Need a Pentax SLR recommendation

[Paul Howell]

You might also want to consider a Chinon CE 4 or a late model Ricoh. Both had winders, auto exposure, and are real cheap on ebay.

 

[ricksplace]

I have a whack of Pentaxes. 2 MEsupers, K1000, Spotmatic, SP1000, KX. They are all built solid and have never given me any problems. I would suggest getting a screw mount and a K mount body so you don't have to screw around (pun intended) with the screw-to-K-mount-adapter. As for the Pentax lenses, I have yet to find a poor one.
As for durability, back in the 70's, the strap broke on my camera as I was riding my motorcycle. I watched the camera (in the case) bouncing along the pavement. I picked it up, expecting the worst. The case was scuffed up something awful, but the camera was fine! Try that test with a plastic digiwhatsit and see what happens.