Near Philadelphia in a junk stall at a market place I got a cheap deal on a nonfunctioning Pentax Program Plus 35mm film camera body.
I went along with the deal because it included the much-sought-after Pentax SMC-A f:1.4/50mm lens.

After returning home to Missouri I did my best with the camera body short of heroics.
The winding lever was missing. It got a replacement from a broken ME-Super. It did not fit properly so I had to use (groan) adhesives.
The wind lock and shutter arming mechanism was malfunctioning, but got better after several deep applications of solvent.
The meter is essentially dead, so no program mode or metered manual. But I was able to coax it to change shutter speeds through the manual mode controls.

Today while the camera was functioning at some level of capacity, I optimistically loaded it with film.
I thought I would play my game of pretending that it was my only camera for usage, and see what I could accomplish with it, before it all self destructed again.
I also wanted to test that fast 50mm lens.
Camera film transport and shutter mechanism did behave. And I used a hand held Gossen meter for exposure references.

I am not certain that I was impressed with the lens. That fast f:1.4 opening is practically useless for relatively close work, the depth of field is so narrow. But stopped down to at least f:2.8 it begins to be usable. Examples below. At least it did not flare.

And the old grist mill in Cedar Hill is still standing, it has not collapsed into Big River just yet.

All images are ©2007 E.J.Kowalski.
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