Need some help finding info

[srobb_photo]

Was just down to my mom's Saturday. My older sister has an old 35mm camera that I was helping her use while we were at Cumberland Falls. This is one that Sears sold under their name. What I expect was the model/type was KS Super.

It was a very basic, to me anyway, manual camera. It had a 50mm lens where you could set the aperture and then the focusing ring with the distances on it. It is an old style bayonet lens. The seral number on the camera was 75337766 and the lens was 138171.

What I need to know is who would have made this camera for Sears; who made the lens and can she still find lenses for it? I also need to find someplace that I can find a manual for it. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Steve Smith]

Have a look here for a manual:

http://www.butkus.org/chinon/sears_ks-super/sears_ks-super.htm



Steve.

 

[Steve Smith]

And this from Wikipedia:


Sears
A lot of Sears cameras were made by Ricoh and use the Pentax K mount. Some are simply rebadged Ricoh models, while others are modified.

KS-1000 - Ricoh XR-1
KS-500 - Ricoh XR-500
KS Auto - Ricoh XR-2S
KS-1
KS-2 - Based on Ricoh XR-10, but with aperture priority exposure
KSX - A Ricoh KR-10
KS Super
KS Super II - fully automatic using a KA mount

 

[DBP]

That one is built by Ricoh with a Pentax K-mount lens mount. I have one. K-mount lenses are very easy to find, and often inexpensive.

 

[srobb_photo]

Thanks for the help, guys. Steve, thanks for the link. Found just what I needed and am printing it off. I only wondered about the lenses because she wanted to know if she would be able to find any since she would like to get a tele/zoom lens.

DBP, how do you figure your lens speed on that. I admit I am a little rusty on things like that.

 

[Mike Kennedy]

Lens speed. Look at the aperture numbers. The lower the #'s (like 2 or 1.8) the faster the lens.

Mike

 

[DBP]

The standard lens on mine is a 50/2, minimum aperture f/16, filter thread 52mm. It's an aperture priority only camera, so all you can really control is the aperture. The viewfinder will give a blinking green indication of when the shutter speed is too low to hand hold (below about 1/60, I think), then go red at some speed below that. I've pretty much stopped using both it and my Nikon EM for that reason, probably should sell both.

 

[srobb_photo]

The standard lens on mine is a 50/2, minimum aperture f/16, filter thread 52mm. It's an aperture priority only camera, so all you can really control is the aperture. The viewfinder will give a blinking green indication of when the shutter speed is too low to hand hold (below about 1/60, I think), then go red at some speed below that. I've pretty much stopped using both it and my Nikon EM for that reason, probably should sell both.

That is exactly it. I think she was just looking for something she could use other than a throw away. It does still take pretty good pics. I was just showing her what I could remember about using a manual type camera. Thanks again for the help.

 

[DBP]

That's a large part of why I got mine, wanted something I could hand to someone who didn't know photography and have them take a usable pic. I've since lowered my estimation of the general public and carry a Nikon N50 for that so I can say, "just point it and press the button." Too many people found focusing too complicated! But the aperture priority cameras should be easy enough, just set the aperture to f/8 most of the time and focus. And the lenses are much better than the average point and shoot. When I can get a friend who has never used anything beyond throwaways and cheap point and shoots to use a cheap SLR they are always amazed at the difference.