NNOOOooooo! My Pentax K1000 SE meter died :(

[Locutus of Borg]

I took my my K1000 SE out after not using it for a year or so . . meter did not work, put a new battery in it . . nothing, still did not work.

Is it worth repairing or not? And who can repair it?

There is an EX Grade K1000 at KEH currently for $218.40. I paid $40 for this K1000 SE 5 years ago in EX conditioWhat to do??

 

[Photomultiplier]

On one of my Pentax i once had a similar issue. In my case, it was a bad contact in the battery compartment, caused by oxidation/corrosion. I do not remember exactly where. I think i cleaned the mating surfaces where the cover is screwed down on the part with the 1/4" thread and then it worked again.

So it could(!) be just a simple matter of deoxidising/cleaning and well worth the effort.

 

[MultiFormat Shooter]

Is it worth repairing or not? And who can repair it?

Yes, it is worth repairing. You could buy a "new" one, and have it turn-out to need repairs, too. If you repair the one you have, then you know your camera will be "good to go." You could try having it looked at by Pentax Camera Repair. I have no affiliation with them.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Cheaper just to buy another one. I have a few. One of them the metre also doesn't work, so I use an old, small, Sekonic handheld reflective metre.

 

[Sirius Glass]

My experience is that it is much better to fix a known camera than buy an unknown and its set of problems if any.

 

[John Koehrer]

Isn't there a Pentax guru here in the US? Does Hermanson ring a bell?
If it's not contacts or bad joint It may need a movement.

If I recollect properly the meter needle may be sticking against the pin where it rests.

 

[Disappointed_Horse]

Eric Hendrickson at pentaxs.com is THE guy for Pentax repairs. I have used him and he does good work and has a quick turnaround and very reasonable prices. Per his website, he estimates the cost of servicing a K1000 at $80. You'll spend twice that to buy a decent K1000 these days, with no guarantee it will work or for how long it will work. Definitely get that K1000 fixed.

(Then again the K1000 works just fine without the meter, so the zero cost, or nearly so, option is to just keep using it and use either Sunny 16 or a light meter app on your phone.)

John Hermanson is THE guy in the U.S. for Olympus repairs, but I have not used him so cannot speak from personal appearance.

 

[BrianShaw]

Buy a hand held light meter, or download a light meter app to your phone, and take some pictures.

 

[Disconnekt]

Send it to Garry's Camera Repair, he only charges $68 for a CLA for it. Here's his site with info on what he does/repairs: http://www.garryscamera.com/pentax.htm

 

[markbau]

Buy a hand held light meter, or download a light meter app to your phone, and take some pictures.

Agree, I’ve always hated camera meters, a good handheld that does incident is way better.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Agree, I’ve always hated camera meters, a good handheld that does incident is way better.

If one does not mind carrying an extra piece of equipment. Sometimes I use the built in meter and sometime I use a spot meter or an incident meter.

 

[Huss]

Eric Hendrickson at pentaxs.com is THE guy for Pentax repairs. I have used him and he does good work and has a quick turnaround and very reasonable prices. Per his website, he estimates the cost of servicing a K1000 at $80. You'll spend twice that to buy a decent K1000 these days, with no guarantee it will work or for how long it will work. Definitely get that K1000 fixed.

He bolloxed my LX, then claimed that was ok cuz he didn't charge me much. For breaking my camera..
He then said it was his assistant who did it. And my finger grip ($80-$100 piece) went missing..

 

[Huss]

.

There is an EX Grade K1000 at KEH currently for $218.40. I paid $40 for this K1000 SE 5 years ago in EX conditioWhat to do??

$220 for a Pentax K1000? Ahahahahaha!

Oh my.

The Pentax K1000 in its day was the bottom of the range camera for students that Pentax made. For $220 you can get a Nikon F3 (top of the line pro camera at the time), or basically pretty much so many other incredible cameras.

I much prefer the Pentax K2 to the K1000. Or the KX. Seriously go look for a KX - it is a K1000 but built better, with a better light meter that turns off, with a much better VF/VF exposure information.
And still is all manual and mechanical.

 

[logan2z]

Seriously go look for a KX - it is a K1000 but built better, with a better light meter that turns off, with a much better VF/VF exposure information.
And still is all manual and mechanical.

I've never owned a K1000 but I recently picked up a KX and it is a cool little camera. It's even made me think about selling a Nikon (or two)...

 

[logan2z]

He bolloxed my LX, then claimed that was ok cuz he didn't charge me much. For breaking my camera..
He then said it was his assistant who did it. And my finger grip ($80-$100 piece) went missing..

Yeah, I've heard several negative reports about his service recently, mostly on the Pentax forum. That's too bad because it seems like he's been the go-to Pentax guy for many years.

 

[Huss]

Ok, if you want to get another K1000, this seems like a good option

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1742169

 

[Disappointed_Horse]

My experience with Eric Hendrickson was good, but sample size = 1.

I've been casually looking for a black KX and if I ever come across one in good shape for a reasonable price, I'll probably buy it.

 

[Autonerd]

Is it worth repairing or not? And who can repair it?

One more YES vote. The repair will most likely include a CLA, and once that's done the camera is basically good-as-new and should go at least a quarter-century without giving you problems. If you love the K1000, get it repaired.

That said, if you are going to replace, I personally think K1000s are WAY overpriced. As mentioned earlier, they are the bottom and most feature-free of the Pentax lineup. The KM (the entry-level K, which was later "decontented" to become the K1000), KX (richer feature set and my personal favorite Pentax) and K2 (adds electronic shutter and ap-priority automatic mode), and all (with the exception, I think, of the K2 DMD model) sell for less than the K1000... which is nuts as they are better and more feature-rich cameras.

Aaron

 

[logan2z]

I've been casually looking for a black KX and if I ever come across one in good shape for a reasonable price, I'll probably buy it.

I looked for a long while and eventually ended up buying a silver one. It's a nice camera, but I've also been keeping my eye out for a black one. I almost never see a black one for sale by a seller in North America, they all seem to be in Japan.

 

[Huss]

I looked for a long while and eventually ended up buying a silver one. It's a nice camera, but I've also been keeping my eye out for a black one. I almost never see a black one for sale by a seller in North America, they all seem to be in Japan.

I had a whole bunch of Pentax SLRs before I got out of that system (too much gear..).
Pentax LX, MX, ME, Super A, K2. Out of all those my favourite was the K2 and would have been a matching black KX. I found one 'locally' but waited too long..
It's weird how the K2 and KX are so much more attractive in black. They pretty much develop patina like a black paint Leica M.