Film Photography Reviews

It’s been called “the longest running SLR in history” and that’s no exaggeration. Everyone who discovered photography at the same time I did – the early 1980s – either owned a Pentax K1000 or knew someone who owned a Pentax K1000. It's dominance of the film SLR market spanned three decades: 1976-1997.

In the below video from the “This Old Camera” series, Azriel Knight takes a look at the camera's history while testing out a model he owns. Part love letter to the Pentax K1000, part field test, Knight breaks down the pros and cons of an SLR that's still revered for its simple greatness today.

“I honestly had a hard time coming up with more cons,” Knight says. “If this camera was a calculator, it’d be an abacus. Let me put it another way: the K1000 is kind of like a screwdriver and a DLSR more like the K10D, is more like a power drill. If you hate screwdrivers, it’s generally not because the instrument is flawed, it’s because it’s too hard or too underpowered for the job that you’re trying to accomplish.”

Fair point.