 32000), good speed range (B to 1/1000 second), hotshoe & solidly built. What else would you want in a basic SLR.

I have 2 K1000's. One with a workable light meter and one without. The K1000 with the light meter that doesn't work is still perfect for using with a hand held light meter or sunny 16. The shutter operates without a battery.

To operate you either manually use aperture or speed priority. Set whichever is your preference based on the scene, film and light. Then simply adjust the other. The light meter is a needle in the viewfinder that goes up and down based on the setting. When the needle is in the center your exposure is set.

The shutter has a moderate mirror slap which is noticeable but still stealthy enough for candids and street photography. 

I have one of the cameras mounted with a Pentax-M f/1.7 50mm and one with a f/2.8 28mm. I prefer the 50mm which is my go to focal length for street photography.

Honestly, for a basic camera or your first SLR you can't go wrong with a Pentax K1000.

The manual at Butkus 

A few photos taken with bulk loaded Kentmere 400 pushed to 800 and some Kodak TMAX 400 at box speed.

A Cool Misfire

I was photographing an editorial fashion shoot last month for a fashion magazine last month.  For giggles, and hey, why not, I shot a roll of 35mm film between look changes for my model.  I was shooting a Canon EOS Elan II with a roll of 100 TMax with a Canon f/2.8 40mm pancake lens.

Because I was shooting in studio I simply used an Elinchrom SkyPort trigger to fire my Elinchrom studio lights.  I metered my lights & set them to get an f/9 aperture with the 100 ASA.  My speed was set at approximately 1/160 of a second in manual mode.  More on this later.

Well on the shot above I actually think is pretty cool.  What's strange is that it looks like a double exposure, but it's actually motion blur before the strobe fired.  Not sure if the strobe fired late, or I bumped the speed way down and the strobe misfired.  Not 100% sure and the rest of the roll came out tack sharp.  

Next time I do a test shoot and the model has maybe 15-30 minutes to kill I might try to replace the effect.  

Anyway I misread the maximum sync speed for the Canon.  It's closer to 1/125 versus 1/160.  As a result on quite a few of the photos I got the dreaded curtain closing black band effect.  I'll SLOW it down next time.

Here's what happens.  

Canon EOS Elan II New Lens

I rarely modify or buy anything new for the film cameras I purchase, pick-up from Goodwill or get from friends.  I have so many film cameras I would literally run out of money if anything was added to them. Anyway, most are point & shoots, so all I need to do is point & shoot.  Not a lot of modifications can be done to point & shoots.

An exception was made this past week.  During the week (as mentioned in my earlier post) I picked up a Canon EOS Elan II from a work colleague.  It had a 2nd brand "kit" lens on it.  The lens wasn't particularly fast, and I wanted a prime.  I didn't have any Canon prime lenses that would fit, so I went down to my local camera store, Roberts Camera, and purchased a Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 prime, pancake lens.  It's not much wider than a normal lens cap.  

The plan was to use the camera during this past weekend's fashion shoot in studio for behind the scenes shots.  Therefore, I purchased 2 rolls of Kodak 100 TMAX.  I planned to use the camera with studio strobes.

It will be interesting to see how the photos come out.  I used an Elinchrom EL-Skyport trigger to fire my studio lights, and metered the light to f/9 ASA 100.  It worked out pretty well, once I got the settings cooked in.  It will be interesting to see the quality of the photos.  The film will need to be sent out because right now I don't have chemistry to process pure B&W.

Stay tuned to this channel!

Toy Camera Fun - The Coca Cola Camera

Lens cover shut - it's a good looking camera

Viewfinder is directly over the lens which is nice, but the flash has a manual on/off switch.

I found this fun toy camera at my local Goodwill.  Yes, I agree why would anyone throw this beauty away?  No problems I rescued it.  It has toy camera all over it with it's all plastic body & lens and no features.  Oh yes, it does have a manual flash.

I popped in a roll of expired (not cold stored) Kodak T-Max 400 and fired away.  I even took it to a camera club Christmas party.  I was the talk.  After about 12 shots the shutter release button stuck in the depressed position.  Couldn't advance the film.  No problems.  A good smack on the palm of my hand and the shutter release button unstuck.  I had to do this on the last 12 or so shots.  

Anyway, I made it through the roll, and face palm I opened the back of the camera without rewinding the film.  Film photographers know that stupid feeling.

I closed 'er up and rerolled the film.  I didn't want those last 3 photos anyway.  I was surprised in good light (remember I was only using 400 ASA film) the quality was as expected.  Kind of creamy as might be expected with it's fine Chinese manufacturing of the 90's and it's plastic lens.  Right up there with toy camera stardom.  It will however end up in my "used" box because I don't want to have to go around whacking my camera ever time I take a picture.  Some photos, and few of the ones that have open back light leakage.  Enjoy

Lomography would be proud - filter compliments of an open film back

Pretty colors

Dynamic range stinks

Christmas party at the studio, maybe I should have used my studio strobes

Expired 400 ASA film in a toy camera on an overcast day = sucky photo

Tree outside of the studio