I shot my first roll of35mm film using a Pentax K1000 I bought on the same day I returned a faulty Yashica Mat 124-G — my first camera ever — but that’s a story for another article about my first 120 film roll. I’m glad I made that decision! The Pentax K1000 taught me a lot about photography and helped me understand its principles more. It’s a joy to use. Just a pure, fully mechanical camera. stripped off of anything that you don’t need, and has everything you’ll ever need to capture great shots! You just need a battery for the internal light meter — and that’s the only electronic part — to work, nothing more.

With the K1000 equipped with a 50mm f/1.7 lens, I loaded my first 35mm roll of film and started shooting! It was a 24 exposure roll of Fuji Superia X-TRA 400. I went and started taking photos of random stuff I found interesting. And of course, I had to take a self-portrait first.

Apologies for the “hairy gorilla” you see in this frame!

Back to the film, shooting it was a nice experience despite me not knowing everything I needed about exposure and how to meter for it properly, etc. I was completely dependent on my K1000’s light meter and it was great in not-so-complicated light situations, to be honest!

As you can see in the images below, a few shots were some attempts at night photography! Without a tripod or a shutter release cable, of course 😀
Honestly, I don’t even know what I was thinking, but that — I believe — is how you learn; you make mistakes and you learn from them!

It’s been a year and a half since I started shooting film, yet the K1000 is still one of the closest 35mm cameras to my heart. I’ve learned a lot using it and it has a huge sentimental value to me. I hope one day I’ll be able to be the “grandad” who’s going to bestow this camera upon his grandkids and let it help them start their photography journey!

Enough with the chitchat, I’ll leave you to the rest of the photos from my first 35mm film roll. Stay safe and keep shooting 🙂

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4 responses to “My first roll… Of 35mm film: Fuji Superia X-TRA 400 in a Pentax K1000”

  1. This was a fun read. The Pentax K1000 was definitely a workhorse. It served as my primary camera from 1981 when I received it for a Christmas present while in college until 2003 when I got my first digital camera. I shot many rolls of film during those 22 years and the K1000 never missed a beat. I wish I had kept it around.

    1. Thanks a ton! I’m glad you thought it was fun! : )
      Sorry for the late reply… I agree, Pentax K1000 is a lovely camera and I’m happy for you that you got to create/capture a lot of beautiful memories using it. <3

  2. 😉
    Very great. Very good start.
    Maybe practice with 35mm, you have a great combo.
    Next return on TLR, Yashica was a good choice, the Minolta could be too.
    6.6 is slower but winner. 😉
    Love these places you show us.
    Thank you so much

    1. Thank you so much for your comment. It means a lot! And I’m glad you loved the photos. : )

      I actually bought another Yashica Mat last year & I’ve been using it a lot.
      6×6 is one of my favorite film formats. I’ll write an article about it soon. Stay safe, Eric! : )

 

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