C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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The Pentax MV-1 (1979) is the entry-level body of the Pentax M-series compact SLR family, positioned below the ME and MV. It shares the small M-series form factor — roughly 340 g, under 50 mm deep — and offers aperture-priority automatic exposure only, with no manual shutter override. Relative to the ME, the MV-1 cuts costs further by using a simpler matte-screen-only viewfinder without a split-prism focusing aid, making manual focus somewhat less precise. It is powered entirely by electronics with no mechanical fallback. The MV-1 was aimed squarely at first-time SLR buyers in the late 1970s.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
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Before you buy used
About this camera
The most stripped-down M-series Pentax - aperture-priority only, no split prism, lowest price.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm |
| Mount | Pentax K |
| Years | ~1979–1982 |
| Shutter | 8s – 1/1,000s + Bulb, electronic vertical |
| Flash sync | 1/100s |
| Meter | TTL center-weighted SPC, ~EV 3–18 |
| Exposure modes | Aperture-priority AE only |
| Viewfinder | ~90% coverage, ~0.80×, matte only |
| Weight | ~340 g (body only) |
| Battery | 2× LR44 / SR44 |
Pentax built out the compact M-series through the late 1970s with several closely related bodies at different price points: the MX (manual, 1976), ME (aperture-priority, 1976), MV (aperture-priority, 1979), and MV-1 (aperture-priority, simplified, 1979). The MV-1 represents the floor of the range: it shares the M-series shutter mechanism and SPC metering cell with the ME but removes the split-prism finder screen and trims other details to meet a lower price point. Production is believed to have ended around 1982, around the time Pentax shifted marketing attention to the ME Super and Super-A.
The MV-1 is historically minor but illustrates how Pentax tiered the M-series: by the late 1970s compact SLR competition from Canon, Olympus, and Minolta was fierce at the consumer end, and offering a body at each price step was standard practice. The MV-1 is less collectible today than the ME or MX and trades at the lower end of the M-series price range. Its main practical virtue is providing K-mount access at minimal cost; virtually any K, KA, or later Pentax lens mounts and meters normally. The lack of a split prism is a real limitation for careful manual focusing but is acceptable for users shooting at normal to moderate telephoto distances with stopped-down lenses.
All Pentax K-mount lenses (K, KA, KAF, KAF2, KAF3) mount on the MV-1; aperture-priority metering functions with all. The SMC Pentax-M 50/2 is a natural companion given the body's budget positioning — compact, inexpensive used, and well-matched in size. No motor winder was released specifically for the MV-1.
BW
Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
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Kodak Ektar 100 is a fine-grain C-41 color negative film with saturated color and high sharpness.
View profile →Pentax MV-1
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