New to photography andfeeling stupid: Last month my wife and I drove to Orangeburg, SC to view the eclipse and get some pictures. My equipment consists of two Pentax K1000 camera and a...

davec31

Last month my wife and I drove to Orangeburg, SC to view the eclipse and get some pictures. My equipment consists of two
Pentax K1000 camera and a Nikon P510 digital camera. Proving that I know nothing about photography, my efforts produced
nothing. Is the Pentax still worth using?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

While I don't own a Pentax, I don't think they are bad cameras.
It would help if you explained what you did to get what you didn't.
(Don't worry, all of us started not knowing much about photography!)

jack schade Loc: La Pine Oregon

Welcome to the forum.

Jack

davec31

I don't know what focal length I set, I used 400 Fugifilm and I got orange dots results.

alliebess Loc: suburban Philadelphia

davec31 wrote:

Last month my wife and I drove to Orangeburg, SC to view the eclipse and get some pictures. My equipment consists of two
Pentax K1000 camera and a Nikon P510 digital camera. Proving that I know nothing about photography, my efforts produced
nothing. Is the Pentax still worth using?

Pentax K1000 was considered a workhorse in its day, popular with journalists as well as amateurs. We had one, loved it and used it for about 20 years until it died. Not long after that I took up digital photography, but there are still a lot of film photographers out there.

Just Fred Loc: Darwin's Waiting Room

Welcome to UHH. It sounds to me like you should learn about the Exposure Triangle, the basic "building block" of photography. Here's one (of many) sites that explain it.

https://fstoppers.com/education/exposure-triangle-understanding-how-aperture-shutter-speed-and-iso-work-together-72878

northsidejoe Loc: pittsburgh

davec31 wrote:

Last month my wife and I drove to Orangeburg, SC to view the eclipse and get some pictures. My equipment consists of two
Pentax K1000 camera and a Nikon P510 digital camera. Proving that I know nothing about photography, my efforts produced
nothing. Is the Pentax still worth using?

Hello Dave welcome to the forum trying to photo the eclipse is some what of a difficult task for beginners in photography. Do not get discouraged even people with very good skill levels didn't receive good results. Hang in there it takes time and practice and more practice. Saying hello from Pittsburgh.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

northsidejoe wrote:

Hello Dave welcome to the forum trying to photo the eclipse is some what of a difficult task for beginners in photography. Do not get discouraged even people with very good skill levels didn't receive good results. Hang in there it takes time and practice and more practice. Saying hello from Pittsburgh.

Agree 100 percent with this comment and saying hello from Chicago. Welcome to UHH

Pochon53

Pentax tried twice to stop selling the K1000 but both times there was such a hue and cry that they changed their minds. That's how popular they were; but finally the third try was the end. Too bad. I go back further; I have a Pentax Spotmatic and two classic Pentax SMC Takumar 50mm 1.4 lenses.

davec31

Thanks.

davec31

Thanks to all.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

davec31 wrote:

Last month my wife and I drove to Orangeburg, SC to view the eclipse and get some pictures. My equipment consists of two
Pentax K1000 camera and a Nikon P510 digital camera. Proving that I know nothing about photography, my efforts produced
nothing. Is the Pentax still worth using?

Absolutely, that Pentax is a fine camera and with the right lenses can produce stellar images!

davec31

Thank you.

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

As others here have said, the K1000 was a great camera in its day. I had the Nikon equivalent, the FM. And while I loved shooting film, shooting digital is more rewarding (and fun, actually) for me today. If you are looking for a great hobby and can afford new gear, you should check out some of the digital cameras that are out there today. If I had "Bill Gates money," I'd have about 40 different models. all brands.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

davec31 wrote:

Last month my wife and I drove to Orangeburg, SC to view the eclipse and get some pictures. My equipment consists of two
Pentax K1000 camera and a Nikon P510 digital camera. Proving that I know nothing about photography, my efforts produced
nothing. Is the Pentax still worth using?

So long as you didn't point it at the sun for more than a second or two and destroy the camera, or destroy your eye sight, Pentax are fine cameras. We have a number of skilled Pentax advocates on the forum. They may be able to help, but Pentax stands with the best. It could just be a learning issue.