K1000 died

A chum managed to drop my old K1000 and I'd quite like to have it sorted since it wont wind on now. I'm in the extreme NW of the UK and would welcome a pointer to someone good and reasonbly priced to send it to.
Thanks

Andrea,

Sad news. But repairing it is likely to cost more than buying a replacement on Ebay.

G

George is probably right, but if you do have a sentimental attachment to that particular K1000, or for some other reason want to get that one repaired then Asahiphoto who advertise at the top of this forum are supposed to be pretty good. They specialise in old Pentax cameras.

Your best bet might be Michael Spencer. He is about half the price of Asahiphoto and even Robin at Harrow Technical. If you do send to London, I would use Robin rather than Asahiphoto but that is more personal preference than any other reason. I have always found Robin much more pleasant to deal with.

As far as repair/replacement is concerned, it can be a difficult decision. Micheal was charging around £35-£40 for a full service on a mechanical camera. If you buy on eBay, you may still end up with a camera needing a service. Unless it is one of the very late K1000's, it is likely that the seals will be soft by now and it may well suffer from shutter capping. If you get a service downe, at least you can be fairly confident that it will go on for at least another 10 years or so.

If you do decide to replace, I would look at the KX or even the MX. Far better cameras than the K1000 and not much price difference. If you do decide to replace, drop me a line, I have several older cameras that will ens up on eBay in the new year that have all been fully serviced.

Kim