Imagine you have a camera collection and your house is on fire and you only have time to take three classic 35mm film cameras with you. Which ones would you grab? For me the answer is easy, I’d take the three best classics… a prewar Contax, a Leica and a 35mm SLR. Of course which particular SLR you grabbed would depend on your personal preferences. For me it would depend on the luck of the draw, since I have a fondness for Nikon, Olympus and Pentax.   

Introduced to the world in 1975 the Pentax KX was logical development of the famous Pentax Spotmatic, a camera that could be bounced for months by photojournalists in steamy south-east Asian jungles, hauled up artic mountain tops and swung in vicious street riots and they could still be counted on to nail a once in a life time shot. The Spotmatic was the very essence of a classic camera represented and the Pentax KX was essentially the same camera with some welcome improvements and a bayonet lens mount replacing the previous screw-mount.

The KX for sale here is in beautiful condition with only light signs of careful use. (Please see photos) It’s from my personal collection which I’m downsizing simply because I have too many cameras and too little time to use them all. The viewfinder is very clean and bright. The light-meter works. The camera winds and fires smoothly and all speeds are appropriate. It’s been a number of years since I last used it but I was always happy with the results. I should mention that the light seals are original, so it’s advisable to replace them if you’re going to use it regularly.

It comes with an excellent Super Multi Coated Pentax-M 1.7/50mm lens. The focus is smooth as silk, the diaphragm is clean and snappy. The glass is impeccable with no scratches, cleaning marks, haze crystallization, separation, fungus or other problems and it’s capable of producing superb results.   

All in all, a great enjoyable camera. Load it with your favorite film and take it for a nice walk.