Thanks for all welcomes and advice so far! I'm in sunny Hartlepool. It may be a bit of nostalgia and my mid-life crisis creeping in but since buying this old S1a off ebay, I can't put the thing down. Heaps of quality and precision engineering. Shame it's an erratic old girl with its shutter probs!

My dad's S1a had a semi-auto takumar 55mm f2 - you cocked a lever on the side of the lens to open the aperture wide, focussed, composed and when the shutter was pressed the aperture snapped to its preset value, having to be reset by cocking again. Fantastic!

Am I right in thinking that the only clue to date of manufacture is on the rewind knob (green letter "R", pre 1964, orange letter "R", post 64 and able to take the takumar 1.4?). In other words there's no clue in the serial numbers?

Hi,

Have rediscovered the meaning of the "Just hold a Pentax" slogan of the 1960s. Used my dad's S1a from the age of 5, ownwed it myself from 1978-1979 and then foolishly sold it to fund progression onto a new (non-PENTAX) slr.

Anyway, bought an S1A off ebay but it has a common shutter fault (I got a refund and the seller said I could keep it for spares or repair) - mirror occasionally sticks in the up position / occasionally shutter acts as if on "B" setting at slower speeds / at 500th and the unmarked 1000th, the second shutter curtain often catches up with the first so little or no exposure.

Can anyone recommend a repairer who they have experience of who can "clean, lubricate, adjust and has experience of vintage Pentax models. Or does it sound like a "no hoper" and should I place it as a nice ornament on my shelf?

Mike