Couldn't resist the urge to join. My main system is built around a pair of Olympus OM-1n bodies with Zuiko lenses (mea culpa!), but recently I was able to acquire a pre-loved Spotmatic with 55mm f/2 and 135mm f/3.5 Takumars at a ridiculously low price.

I adore this classic camera - it was my first real SLR, back in the early 1970s (not counting a short-lived Praktica clunker). Mine is in perfect working order, so it will definitely get used from time to time just for the joy of it (the OMs will just have to learn to accept that, and stop whining).

Good morning, Greenbank;

Welcome to the group. And, in recognition of curiosity, are you, by any chance, in West Virginia, and was there are large, very short wave, circular radio antenna not too far away from you?

It sounds like you have an original Spotmatic. Yes, their clean simplicity is something that you can come to enjoy after discovering that there can be limitations to the programming inside the small computer they put inside some of the more "modern" cameras. Have fun with it.

And, remember that many of the "third party lens makers" (SOLIGOR, Vivitar, KIRON, TAMRON, et cetera, and even KMZ) also made adapters or lenses in M-42 mount, so you can greatly expand your range of lenses to use if you are not able to locate a bespoke TAKUMAR lens of the focal length you want.

Enjoy;

Ralph
Latte Land, Washington

No, I'm in England (Torquay, Devon). Sorry. However, the large circular short-wave antenna thingy might explain some of the strange voices I keep hearing ("Buy more gear... You know you want to... Go on, another camera would be nice... Or how about a lens, there are some good bargains on the Net, one more lens won't hurt... No? Filters, then, you need more filters...").

Really, I don't plan to expand my Pentax collection. Now I have a Spotmatic, and a couple of the excellent Super Takumar lenses to go with it, that's enough for me (although a 28mm f/3.5 would be tempting). Apart from sentimental reasons, I got it because it's a great classic camera which I can afford to own (unlike a Leica M3 or a Nikon F). Although I do intend to use it, just being able to own and handle such a wonderful piece of equipment in working order is a great experience.

Good morning, Greenbank;

Yes, I am also convinced that it was the big antennas in our Greenbank and Sugar Grove locations that put this madness into my head. Yes, sort of one of those "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned." kind of things. Let's just say that my photographic equipment inventory list is now well over 100 pages long. And you do have one of those big antennas not too far away from you up near the Midlands at Jodrell Bank by Manchester. I often talk with a fellow who used to run it. We successfully enticed him to come over here and run our Sugar Grove installation for a while.

So far I have only two Asahi-Pentax Spotmatics; a real Asahi-Pentax Spotmatic SP, and a Honeywell-Pentax Spotmatic. But I have not been as self-controlled as you have demonstrated with lenses. For example, I go out to the Asahi Opt. Co TAKUMAR SMC 500mm f:4.5 for my longest lens for them, and I go down to a 24mm f:2.8 for the shortest wide angle lens. A 28mm lens really is a useful lens. It does come in handy for outdoors and landscapes. 24mm is about the shortest that I like to use. Anything less, and I really need to start remembering that I am using a wide angle lens, and I need to watch the horizon and where any lines are, and watch to see that they are still straight. With a 24mm lens, I can just about use it like a "normal" lens, and it is much more pleasant to use, and I like how well it works for interior room shots.

That 500mm lens? I needed something to use as a standard against which to compare a collection of 500mm f:8 catadioptric or mirror lenses I was testing.

Have fun with your Spotmatic, and remember, there are all kinds of M42 mount lenses out there that will screw right onto it.

Enjoy; Ralph, Latte Land, Washington

Hi, Ralph. Jodrell Bank isn't the problem - after all, it's a highly directional antenna and it usually points upwards (or so I understand. However...). The voices in my head are coming, I'm sure, from all these dreadful mobile-phone masts which seem to breed on every second hilltop and every fifth tall building. "HE's got a 500. Why haven't YOU got a 500?" No, really, I have a Zuiko 200mm for the ON-1n, plus the Zuiko 2x teleconverter specifically designed for it, and that's as much as I can handle pictorially. On the other hand, a longer lens for my medium-format RB67, maybe the 360mm (= about 180mm in 35mm), would be nice.

The Sigma 24mm f/2.8 is a brilliant lens, wonderfully crisp and absolutely rectilinear, and gives me some great landscape panoramas - though I have never felt the urge to go any wider. Mind you, it dates from the days (early 1980s) when Sigma concentrated on just making excellent after-market prime lenses for proper cameras. Of course, Super Takumars do turn up in good condition at ridiculous prices sometimes, so just maybe I will weaken anyway.

Good morning, Greenbank;

Some things are still happening here. This last April the Puget Sound Camera Collectors Society held its annual gathering, and, yes, I went. However, this time I did make preparations so that it would not be as embarrassing as the last time; I specifically limited the amount of money that I was carrying with me that day. It reduced the number of temptations that could be accommodated. Of course, there was the Charles Koch SINAR Norma 4 by 5 large format camera that was singing its siren call to me as I gazed at its finely polished parts and thought about how enjoyable it would be just to assemble and set up that camera. As mentioned, it does help to limit the amount of money and other similar resources that you are carrying when going straight into the jaws of temptation.

Still, I did come home with a couple of lenses, but the closest one is a T-mount that can have an M42 adapter threaded onto it. Another 400mm f:6.3 sample with a new name ring screwed into it.

Enjoy;

Ralph
Latte Land, Washington

No limitations.