I was recently gifted a beautiful Pentax K1000 for my 3 year old twins. I had to pick up a lens so I decided to get the Pentax 28mm 2.8 SMC A. Low cost yet it seemed like a really nice piece of glass to own, come to find out it really is. Plus, I’m a fan of 28mm glass. The film of choice? Fomapan 100. I’m a fan of the Fomapan 100 in 120, but very new to the Fomapan 100 in 35mm. So I thought walking around at a local car show with the Pentax K1000 and a roll of Fomapan 100 would be fun. I was right.
This day almost didn’t happen due to the thunderstorms in our area. My wife and I got lucky as the weather improved and we had a couple of hours to get out of the house. So we headed to the Belvidere Heritage Days with our 3 year old twins.
Not many cars or people this year, could be because of COVID and/or the weather we’ve been having. Either way, I was going to shoot this camera .
One thing I really like about the Pentax K1000 is it’s size. It’s a small film SLR and the shutter has a beautiful sound to it. I wasn’t sure the meter would be accurate but I decided to go all in. To me, I had to know. It was a joy to shoot with that 28mm lens and it’s a camera that will definitely be presented to my twins soon. I think they will be able to figure it out the more they handle it.
I chose Fomapan 100 because I want to see if it’s a film for me. It’s a film that can be bought in bulk for a very low cost. I am talking about half the price of other low speed films and for many people, that’s a difference maker. I knew I wanted to develop the roll in Xtol stock so I just shot it at box speed. Worked out just fine.
Developed, scanned, and ready to drop into DropBox. Everything turned out great. The Pentax K1000 was good to go. Shutter speeds and meter were accurate and the Fomapan 100 turned out beautiful. The grain was nice and the tones came out gorgeous. Will I be shooting the Pentax K1000 again! That’s a big YES. It’s a cool camera to shoot, that’s for sure! Will I be shooting more Fomapan 100 in 35mm? Yup, already shot another roll. Will I try different developers? Maybe, but I am pleased with what the Xtol did.
Pentax K1000/Fomapan 100/Seasoned Xtol
Pentax K1000/Fomapan 100/Seasoned Xtol
Pentax K1000/Fomapan 100/Seasoned Xtol
Pentax K1000/Fomapan 100/Seasoned Xtol
Pentax K1000/Fomapan 100/Seasoned Xtol
Pentax K1000/Fomapan 100/Seasoned Xtol
Pentax K1000/Fomapan 100/Seasoned Xtol
Pentax K1000/Fomapan 100/Seasoned Xtol
Pentax K1000/Fomapan 100/Seasoned Xtol
Pentax K1000/Fomapan 100/Seasoned Xtol