New Gear

[YoungPic]

I am new to this forum site and this is my first post

Ive Recently purcased a HONEYWELL PENTAX (ASAHI) SPOTMATIC 35mm CAMERA WITH THREE LENS!! PENTAX SMC TAKUMAR 1:1.8/55mm LENS ON CAMERA. Vivitar 135mm 1:2.8 PORTRIAT LENS Vivitar TELE-ZOOM 85~205mm 1:3.8 ZOOM lens.
everything from the pictures looks like its in great shape, i bought the package for $60.00, i was just wondering if any one else has a spotmatic and what their experience was

 

[usayit]

I have 6 spotmatics of various conditions... My wife thinks I'm nuts for collecting cameras. Spotmatics are the prototypical student camera... wonderful cameras that brought 35mm into the realm of serious photography. Historically, they are one of the most significant in camera design.

Takumar screw mounts are plentiful and cheap. They are very good optically and many third party manufacturers use the mount. Check ebay for "M42" and "screwmount". One of the sharpest 50mm of all time was/is a takumar 50mm f1.4. Unfortunately, early versions yellow over time but still work wonderfully for black and white.

Spotmatics are fullly mechanical and the battery is only used to power the meter. With that said, finding a battery for them can be difficult. There are options out there though. I personally use them without a battery and meter with a handheld.

Site with a wealth of info:
http://www.aohc.it/

You can also have fun with the look of the camera by freshening up the leather: www.cameraleather.com

 

[usayit]

One of my favs in my collection.. looks great in all black paint.

And meet the Spotmatic's big brother:

Welcome to the forum....

 

[jwkwd]

I'm liking that 6x7 !

 

[Jeremy Z]

I am new to this forum site and this is my first post

Ive Recently purcased a HONEYWELL PENTAX (ASAHI) SPOTMATIC 35mm CAMERA WITH THREE LENS!! PENTAX SMC TAKUMAR 1:1.8/55mm LENS ON CAMERA. Vivitar 135mm 1:2.8 PORTRIAT LENS Vivitar TELE-ZOOM 85~205mm 1:3.8 ZOOM lens.
everything from the pictures looks like its in great shape, i bought the package for $60.00, i was just wondering if any one else has a spotmatic and what their experience was

It looks like you copied the item description right out of ebay, hehehe.

Spotmatics were the predecessor to the K1000 I had. They were before Pentax started to try to save money on things by skimping on materials. You got a great deal on the package and some quality optics. Many of the optics made for the screw mount were garbage, especially the aftermarket zooms, so be careful with that.

You might want to check the light meter vs. a known good one. You can have it calibrated to work with the new alkalines, as I believe they used mercury batteries, which are 1.35V and unavailable any longer.

 

[usayit]

You might want to check the light meter vs. a known good one. You can have it calibrated to work with the new alkalines, as I believe they used mercury batteries, which are 1.35V and unavailable any longer.

Check... http://www.photobattery.com/ they have many replacements for old and no longer produced batteries... includng the spotmatic. To tell you the truth, all 6 of my spotmatics have meters that are still accurate despite their age.. but as Jeremy stated, you might still want to double check them against a handheld.

In the end, I still rely mostly on my handheld. Oh.. forgot.. you might also want to check the light seals in the rear door. Its pretty easy to replace them.

 

[YoungPic]

Thank you to all that responded to my post, i did have a spotmatic II for a while but it wasn't mine so i has to give it back, and thats when i started looking, as you can tell by my name and am a newbie in the photography but its grew on me tremendously over the past year or so and ive really gotten into the hobby so thank you again for the replies