Pentax K1000 - Design History

Design History

Beginning in 1975, there was a complete overhaul of Asahi Optical's Pentax SLR line when the first of the Pentax K-series SLRs were introduced - the Pentax K2, KM and KX. The SMC Pentax K mount lenses were introduced at the same time. The Pentax K1000 and K2 DMD followed in 1976. The K2/K2 DMD was the top-of-the-line model with aperture priority; the KX, the full-featured manual mechanical model; the KM, the basic manual mechanical model. The 1000 in the K1000's name was a direct reference that its top shutter speed was superior to Asahi Optical's previous bottom-of-the-line Pentax Spotmatic SP 500 of 1971. The spartan viewfinder had 91% coverage.

The 1970s and 1980s were an era of intense competition between the major SLR brands: Pentax, Nikon, Canon, Minolta and Olympus. Between 1975 and 1985, there was a dramatic shift away from heavy all-metal manual mechanical camera bodies to much more compact bodies with integrated circuit (IC) electronic automation. In addition, because of rapid advances in electronics, the brands continually leap frogged each other with models having new or more automatic features. The industry was trying to expand.

Against this backdrop, Asahi Optical continued its use of 42 mm diameter, Universal M42 screw lens mount (often called the Pentax screw mount). The mount type was introduced by the German KW Praktica or Zeiss-Dresden Contax S SLRs circa 1948) in its Pentax Spotmatic SLR and Takumar lens lineages.

There was another overhaul of Asahi Optical's Pentax line beginning in 1976 when the M-series SLRs and SMC Pentax-M lenses came out, starting with the aperture priority only Pentax ME. The ME introduced an entirely new chassis and was very compact: 82.5 mm height, 131 mm width, 49.5 mm depth and 460 g weight. The M-series remained among the smallest and lightest full frame 35 mm film SLRs ever made. Asahi Optical also redesigned their lenses to be more compact, although the SMC Pentax-M lenses generally kept the optical formulae of the SMC Pentax lenses.

The K1000 was the only K-series SLR to survive the M-series changeover. It also survived the dramatic electronic growth of the M-series in the wake of the 1976 introduction of the landmark Canon AE-1, the autofocus (AF) SLR camera revolution following the landmark Minolta Maxxum 7000 in 1985 and the point-and-shoot (P/S) revolution following the confluence of cheap microchip electronics, high speed film and small aperture zoom lenses circa 1990.

The K1000 gained a unique popularity and sold well for many years as its lack of features came to be regarded an important feature in and of itself. Its spartan nature, without autoexposure or autofocus, meant a sturdy and reliable camera for a low price. The K1000 became highly recommended for student photographers.

Production was not ended until 1997 when manufacturing costs of its older design and supply of its mechanical and electronic parts (especially precision analogue microgalvanometers for the light meter) finally became untenable. It was replaced by the highly computerized Pentax ZX-M (also called MZ-M) in 1998.