Was rewinding a roll of film when the crank broke off in my hand

Last Saturday I was out shooting with my old Pentax K1000 at a park near my house in Nashville. Got through a whole roll of Portra 400, hit the rewind button, and started cranking away like I've done a thousand times. About halfway through, the little metal rewind knob just snapped right off in my fingers. I stood there holding a broken piece of plastic and metal while the film was still stuck inside the camera. Had to drive straight home and spend 45 minutes in a dark closet carefully prying the film canister out with tweezers. Now I'm looking into getting a replacement part but I can't believe how fragile these old cameras are compared to my digital setup. Has anyone else had a random piece of their film camera just give out on them during a shoot?

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anthony_fox909h ago

Is that the original K1000 or one of the later versions with the plastic parts? I had a Minolta X-700 that the film advance lever just snapped off on a cold morning in Chicago, left me with half a roll of Tri-X stuck in there too. I swear these old cameras were built tough but the little plastic bits they used for the rewind knobs and levers are the first thing to go.