this episode of BFC TV is brought to you by Polaroid welcome to BFC TV my name is Ben and in this episode we're going to tell you everything you need to know about the Pentax k1000 a legendary 35 millimeter SLR camera that has become a Cornerstone of Photography its Simplicity and beautiful design make it an essential tool for beginners and Pros alike if you're looking to take a step up from point and shoot cameras or simply dive into film photography this is the camera for you in this episode we're going to walk through the camera's features how to use it and a little backstory on how this camera became so ubiquitous to film photography let's Dive In foreign [Music] what is the Pentax k-1000 and why is it so popular in the early 1960s Japanese camera manufacturer Pentax debuted a revolutionary camera the Pentax spotmatic what made this camera so special was its ability to meter scenes through the lens you could point the camera in any given Direction and a needle would show you whether the image was properly exposed based on the aperture and shutter speed you'd chosen this was one of the first cameras to feature this very easy to use metering technique and the camera itself Rose to popularity as social media influencers like Ringo Starr were known for bringing them around everywhere Pentax iterated on this camera with the Pentax k-1000 using the same popular chassis design but giving the camera a new lens mount a top shutter speed of 1 1 000 of a second hence the name k1000 and streamlined its features to make it a camera for the masses indeed the k-1000 rose to become one of the most popular cameras ever made being produced for 20 years and remaining mechanic technically Dependable for the next generation of film photographers the battery inside powers only the light meter meaning even without the battery the camera is fully operational and mechanical making them sturdy and dependable bodies that rarely fail features of the Pentax k1000 and beginner's guide before we get into loading and shooting let's take a quick look at what's on board this camera in the front of the camera we have an interchangeable lens Pentax produced many lenses that are compatible with the camera but the one we provide stocked is The Versatile 50 millimeter F2 this lens is great for everyday shooting and can conveniently Focus as close as one and a half feet just rotate the outer ring to change your focus the inner ring changes your aperture which on this lens ranges from F22 to F2 aperture determines your depth of field F-22 Narrows the aperture and achieves very deep focus whereas F2 will give you a much shallower Focus blurring out the background beside the lens is a flash sync Port so if you want to get wild with external flash you've got a place to insert the cable right there looking down at the top of the camera you've got the real Goods to the left is your film rewind mechanism your hot shoe to insert a flash which will automatically sync with the shutter over here is your shutter speed dial shutter speed determines how fast or slow the shutter fires when you press the shutter button right here its top speed of 1 1000th of a second will freeze action while slower speeds like 1 15 will introduce a lot more motion blur when hand holding the camera we recommend not to go under 1 60th of a second as slower shutter speeds can introduce blur from the camera shaking as you hold and fire it you can lift and rotate the shutter speed dial to set your film ASA this is important for letting the light meter know what film is inside faster films like Kodak portrait 800 are more sensitive to light so you can use faster shutter speeds or smaller apertures in a wider variety of lighting situations slower films like portra 160 will let you use wider apertures without filters Outdoors getting that background separation from your subject to the right of the shutter speed dial and the shutter release is the film counter window which tells you how many shots you've taken with a typical 35 millimeter roll giving you 36 exposures this window is embedded into the film winding crank which advances you to the next frame after you've taken a picture the winding crank locks if you haven't fired the shutter preventing you from accidentally advancing a blank frame the shutter also doesn't fire if you haven't Advanced it this little window is red when the shutter is cocked and advanced and it's white after you've taken a shot and not advanced yet these fail safes help you waste less film and think a little less something we love doing thinking less shooting more on the bottom of the camera we have your battery compartment tripod screw Mount and film rewind release button which I'll explain how to use in a minute opposite to the lens is the viewfinder one of the most convenient elements of the camera it has a micro prism at the center which essentially makes focusing easier to the right is your exposure needle this moves toward the plus side if your image is Overexposed and toward the minus if it's underexposed this needle is reacting to your aperture and shutter speed settings which are the two critical elements to a proper Exposure One one thousandth of a second allows less light to enter the camera while shutter speeds like 1 30th allow more in the aperture which as we discussed controls your depth of field also is a huge factor in how much light is reaching the film narrower apertures like F-22 get you deeper depth of field but allow less light in wider apertures like F2 give you shallower depth of field and allow a lot more light in wide apertures may be challenging to use in full sunlight so you have to stop down to get your exposure needle toward the middle and this is without filters while the k1000 is used by the pros it's a great beginner's camera because understanding how these settings affect exposures becomes very intuitive to pick up you can easily learn by doing changing your aperture and shutter speed to dial linear exposure and then seeing how those settings affect the final image without the chore of guessing or flubbing these settings that the outset or trying to manually meter the needle in the viewfinder is there to guide you hold your hand and tuck you in at night loading and unloading the Pentax k1000 now that we understand what's going on with this beautiful camera let's get ready to shoot with it to open the back of the camera pull up the film rewind crank which will pop open the back insert the film so that the top nub is facing downward drop the crank back down which holds the film in place pull the film leader tab across the camera inserting it into one of the slots on the take-up spool the spool is in An Inconvenient place you can tweak its position with the gear at the base or pulling the winding lever insert the film leader and give the film a solid wind this should Nestle the film sprockets into these grooves and film should now be sitting tightly wound and ready to go close the camera and Advance the film a couple of times until you reach frame one the bit of film we pulled into place was exposed to light so we need to advance it to get to your first usable frame it's important not to open the camera at this point until you have rewounded back into the canister when you're done opening the camera will ruin your shots you worked hard on those we don't want to ruin them it's great stuff you did make sure your ASA dial is set to the correct film speed and you're ready to shoot when you're done with the roll and have advanced the last frame you'll feel some resistance in the winding lever don't put any further force on the winding lever as it could tear the film inside turn the camera over and depress the film rewind button this releases the film inside and allows you to use the rewind crank to start reeling the film back into the canister keep turning the crank clockwise until you feel no further resistance you can hear the film getting released from the take-up spool and back into the canister now your film is light tight again you can open the back of the camera pull out the film canister and bring it to the lap additional k1000 tips now that we've gotten the basics down there are a couple additional features to note if you're looking to use a flash unit on the top of the camera note the X beside the 160th of a second shutter speed this is the camera's maximum sync speed so don't go above 1 60th of a second or the flash won't sync correctly with the shutter removing the lens for cleaning or swapping is done with this release lever in the front of the body rotate counterclockwise to remove the lens to replace it align the Red Dot of the lens with the Red Dot on the body and rotate clockwise until it clicks into place another feature with your shutter is bulb mode when you depress the shutter in bulb mode it keeps the shutter open for as long as you want until releasing it this is great for long exposures with the camera mounted to a tripod and for further stability and ease you can screw an external shutter release cable into the shutter release button this takes your hands off the camera preventing shake and making it simpler to leave the shutter open without having to keep your finger on the shutter button and that's the rub with the beautiful Pentax k1000 we proudly carry these cameras at BFC as they represent one of the most accessible tools for accomplishing beautiful images with a minimal learning curve our k-1000s come with a three month warranty giving you peace of mind as you run through your first few rolls in the camera and ensure all is working as intended stay tuned tuned to BFC TV for more helpful tips info and everything analog bye [Music]