I always check Goodwill and William Temple House (a local Portland thrift store) when I’m in the area, just in case they happen to have any old film SLRs for me to mess around with. They rarely do, and when they do, they are either A: in terrible condition, B: way overpriced, or C: in terrible condition and way overpriced. I was surprised then today to find a Pentax H1a at Temple House for six dollars. The lens (Takumar 55mm f/1.8) was dirty but scratch-free, its various rings all glided smoothly and I fiddled with all the mechanical pieces on the camera to see if they seemed to work, which they did. I left it at first, but looked the camera up online when I got home and decided even if it didn’t work, it sure would look cool on a shelf. I went back to the store a while later and picked it up.

This particular model was manufactured from 1957 to (I think) 1962, and I saw online that later models used orange paint in the “R” on the film rewind knob. The paint in mine is green, so though I don’t exactly know how old this camera is, it seems to be an earlier model (late 50s, I’m guessing). I was also confused by the number of brand names on the camera. I knew the name Pentax, of course, but the only Asahi I know is a Japanese beer and the only Honeywell I know makes burglar alarms. I learned later Asahi was the manufacturer, they called the camera the Pentax, the company later changed its name to Pentax, and until the late 70s, their products were distributed in America by Honeywell. Therefore, the front of my camera says “Honeywell Pentax” and the back says “Asahi Pentax.” Shinfo, I know.

I came home and did a little research on camera cleaning, and the body cleaned up very nicely. There’s some rust and a couple scuffs that could probably be taken care of with a little more work, but for the most part the camera looks good for being 60 years old. I was learning how to clean the lens and mirror, fired off the shutter a couple more times, and the damn thing jammed. Bad. I dug around a bit more online on camera restoration forums and stuff — I might be able to mess with it later, but I need jeweler’s screwdrivers to get inside. I was really looking forward to shooting some of this film I have laying around, especially on a camera that doesn’t meter.

EDIT: Later: Yeah, I got it open and it looks like the ribbon on the first shutter curtain is torn, which requires a complete shutter replacement. But have you ever SEEN the inside of even a simple mechanical camera? When disassembled, just the lever that advances the film is — not fucking kidding you — FORTY INDIVIDUAL PARTS. No hyperbole.

This thing will look cool on a shelf.