The User's Review: Two Editions of Pentax K1000 SE, Brown VS. Black

During the long production period of 21 years, Pentax released two special editions (SE) of K1000. The earlier edition (my SN 64039br) is more special with the brown color skin and is rare to find. The later SE (my copies' SN 74519bl and 81675bl) has the same black skin like the regular K1000. Both SE bodies have a split-image focus screen and the sign of 'SE' on their right front shoulders.

My SE K1000 cameras have a stick on their bottom plates, saying 'BODY ASSEMBLED IN HONG KONG'.

The User's Review: Yashica 635 TLR Cameras with Yashikor or Yahsinon Lenses

Some people claimed that the Yashikor is sharper, and preferred for portrait. Here I have both cameras, one with Yashikor lenses (right in the images below), and the other with Yahsinon lenses (left), showing their differences.

The specifications of the picture-taking lenses are Yashikor 1:3.5 f=80mm and Yahsinon 1:3.5 f=80mm, respectively. Furthermore, the viewing lenses are more different with Yashikor 1:3.5 f-80mm and Yashinon 1:2.8 f=80mm. On the view/focusing screen, the effect of the differences is minor in my eyes. I feel that the screen behind the Yashinon 2.8 lens is slightly brighter in dim light situations. There is another obvious difference between the two cameras in my images above. Can you tell? A good thing is that Butkus has the manuals for both cameras free online. These manuals also show the variations of Yashica 635 with Yashikor (the grey-cover manual) and Yashinon (the yellow-cover manual) lenses.

I have another blog on Yashica 635 and its 35mm film adapter.

The User's Review: Access P-MC Wide-Auto Macro Lens, f 28 mm, 1:2.8, Ø 49 mm

This camera lens came to me with another one that I intended to purchase. However, I found that this Access lens was unique once it was in my hand. Its front element can be turned ~ 90˚ in order to set the macro function at various scales of 1:6, 1:5, 1:4 and 1:3.7. On the other hand, the front element does not rotate when focusing. Great!

My copy of the Access is of Minolta M/MD mount.

As I checked online, Access also provided this kind of Japan-made lens with other mounts (e.g., Canon FD, Nikon AI and Pentax K). At prices around USD 210, these lenses were released around 1981. Access also released the wide macro II and non-macro versions at prices of 210 and 159, respectively, in 1982.