I have had quite a few Spotmatics, and never saw one with a stuck mirror, I have seen other slrs with stuck mirrors though. Environment has a lot to do with how well a camera ages, heat, humidity etc.. I have found later film cameras that had problems, and also a 1934 Kodak Retina that worked perfectly.......
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Film Spotmatic, too good, too common to be interesting?
- Thread starter BenG
- Start date
I have had quite a few Spotmatics, and never saw one with a stuck mirror, I have seen other slrs with stuck mirrors though. Environment has a lot to do with how well a camera ages, heat, humidity etc.. I have found later film cameras that had problems, and also a 1934 Kodak Retina that worked perfectly.......
Bozzie
Veteran
We've all done that, regretting selling some of our old 35mm gear, a few years ago I sold my Contax 167MT and prime lens for a song, I still really regret it .
Were these the old Pentax cameras with the threaded lens mount? By the mid '70s, they were already swap-meet cameras. In my teens, the swap meet was my camera shop. I'm pretty sure I had a Spotmatic, along with a Canon FTb, and others as well. Settled on a Konica system anchored by an Autoreflex-T. That was my yearbook kit in high school and then into college where I shot at the school newspaper. I never really cared for the Pentax screw mount. Took too much time and attention to change lenses.
- Location
- Western NC
In high school, I shot other people's cameras, all with bayonet mounts. I became a Pentax shooter in the early '80s with an MX and considered the M42 (then referred to as Pentax/universal screw mount) stuff as so much antiquated rubbish.
But...
When this fine forum coaxed me into shooting adapted lenses on M4/3 and the denizens of PentaxForums spoke of the legend of Takumars, I got sucked in. Only recently have I fallen into the M42 camera rabbit hole, starting with the "original," the "AP." Shot the first film in 20 years, and have discovered the muscle memory of using a hand-held meter and "plugging in" the settings on the camera.
I've had NO luck finding any Pentax equipment of these vintages at thrift shops or pawn shops. Most local pawn shops have bailed on cameras altogether.
But...
When this fine forum coaxed me into shooting adapted lenses on M4/3 and the denizens of PentaxForums spoke of the legend of Takumars, I got sucked in. Only recently have I fallen into the M42 camera rabbit hole, starting with the "original," the "AP." Shot the first film in 20 years, and have discovered the muscle memory of using a hand-held meter and "plugging in" the settings on the camera.
I've had NO luck finding any Pentax equipment of these vintages at thrift shops or pawn shops. Most local pawn shops have bailed on cameras altogether.
I've been collected some of the older m42 Super Taks, more for the lovely build quality than the image - definitely a nice vintage vibe to them though.
My big gripe with the mount is the quality of the adapters for modern cameras tends to vary wildly so I always worry they'll just fall out of my mirrorless cameras (the original Pentax K-M42 ones are pretty good but 3rd party ones can be fiddly. They perform pretty well on my Spotmatic.
These days, I'd steer people interested in film towards the more mechanical bodies - Nikon F/F2, Nikkormats, Spotmatics, K1000, OM1 etc - the fewer electronics the better (& even if they're there for metering, the camera will still function if the meter fails).
My big gripe with the mount is the quality of the adapters for modern cameras tends to vary wildly so I always worry they'll just fall out of my mirrorless cameras (the original Pentax K-M42 ones are pretty good but 3rd party ones can be fiddly. They perform pretty well on my Spotmatic.
These days, I'd steer people interested in film towards the more mechanical bodies - Nikon F/F2, Nikkormats, Spotmatics, K1000, OM1 etc - the fewer electronics the better (& even if they're there for metering, the camera will still function if the meter fails).
I owned a Spotmatic in high school in the 70s. That was a swap-meet-heavy period in my life and I can't image that I paid more than $30 for that camera and a lens or two. Granted, that was real money to a high school kid back then, but still...
Other manufacturers moved on from screw mount, and this is the first time I've heard from anyone who seems bothered by that. In the meantime, the Spotmatic just died in the 70s. I did not mourn. I'd already moved on. I found a deal on a Konica Autoreflex T kit, and that was my main gear into college. Swap meet kit.
Other manufacturers moved on from screw mount, and this is the first time I've heard from anyone who seems bothered by that. In the meantime, the Spotmatic just died in the 70s. I did not mourn. I'd already moved on. I found a deal on a Konica Autoreflex T kit, and that was my main gear into college. Swap meet kit.
I debated on whether to include this. I feel like I overshare it. Whenever my Konica/Hexanon kit comes up, I think of this picture. I shot it in high school during the 1976 presidential campaign. I wasn't old enough to vote when I shot this, and now I'm older than Jimmy Carter was then, and last I checked, he's still alive.
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