Help convincing parents to let me do film photography

[terri]

I think all of of the help and responses to our new member have been terrific.

That said, before anyone goes any further with discussions on donating a camera, it might be time for our 14 year old friend to clue his parents in on the great advice he's been getting here, as well as the encouragement to pursue film photography. I'd love it if they wanted to read all these suggestions and give it some real thought.
To the OP: Welcome to TPF! A word of caution: please keep your parents in the loop, and definitely don't give out any personal information online without one or both of them standing right next to you.

Keep posting, and have fun!

 

[Derrel]

I started my photographic Journey in 1975, and it has been one of the best things about my life. Shooting film pictures is really different than clicking away with digital , be it a digital SLR or an iPhone or Android smartphone. There is something about making photographs with film that makes the pictures more special. Film photography has as a goal the making of a permanent image that is fixed in form on a permanent substrate such as film or a glass plate.

In digital photography there is no such tangible image, just a collection of digital data.

I think you will have a great time in film photography.

 

[jcdeboever]

I hope he takes Ray's offer up. That is a great camera to start out with and that lens is an excellent image maker.

 

[XSpiratone]

I see that a camera may be coming your way. Just a FYI a great place to buy used equipment and film lenses is Keh.com They describe all equipment well and test it all out by skilled people. They have the same camera you have (body only sells for $35 plus shipping) put your lens on it and you are good. When you have a need for a tele or wide angle lens check them out. Film lenses values are found there.

 

[TWX]

I know..... tell 'em it's cheaper than a drug habit!

*adds up cost of cameras, lenses, and various other parts and accessories purchased in the last year*

You sure about that?

 

[TWX]

I'm willing to donate it. Think this would be a great first camera, unless someone has an objection. Here's a couple cell pics.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49296590562_7f0046aa3e_b.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49296591957_cbaf4c4bfc_h.jpg

If I was the OP I'd bite your hand off to get hold of that K1000. what and excellent camera to start using film with properly, It looks in superb condition. Great offer

Ian

Agreed.....I still use my K1000 I got in 1980.

Another vote for the K1000. Got mine in 1992 and still use it. It's my first and lifelong camera love.

@RowdyRay, kudos to you!

@TarterTurtle - this is a great camera. The lens is great, it's well-built, and it's simple to operate. Learning with manual controls and just a basic light meter will give you a really solid foundation for any future cameras you end up in your life. It's great for a starter camera, yes, but it's also the kind of camera you might want to hold onto and revisit even when you move on to different gear. As I said above, I've had mine for almost 30 years, and though I eventually aquired several different other cameras, the K1000 is still in regular use and is my go-to when I just want to shoot and not think about things too much.

I got my start on a K1000 too. It was a highschool photography class camera, undoubtedly used and abused for many years (school opened in '74, so could have been around the better part of two decades before I got my paws on it) but it still operated properly, thing was a tank. We only shot black and white as we were developing our own film and our own prints in the darkroom. Couldn't tell you what lens but I suspect it was a 50mm prime of some sort, my strongest memory was figuring out how to turn the right rings to get focus with the optical focus indicator and to get the light meter in the center at the same time. Needless to say, a single semester as a high school student with a somewhat-disinterested teacher did not make me a very good photographer, but it was fun enough to pursue digital when it became a lot easier to see my own results quickly.

 

[TWX]

I know..... tell 'em it's cheaper than a drug habit!

*adds up cost of cameras, lenses, and various other parts and accessories purchased in the last year*

You sure about that?

How much are your drugs worth after you've used them..... just once?

It's not so much about using-up as it is seeing more things that I want to buy even if I don't really need them, and figuring out how to justify the cost to myself.

For example, there's a Kenko 1.4x teleconverter on my local CL for $40. That would give me a bunch more reach with my 70-300mm, but I don't really need it, I haven't even used that lens in the last couple months except to make a, "for the lulz" avatar picture. I suppose if I want to go back to that scenic overlook of the city to get some more downtown pictures I could, but that was a special trip. I'm additionally thinking about a telephoto ring mount that will fit the lens, there's a manufacturer that now has one where the foot is native arca-swiss, I wouldn't have to mount an arca-swiss plate on the bottom of the ring.

Also for example, since playing with a 50mm f/1.8 Mk I and with the 22mm f/2 on my wife's M100 I've been thinking about either the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 or about some fast, wide primes. I don't really need either, and both would be pretty substantial hits the wallet. But I still think about them, surf craigslist and offerup for them, etc.

 

[IanG]

I got my start on a K1000 too. It was a highschool photography class camera, undoubtedly used and abused for many years (school opened in '74, so could have been around the better part of two decades before I got my paws on it) but it still operated properly, thing was a tank. We only shot black and white as we were developing our own film and our own prints in the darkroom. Couldn't tell you what lens but I suspect it was a 50mm prime of some sort, my strongest memory was figuring out how to turn the right rings to get focus with the optical focus indicator and to get the light meter in the center at the same time. Needless to say, a single semester as a high school student with a somewhat-disinterested teacher did not make me a very good photographer, but it was fun enough to pursue digital when it became a lot easier to see my own results quickly.

The K1000 wasn't around in 1974, in fact no K/M mount Pentax cameras were available until late 1995 in Japan and the following year elsewhere. It was quite normal back then for new models to be released first in Japan and minor modifications made if needed before they were exported.

The K1000 was the budget version of the KM and released 1976 in Japan, 1977 elsewhere, with no DOF preview lever or self timer. The KM was essentially the K mount version of the Spotmatic F, so in some ways the K1000 is the equivalent of the Spotmatic SP1000 but with full aperture metering like the SPF

The K1000 was made for just over 20 years, and there are slight variations as production was switch from Japan to assembly in Hong Kong and later China.

Ian

 

[480sparky]

.........The K1000 wasn't around in 1974, in fact no K/M mount Pentax cameras were available until late 1995 in Japan and the following year elsewhere...........

So it's everyone's imagination (including mine) that we had our K1000s in the late 70's?

If there were no K/M mount bodies until 1995, explain how, by 1993 I had SOLD my K1000, my ME Super, my MX and my MG.

 

[TWX]

The K1000 wasn't around in 1974, in fact no K/M mount Pentax cameras were available until late 1995 in Japan and the following year elsewhere. It was quite normal back then for new models to be released first in Japan and minor modifications made if needed before they were exported.

The K1000 was the budget version of the KM and released 1976 in Japan, 1977 elsewhere, with no DOF preview lever or self timer. The KM was essentially the K mount version of the Spotmatic F, so in some ways the K1000 is the equivalent of the Spotmatic SP1000 but with full aperture metering like the SPF

The K1000 was made for just over 20 years, and there are slight variations as production was switch from Japan to assembly in Hong Kong and later China.

Ian

I am aware that the K1000 was not around in 1974. At the same time, depending on when the school district or high school set up its photograpghy curriculum, they might have ordered so many of the camera when it became clear that it was a great student-camera, and simply maintained the existing cameras for decades.

If they'd bought K1000 cameras when they first came out, those cameras would have been as old as I was when I learned on one. It's possible they were newer builds, but what little I've found on the differences based on point of origin, I'm pretty sure the camera I used was of Japanese production. This would have been somewhere between 1994 and 1996. So again, approaching two decades if one of the earliest production runs.

 

[limr]

The K1000 wasn't around in 1974, in fact no K/M mount Pentax cameras were available until late 1995 in Japan and the following year elsewhere. It was quite normal back then for new models to be released first in Japan and minor modifications made if needed before they were exported.

The K1000 was the budget version of the KM and released 1976 in Japan, 1977 elsewhere, with no DOF preview lever or self timer. The KM was essentially the K mount version of the Spotmatic F, so in some ways the K1000 is the equivalent of the Spotmatic SP1000 but with full aperture metering like the SPF.

Um. What?

How was "no K/M mount Pentax camera" not available until 1995 in Japan, but also released "in 1976 in Japan, 1977 elsewhere"?

Also, I bought a K1000 (K-mount, of course) in New York in 1993 - how could that have happened if it wasn't available until 1996?

 

[480sparky]

Um. What?

How was "no K/M mount Pentax camera" not available until 1995 in Japan, but also released "in 1976 in Japan, 1977 elsewhere"?

Also, I bought a K1000 (K-mount, of course) in New York in 1993 - how could that have happened if it wasn't available until 1996?

Does your DeLoreon have a flux capacitor?

 

[limr]

Um. What?

How was "no K/M mount Pentax camera" not available until 1995 in Japan, but also released "in 1976 in Japan, 1977 elsewhere"?

Also, I bought a K1000 (K-mount, of course) in New York in 1993 - how could that have happened if it wasn't available until 1996?

Does your DeLoreon have a flux capacitor?

It does. And a Mr. Fusion, too!

 

[IanG]

The K1000 wasn't around in 1974, in fact no K/M mount Pentax cameras were available until late 1995 in Japan and the following year elsewhere. It was quite normal back then for new models to be released first in Japan and minor modifications made if needed before they were exported.

The K1000 was the budget version of the KM and released 1976 in Japan, 1977 elsewhere, with no DOF preview lever or self timer. The KM was essentially the K mount version of the Spotmatic F, so in some ways the K1000 is the equivalent of the Spotmatic SP1000 but with full aperture metering like the SPF.

Um. What?

How was "no K/M mount Pentax camera" not available until 1995 in Japan, but also released "in 1976 in Japan, 1977 elsewhere"?

Also, I bought a K1000 (K-mount, of course) in New York in 1993 - how could that have happened if it wasn't available until 1996?

My typo which I thought I'd corrected 1976, I did state teh K1000 was relaesed in Japan 1976 and elsewhere 1977

Ian

 

[limr]

The K1000 wasn't around in 1974, in fact no K/M mount Pentax cameras were available until late 1995 in Japan and the following year elsewhere. It was quite normal back then for new models to be released first in Japan and minor modifications made if needed before they were exported.

The K1000 was the budget version of the KM and released 1976 in Japan, 1977 elsewhere, with no DOF preview lever or self timer. The KM was essentially the K mount version of the Spotmatic F, so in some ways the K1000 is the equivalent of the Spotmatic SP1000 but with full aperture metering like the SPF.

Um. What?

How was "no K/M mount Pentax camera" not available until 1995 in Japan, but also released "in 1976 in Japan, 1977 elsewhere"?

Also, I bought a K1000 (K-mount, of course) in New York in 1993 - how could that have happened if it wasn't available until 1996?

My typo which I thought I'd corrected 1976, I did state teh K1000 was relaesed in Japan 1976 and elsewhere 1977

Ian

Thus my confusion Things make sense again knowing it was a typo.