nick_cook Posted December 6, 2003 Share Posted December 6, 2003 I have recently bought a Pentax K1000 camera and have had problems with the light meter. I live in the UK and took the camera to my local camera shop. The repair necessary is apparently just to replace the wiring but the estimated cost is GBP £75 (aprox $150). I really think this is too much and I'm being fleeced for my non-refundable £15 deposit. Could anyone tell me if this is the repair price you would expect and also how much it would cost to buy an external light meter instead (and the pros and cons of doing that). I don't know too much about cameras but I want to get into it.Please help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lachaine Posted December 6, 2003 Share Posted December 6, 2003 I had a K1000 until a few months ago. These cameras aren't worth enough to be fixed for things like shutter, meter, etc., unless someone maybe gets the camera free and then has it repaired. Those kinds of repairs are fairly expensive - as you've seen, and parts are getting scarce. You may get it fixed now, and the next time something goes wrong with it, it may not be fixeable. Personally, I would use the money for either a new camera, or another used Pentax, unless the camera has some intrinsic emotional value for you. As you've already suggested, there's the possibility of just getting a standalone meter. This would not be money wasted, as even with modern cameras that can meter in multiple ways, it can be useful to have a separate meter. For example, even with an onboard spotmeter, it's much more convenient to spotmeter with a standalone meter (although these spotmeters aren't exactly cheap). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick_cook Posted December 8, 2003 Author Share Posted December 8, 2003 Thank you for your comment. Very helpful. I was wondering about the external meters. Could anyone suggest a meter which would meet my (very basic) purposes but also be cheap! Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric_hendrickson Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 <p>Hi Nick,<br />An old Pentax repair guy. My rates are low (55.00) + light seals and shipping.<br> Pentaxs.com</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jan.smely Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 I've had the WORST experience with Eric. Please read more in the thread "Some Early Spotmatic Indulgence" at Pentaxforums.com, section Pentax Film SLR Discussion, if you want to learn about how deeply unprofessional Eric is. My post are under username: jan.smely Some Early Spotmatic Indulgence - PentaxForums.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeBu Lamar Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 (edited) Although prices on Ebay for the K1000 are relatively high I personally wouldn't pay 15 pounds for a fully working K1000. I think the OP best bet is to buy another manual K mount camera but not the K1000. KX, KM or MX. Sorry 15 Euro is OK not 15 pounds. I think if you want you can have my perfectly working K1000 in very good cosmetic condition body for $100 USD. Edited August 4, 2018 by BeBu Lamar 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moving On Posted August 5, 2018 Share Posted August 5, 2018 I've had the WORST experience with Eric. Please read more in the thread "Some Early Spotmatic Indulgence" at Pentaxforums.com, section Pentax Film SLR Discussion, if you want to learn about how deeply unprofessional Eric is. My post are under username: jan.smely Some Early Spotmatic Indulgence - PentaxForums.com I read your link. Sour grapes. Eric has a reputation for good service. I’d trust him before I’d trust you. Is this the only reason you joined this site? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul ron Posted August 8, 2018 Share Posted August 8, 2018 everyone has a bad experiance once in a while with repairs. doesent mean the repairer is bad, perhaps the customer expected too much or was impatient? meters in spotmatics n k1000s tend to go bad. most times its a coroded contact somewhere in the electrical path. ive repaired a few that turned out to be a battery wire coroded. remove the bottom plate and look it over? going in any deeper canget involved and not worth the trouble. get a hand held meter... they are more accurate anyway and fairly cheap these days. 1 The more you say, the less people listen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moving On Posted August 9, 2018 Share Posted August 9, 2018 The guy may have had a legitimate case. Eric made it as right as he could. The guy wanted free shipping, complained about being reimbursed in his native currency, and whined about not being appropriately greeted in email. Then he decided to spread his whining all over the internet with single posts to multiple photography sites. His only post here, ever, was to direct members to another site to view his whining. Some people simply cannot accept the imperfections in life. Entitlement mentality. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuart_pratt Posted August 24, 2018 Share Posted August 24, 2018 I have had good service from Harrow Technical, Robin Gowing. His prices are about the same as you have been quoted. Pentax specialist. As with the others, if you get on OK with a hand held meter, I would go with that. Personally, if I can get the meter working on a camera I will, as I find hand held meters a ball ache, but each to their own. By the way, at present 75 quid is about 100 bucks, and 15 quid is about 15 Euros (isn't it time we had a slang word for the euro too), so if Eric is talking bucks at 55, that seems very reasonable. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmac Posted August 25, 2018 Share Posted August 25, 2018 (isn't it time we had a slang word for the euro too) Merkel ? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameracravings Posted May 9, 2019 Share Posted May 9, 2019 As far as meter concerned on k1000 2 things may go bad there. Ammeter -- moving needle in the viewfinder. I have seen these fail a lot and the only way to replace them is from a donor camera. I believe if you can get a Spotmatic F body with working ammeter cheap, you have the part to repair yours. Second part that could fail and I've seen this a lot, is one of the CdS photo resistors. These are much easier to harvest than the ammeter. So I am hoping you don't have to replace the ammeter. Also a wire may broke off somewhere. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordonbennett Posted May 18, 2019 Share Posted May 18, 2019 These cameras aren't worth enough to be fixed for things like shutter, meter, etc., unless someone maybe gets the camera free and then has it repaired. Those kinds of repairs are fairly expensive - as you've seen, and parts are getting scarce. You may get it fixed now, and the next time something goes wrong with it, it may not be fixeable. Personally, I would use the money for either a new camera, or another used Pentax.. I took a 'near mint' Nikon FE into the shop because it arrived broken and it wasn't worth it to send it back to the seller in Japan. The shop owner told me it would cost more to fix it than I probably paid for it. I already knew that; the repair is going to cost at least US$169. But in the end I'll have a repaired and fully-serviced camera. You are absolutely correct that K1000s are so cheap they're not worth repairing. On the other hand, how much will you spend on replacements when thy fail? You're replacing it with a used camera that might need a repair soon after you buy it. You replace it with another one, and that one may have issues. Personally, I'd rather spend the money up front. (But I'm hoping my K1000 lasts a long time.) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeBu Lamar Posted May 18, 2019 Share Posted May 18, 2019 I have recently bought a Pentax K1000 camera and have had problems with the light meter. I live in the UK and took the camera to my local camera shop. The repair necessary is apparently just to replace the wiring but the estimated cost is GBP £75 (aprox $150). I really think this is too much and I'm being fleeced for my non-refundable £15 deposit. Could anyone tell me if this is the repair price you would expect and also how much it would cost to buy an external light meter instead (and the pros and cons of doing that). I don't know too much about cameras but I want to get into it. Please help! I don't think the cost of repair is too high. It takes a lot of work to fix the camera. However you can buy a perfectly working K1000 for less than that price. I would be happy to sell you my perfectly working K1000 for $100 USD. A good used light meter can be bought for less than $100 USD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameragary Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 you may want to look up LEARN CAMERA REPAIR and search you camera in the tutorials.they have service manuals free on-line to download and they caover everything as long as it is your camera.may be worth a look. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeBu Lamar Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 Although I offered the OP my good K1000 for $100 but I think if I were the OP I simply use it without the light meter. If light meter is essential then the K1000 is the wrong camera to get. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameragary Posted May 27, 2020 Share Posted May 27, 2020 In today's day and age of these camera's it just makes sense to have a hand held light meter.i have 2 and used them today while tacking pics with my bronica s2a. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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