The later K1000's WERE made in China by Pearl River Corp - they went
on to make clones under the name of Millenium or just K1000 without
the Pentax logo and with LED's instead of a meter needle. The quality
descended rapidly.
The Pentax K1000 moved from Japan to China in manufacture in the
mid-eighties and there is an identifying 'Made in China' sticker on
the baseplate. The baseplate also changed profile with 'bevels' on
the edges. The earlier Japanese ones are more robust and damn near
indestructible - although sticking a finger through the shutter blind
will do it as a student of mine proved (and denied).
KR-5's are a very good K mount alternative but less robust - the wind
mechanism has some fragile brass parts - but will do well with care.
Abundant and cheap - I see them for US$60-70 in good condition.
Yashicas such as the FX-3 and FX-D are quite good and can often be
had cheap as the leatherette covering has stripped - leaving an ugly
cloth look. Needless to say, this has no effect on the image and
Morgan Sparkes has replacement leatherette kit if it matters. Lenses
are fair quality but harder to find - Zeiss (Contax) lenses fit and
are very pricey but awfully nice.
There were an number of Canon 1970's bodies of robust character that
can be had very cheaply and there are lots of reasonable FD lenses
around too.
Most basic photog courses prefer that your camera does not have an
auto function of any kind. No cheating OK?!
AndrewF
Before I started, I did a research and at the end was K1000 or OM1.
I remember that I choose the OM1, because the viewfinder was
brighter and also there was a rumor that in latter years the K1000
was made in China and its quality was very poor.
There are other excellent choices, Ricoh KR5(?) comes to mind. My
advice would be that if you just start, your camera would not have
to be a mechanical one, you just need the manual control. There are
excellent (and extremely cheap) choices such as Minolta X-700, some
Yashica models and of course Ricoh. Each one of these cameras has
either Minolta, Contax or Pentax/Nikon Mount and much lagrer choice
of available good lenses.
Once you outgrow this system(in which you invested so little, (you
can pick up the camera and three good primes for $100 or less) you
can choose if you need the full mechanical. Learn the basics first
and then decide.
Ciao
Boris
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