Found out my dad's old Pentax K1000 has a shutter count limit of around 100,000 actuations after 40 years of use

I was reading a repair blog from a guy in Portland and he said most mechanical shutters from that era just wear out around that number, so now I'm scared to even fire mine off at a family picnic.

2 comments

2 Comments

henry_hernandez23d ago

Portland repair guy is right, but 100k is more of a soft limit than a hard one. My buddy's got a K1000 his dad used for newspaper work in the 80s that's pushing 200k and still going, just sounds a little rough on the slower speeds. How's your dad's camera actually sound when you fire it - does it have that crisp snappy noise or does it drag a little on the 1/30th and slower? That's usually the first sign the curtains are getting sticky. You could always get it CLA'd for $150ish and then you'd be good for another 40 years of family picnics.

victor_butler5023d ago

Have you checked if the shutter curtains are actually original or if they've been replaced at some point? A lot of those K1000s had the cloth curtains swapped out for titanium ones later in their life, and that changes the whole equation on longevity. I've seen some with original cloth that get pin holes from age long before the mechanics give out, especially if they sat in a hot attic for decades. That slow speed drag could just be dried up lubricant rather than worn out parts, which is a much easier fix than a full curtain replacement. Might be worth shining a flashlight through the lens mount with the shutter open to check for light leaks before you spend money on anything else.