Pentax 35mm with jammed shutter release. Worth saving?

July 27, 2004 6:01 PM

Pentax K1000, with a jammed shutter release button. I hardly ever use film any more, but have a soft spot for the 35mm format and this camera in particular. It's been jammed for at least ten years. Repair, replace, or junk and move on?
posted by mwhybark to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (8 answers total)

Yeah, the K1000 was my first real camera, too. It probably wouldn't be too hard to fix. I'd take it to a professional. Fwiw, I sold a similar one, though working, with a couple of lenses, on ebay for more than $350.
posted by crunchland at 6:34 PM on July 27, 2004

Response by poster: woof, when, crunchy?

'Cause it looks like asking price is a bit less these days - around $60. Hm.
posted by mwhybark at 6:53 PM on July 27, 2004

I guess it was a couple years ago. Someone grabbed it within 6 hours of me posting it, using buy-it-now.
posted by crunchland at 7:08 PM on July 27, 2004

there was a 35mm camera bubble along with the dot-com bubble. In 1999, a Nikon FE2 or FM2 body could sell on ebay for over $400 in a single day. Now is it is back to $100-$150 for the same body.

You may want to look into other Pentax K-Mount cameras like the ME-Super or even the LX - the ultimate K-Mount pentax.
posted by Kwantsar at 7:20 PM on July 27, 2004

crunchland said he included lenses though, which may account for the price - I have lenses that are each worth as much or more than the body of my camera (Canon AE-1p).

mwhybark, a repair place should take a look at it and give you a price estimate at no/little cost. Can't hurt, certainly - though since the bodies are so cheap, they might recommend you just buy another.
posted by Hypharse at 7:53 PM on July 27, 2004

I second the LX suggestion -- great, great camera
posted by matteo at 2:00 AM on July 28, 2004

repair it.

this happens to my ME super (which uses the same lenses) all the time--a certain number of ME supers have a defect that causes this to happen, but it's never happened with my K1000. my ME was jammed for about a year and a half, and then one day, pop! it just worked again.

i've been to shops that repair it gratis and those that charge ridiculous sums for it. don't pay a ridiculous sum for it, unless a part has to be replaced. it's usually just a matter of flicking a gasket back into place.

keh cameras (i think it's www.keh.com) is a great place for buying used pentax bodies, if you chose to replace it.
posted by crush-onastick at 6:42 AM on July 28, 2004

I agree, I'd repair it if you can do so for less than the cost of a second hand one (the camera shop may however advise you it'll cost more to look at it than it's worth). I think it's a good camera, there's little technical jiggery-pokery to go wrong, and there's an easy-to-understand mechanical/optical relationship between how you set it and what it does; you have to work with it to get the results you want instead of having to choose between 11 weird-ass spot metering configurations or nine exposure modes. This is especially gratifying, I think, if you develop and print your own stuff.
posted by carter at 3:26 PM on July 28, 2004