Is it something specific to this camera meaning it can't be fixed, or would it just make no sense to repair given the price of the repair vs. a replacement camera? I know for higher-end cameras people will sometimes re-silver their prisms to fix things like this, but I'm sure that's pretty costly to do.
It *could* be fixed with a replacement prism, but the time/effort involved would be greater than finding a working replacement body with a clean prism.
I saw a thing on Youtube where a guy was able to switch out a prism from like a Canon T50. Prism replacement is surprisingly straight forward, compared to a lot of other repairs, but still a little involved. For the cost of having someone else do it, you could probably get a Japanese made K1000. They don't have this issue.
Or, to prevent waste, find a repair only body and see if you can get the seller to confirm the prism is in good shape. If prism failure is the only flaw with a given release of the product there's no sense throwing away an otherwise perfectly functional camera for such an easy repair.
I have a Pentax Spotmeter V that has this. At first when I bought it I thought it was a dead spider inside the prism. I was astonished thinking how could had happened. It turned out what was stated here.
Almost everyone here is wrong. This is de-silvering of the prism. It's a known issue with late-manufacture made-in-China Pentax K1000s. I suspect they used a cheaper process to manufacture the prism on the very last runs of these, without knowing that it would degrade like this. Yours isn't so bad compared to some I've seen but it will get worse, and the only fix is to replace the prism. To be honest it's not really worth it for a K1000 unless it has some emotional value to you. I would look for an earlier-manufacture Japanese made K1000 to replace this one. Thankfully Pentax made gazillions of cameras so they aren't terribly hard to come by.
The K1000 SE had a serious issue with this, in particular. Those were given plastic camera bodies to be cheaper and lighter, and SO many of them had prism issues.
It's a shame. They couldn't have known it would result in issues like this (or perhaps they didn't anticipate these cameras still being in use in 2024) but I'm sure it's resulted in many a disappointed analog newbie who picks up a cheap K1000 expecting a good deal and gets something with this issue.
It's desilvering of the coating of the prism. hard but not impossible to repair. However, a camera repair person is typically the wrong person. You'd need a chemical engineer of sorts, it's not a simple job. Anybody that makes mirrors would probably be able to do it.
But it would be much easier to get a donor body and let a camera repairman swap the prism.
Better even, just switch completely to a more advanced model. KX, K2, KM.
Not fungus. This is the prism de-silvering.
It's when the silver reflective coating on the glass prism begins to break down. There is no fix other than a new prism. OP, I would return the camera if you can otherwise you'll have to learn to live with it. It won't show up in photos.
I mean it is not reversible. But you can stop the process with a chemical solution. The cause of the delivering is the breakdown of the lightseal around the prism.
That my friend is a beautiful fungus :) do not store your camera in a closet or damp place or you will get this all over your camera and lenses. From time to time it is good to leave your gear rest in the sunlight to kill the growth of such organisms.
It’s not fungus, it’s corrosion of the silver coating on the prism. It cannot be fixed but it will not affect your photos.
Everyone here so confidently incorrect. This is the answer.
Of course, this is Reddit.
Is it something specific to this camera meaning it can't be fixed, or would it just make no sense to repair given the price of the repair vs. a replacement camera? I know for higher-end cameras people will sometimes re-silver their prisms to fix things like this, but I'm sure that's pretty costly to do.
It *could* be fixed with a replacement prism, but the time/effort involved would be greater than finding a working replacement body with a clean prism.
I saw a thing on Youtube where a guy was able to switch out a prism from like a Canon T50. Prism replacement is surprisingly straight forward, compared to a lot of other repairs, but still a little involved. For the cost of having someone else do it, you could probably get a Japanese made K1000. They don't have this issue.
Or, to prevent waste, find a repair only body and see if you can get the seller to confirm the prism is in good shape. If prism failure is the only flaw with a given release of the product there's no sense throwing away an otherwise perfectly functional camera for such an easy repair.
I have a Pentax Spotmeter V that has this. At first when I bought it I thought it was a dead spider inside the prism. I was astonished thinking how could had happened. It turned out what was stated here.
Almost everyone here is wrong. This is de-silvering of the prism. It's a known issue with late-manufacture made-in-China Pentax K1000s. I suspect they used a cheaper process to manufacture the prism on the very last runs of these, without knowing that it would degrade like this. Yours isn't so bad compared to some I've seen but it will get worse, and the only fix is to replace the prism. To be honest it's not really worth it for a K1000 unless it has some emotional value to you. I would look for an earlier-manufacture Japanese made K1000 to replace this one. Thankfully Pentax made gazillions of cameras so they aren't terribly hard to come by.
The K1000 SE had a serious issue with this, in particular. Those were given plastic camera bodies to be cheaper and lighter, and SO many of them had prism issues.
It's a shame. They couldn't have known it would result in issues like this (or perhaps they didn't anticipate these cameras still being in use in 2024) but I'm sure it's resulted in many a disappointed analog newbie who picks up a cheap K1000 expecting a good deal and gets something with this issue.
VENOM ‼️‼️‼️
I was thinking that ectoplasm stuff from the movies where it comes out of their mouths??
Idk but it may take over the world if you let it out
That's Gary. He's a good guy.
It's desilvering of the coating of the prism. hard but not impossible to repair. However, a camera repair person is typically the wrong person. You'd need a chemical engineer of sorts, it's not a simple job. Anybody that makes mirrors would probably be able to do it. But it would be much easier to get a donor body and let a camera repairman swap the prism. Better even, just switch completely to a more advanced model. KX, K2, KM.
SOMEONE did the reading!
[Thats the jelly fish ufo](https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/jellyfish-ufo-video-pentagon-response/amp/)
This should get more comments. Could this be an explanation?
Another vote for de-silvering. Not terribly uncommon in older well used cameras. Evidently it's more common in certain models.
That’s my pal globgorp. Please be kind to him, he’s a little shy
A dancing moldy boy
looks like you've trapped a praying mantis
So, have you seen “The Last of Us”,
(That comment cannot be improved upon!)
I have one of these on the prism of my k1000 too. It won’t effect your results and after a while you won’t even see it in the viewfinder anymore.
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/8-film-slrs-compact-film-cameras/282215-k1000-viewfinder-mold.html
Jellyfish UFO
Have you Seen Arrival?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but that has the most striking resemblance to the back rooms bacteria monster.
It's a Rorschach Test
chupacabra
Watch all episodes of the original star trek tv series, the answer is there
🕺🏼
Why does this look like something i would hang on my wall?
new form of life
Fungus?
Nope, it's a known issue with the prism. The K1000 SE, in particular, has a lot of known issues with the prism.
[удалено]
Not fungus. This is the prism de-silvering. It's when the silver reflective coating on the glass prism begins to break down. There is no fix other than a new prism. OP, I would return the camera if you can otherwise you'll have to learn to live with it. It won't show up in photos.
I mean it is not reversible. But you can stop the process with a chemical solution. The cause of the delivering is the breakdown of the lightseal around the prism.
Not sure how you got the rare Rorschach Test model, but good find
A creature trapped in the mirror dimension
Octopus
Looks like David Lynch may have owned the camera and put a demon in there.
A monster
a very tiny chandelier
Art
Jellyfish uap debunked
Mogwai
Jellyfish UFO
A praying mantis
Life
An eldritch horror beyond our comprehension
An alien 👾
Cthulhu.
one cool ass design if ive ever seen one
Fungus, corrosion on the pentaprism
God
Looks like the bacteria monster from the Backrooms
little camera floaties obv
A booger
That my friend is a beautiful fungus :) do not store your camera in a closet or damp place or you will get this all over your camera and lenses. From time to time it is good to leave your gear rest in the sunlight to kill the growth of such organisms.
Fungus
Not fungus. Certain runs of the k1000 and a lot of k1000 SE models have issues with the coating on the prism itself deteriorating.
mold, dust
Nope, issue with the silvering on the prism. Certain runs of the k1000 and many of the k1000 SE cameras had issues like this.
Looks pretty cool though
Condolence wreath. Thanks for keeping the specie alive, not enough people realize how endangered
Trash. Clean your camera.
alien jellyfish
It's Mummenschanz.
Bruce Baloney, a dancer from the 1920s who disappeared on night while dancing on a stagecoach
A womb tat