Pentax K mount

unclejeffie · May 19, 2015

I found this one a thriftshop. Its a Petri 50 mm f1:4 lens, is this one a pentax k mount?

Paul Howell · May 19, 2015

Looks like a K, Petri made cameras with a breech mount, then shifted to a M 42 mount, after Petri stopped making camera's in the 70s the brand was sold and put on rebranded Cosina cameras and lens, this must be a Cosina lens.

unclejeffie · May 19, 2015

Hai,

Thanks for the answer, I'm still new to this, so i thought it would fit my Canon AE-1 but i guess its not.

Paul Howell · May 19, 2015

K mount bodies are inexpensive as are non Pentax k mount lens, Chinon, Ricoh and Phoenix to name just a few, some lens are very good performers and with an adaptor M 42 lens can be used as well.

anfenglin · May 19, 2015

Or just get a ME or ME super, they have imho the best finders apart from the single digit Olympus OMs (Pentax has almost x1.0 magnification, Olys are bigger) and are dirt cheap. Nice catch, I once had a Rikenon 1.4, this combined with the super bright finder of my ME super was just great. I never needed the extra stop from 1.7 though and I didn't like lugging all that weight around so I got back to my Pentax 50mm 1.7.

Les Sarile · May 19, 2015

This site shows the various mounts -> Rick Oleson various camera mounts

anfenglin said:
Or just get a ME or ME super, they have imho the best finders apart from the single digit Olympus OMs (Pentax has almost x1.0 magnification, Olys are bigger) and are dirt cheap.

The ME Super has 0.95X magnification and 92% viewfinder coverage compared to the OM2 of 0.92X & 97%. Pentax has larger magnification and Olympus has more coverage.

blockend · May 19, 2015

unclejeffie said:
Hai,

Thanks for the answer, I'm still new to this, so i thought it would fit my Canon AE-1 but i guess its not.

Canon FD 50mm 1.4 lenses aren't too expensive. In this day and age if you're fortunate enough to come across some bargain glass, it's cheaper to buy a body to fit the lens than vice versa.

unclejeffie · May 20, 2015

blockend said:
Canon FD 50mm 1.4 lenses aren't too expensive. In this day and age if you're fortunate enough to come across some bargain glass, it's cheaper to buy a body to fit the lens than vice versa.

Unfortunantly the ones I always see costs 100+ euro's, this one costed me only 5.
Think i'm going to hold on to it and buy me a Pentax.

Xmas · May 20, 2015

The Pentax K1000 is built like a Russian tank has only what you need and shoots real reliable.

dynachrome · May 20, 2015

I have a K1000 but I prefer my KM. The depth of field preview feature does not make a camera less reliable. My Pentax MX cameras also have the depth of field preview feature. It's a good teaching feature and that's why I don't understand Pentax leaving it out of the K1000.

Chan Tran · May 20, 2015

dynachrome said:
I have a K1000 but I prefer my KM. The depth of field preview feature does not make a camera less reliable. My Pentax MX cameras also have the depth of field preview feature. It's a good teaching feature and that's why I don't understand Pentax leaving it out of the K1000.

To save money.

cuthbert · May 21, 2015

Chan Tran said:
To save money.

Correct, the K1000 was the cheapest model they offered, a stripped down KM like the SP1000 was a stripped down Spotmatic.

It's ironic that now K1000s are almost worth the amount of money people pay for a Canon F-1 or a Nikon F2.

unclejeffie said:
Unfortunantly the ones I always see costs 100+ euro's, this one costed me only 5.
Think i'm going to hold on to it and buy me a Pentax.

If you are interested there also are other K mounted cameras that you might interesting, Ricoh XR1,2 and XR7 are very appreciated (and cheap), also Chinon made good cameras in K mount, like the Ce-4.

Chan Tran · May 22, 2015

cuthbert said:
It's ironic that now K1000s are almost worth the amount of money people pay for a Canon F-1 or a Nikon F2.

.

I bought a KX from a seller you were selling both the K1000 and KX. Someone bought the K1000 but refused to buy the KX so I got the KX for less than half what he got for the K1000. When they both were available new, the KX was selling for almost twice the price of the K1000.

Paul Howell · May 22, 2015

Chan Tran said:
I bought a KX from a seller you were selling both the K1000 and KX. Someone bought the K1000 but refused to buy the KX so I got the KX for less than half what he got for the K1000. When they both were available new, the KX was selling for almost twice the price of the K1000.

The K 1000 has taken on a life if own, sort of a cult camera, not that it is not a very good camera- it is, but seems to be overpriced. The KX, KM, MX, and for matter the P3 are very good cameras and very good value. Chinon, Cosina, Ricoh, and Sears all made very good K bodies as well are even less expensive. My newest K body is a Phoenix P2, aperture preferred exposure with any K lens, 1/2000 in manual and 1/3000 auto mode top shutter speed. Not the best build quality, I paid less than $10.00 for it along with a 35 to 70mm lens that is not bad as well.

Xmas · May 22, 2015

There were a lot more K1000's made but they are now more expensive... it is called supply and demand.

I never use stop down buttons, or look at aperture display in finder.

I don't fit batteries.

Only wind on lever and release button.

johnha · May 22, 2015

The K1000 was the best selling 35mm SLR (over 3 million units across 20+ years of production) - whatever measure you apply this shows Pentax made the right decision. They are generally much younger than the KX & KM and much simpler (and I believe more robust). As far as prices go, I paid the equivalent of $35 each for all three of my K1000s - all work fine, my two KX's (one with a broken meter) cost much more.

cuthbert · May 22, 2015

Chan Tran said:
I bought a KX from a seller you were selling both the K1000 and KX. Someone bought the K1000 but refused to buy the KX so I got the KX for less than half what he got for the K1000. When they both were available new, the KX was selling for almost twice the price of the K1000.

Yes...and probably the KX is the most popular K series after the K1000, K2 are badly snobbed even if they were the top of the range, few people know the existance of the KM (that is an improved K1000), while the only original K mounts that are worth something more are the K2DMDs but because they are pretty rare and if somebody knows about them usually is looking for one of them.

I have all five Ks, plus a MX, a LX, two SPFs, a SP1000 and a H3V and to be honest my favourite Ks are in order K2DMD, K2, LX, KM and K1000.

Anyway, I've a soft spot for this blackie:

(picture taken by the KX).

johnha said:
The K1000 was the best selling 35mm SLR (over 3 million units across 20+ years of production) - whatever measure you apply this shows Pentax made the right decision. They are generally much younger than the KX & KM and much simpler (and I believe more robust). As far as prices go, I paid the equivalent of $35 each for all three of my K1000s - all work fine, my two KX's (one with a broken meter) cost much more.

I think the Soviets produced more Zenits than K1000s, however regaring the 1000 it has been in production for so long that there are at least size series, IMO the best (and most difficult to find) are the first series made in Japan with the same components used for the other Ks (for instance the top cover was common with the LX and where the latter has the lightmeter check on the 1000 there's a bump), these were sold with the K55mm f2.0, re-edition of the Takumar 55 mm f2 again sold as burdle lens with the SP1000.

These cameras are heavier than the latter series, they had more parts of metal while through the year the construction became lighter and cheaper...the last K1000 produced in China were 100 gr. lighter than the ones from the 70s and had covers made of plastic...internally probably the K1000 is simpler and therefore more robust than the KX, but the KM is the same machine with the self timer so I assume it's as reliable as the K1000.

Manwithacam · May 23, 2015

On the subject of Zenits there was the 122K, 212K and Auto that were all PK mount. I haven't tried them myself but I have an MX, a P30T, a Chinon CE5 and a Miranda MS-2 Super for the few PK lenses I have.

cuthbert · May 23, 2015

Manwithacam said:
On the subject of Zenits there was the 122K, 212K and Auto that were all PK mount. I haven't tried them myself but I have an MX, a P30T, a Chinon CE5 and a Miranda MS-2 Super for the few PK lenses I have.

In the 80s the Soviets decided to adopt the K mount because it was an open standard, previously besides some strange experiment just Kiev Arsenal had produced quite a few models in Nikon AI mount (17,19, 20 and the aborted 18) plus relative lenses but just for the internal market, while with the PK they could sell them abroad. I have an Avtomat, average AE priority automatic camera with nothing special besides the excellent Helios 44K that works fine on all Ks.

The most amazing camera of the list was the Almaz series, a sort of replacement of the Nikon F2, that was aborted as well as its internal competitor, the Kiev 18, because too sophisticated and unreliable for the market...unfortunately on all the lenses designed for that system just the Volna 50 mm f1.8 has been produced in decent quantities.

Les Sarile · May 23, 2015

I suppose the K1000 theory is the less parts utilized, the less can go wrong statistically speaking.

Need a self timer, get a mechanical add on as shown above.

You want DOF, just set the f stop and partially release the lens and it will stop down.

dynachrome · May 23, 2015

My K mount camera collection has quite a few cameras in it. Some have names like Vivitar, Ricoh and Promaster. Of the original Pentax models I think I have only one K1000. I also have two KMs, a KX, a K2 and two MXs. One KM, the KX , the K2 and one MX have been overhauled. Of the manual exposure models, excepting the LX, I think the MX is the most elegant. It has the feel of Pentax cameras going back to the Spotmatic of 1964 but is quite small even if it's not very light. The three original K mount cameras of 1975, the KM, KX and K2, were not destined to remain in production very long. The KM was no more advanced than the Minolta SRT 101 of 1966. The K2 was only slightly more advanced than the Pentax ES, made a short time earlier. The ME and MX replaced these models but I did not care for the ME. Later Asahi brought out the ME Super so there would be some manual control. Another camera which had almost the same production run as the K1000 was the Minolta X-700. In the later years the X-700 was assembled in China just as Asahi eventually moved production of the K1000 away from Japan. I have a fleet of X-700s. The X-700 is a very different camera from the K1000 but both can be used to make high quality images.

cuthbert · May 23, 2015

Les Sarile said:
I suppose the K1000 theory is the less parts utilized, the less can go wrong statistically speaking.

Need a self timer, get a mechanical add on as shown above.

You want DOF, just set the f stop and partially release the lens and it will stop down.

I think it's easier to get a KM.

Les Sarile · May 23, 2015

cuthbert said:
I think it's easier to get a KM.

Statistically speaking again, there must have been many more K1000's made too.

anfenglin · May 24, 2015

Acoording to the Pentax guru B Dimitrov: "the K1000 was sold more than 2 000 000 times [...]"
http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/bodies/film_K/K1000.html

cuthbert · May 24, 2015

anfenglin said:
Acoording to the Pentax guru B Dimitrov: "the K1000 was sold more than 2 000 000 times [...]"
http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/bodies/film_K/K1000.html

The production of Zenits from the B until the 122 is about 3 or 4 milions. In the 60s KMZ had developed an automatic die cast process to mould the frames of the Zenit in a single piece with the results they could literaly flood the internal and western market with cheap SLRs almost for everybody in the Eastern block.

Pentax K mount

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