Help with Spotmatic.

[Mike Kennedy]

Picked up a Honeywell Spotmatic at a yard sale yesterday and am having problems trying to figure out what's going on with the meter.Put in an MRB400 Wein Cell but it reads 4 stops over when compared to my Nikon FM2.
Solutions anyone?

Thanks

 

[John Koehrer]

1) needs adjustment?
2) photocell dying?
3)carbon on the valves-Ooops, that's Ferrari.

 

[resummerfield]

Probably a bad photocell. I have several Spotmatics, and they all needed photocell replacements when I sent them for a CLA. The good news is that the photocells are available, and cheap. I sent mine to Eric Hendrickson at Pentaxs.com

 

[Mike Kennedy]

Great link Eric.I only paid $5.00 for the spotmatic.

 

[singram]

I had the same problem with another older camera. I just adjusted the ASA/ISO until it matched the hand held meter or other camera for comparison. So I may be shooting 400 asa film, but the camera is set to 100 to make the light meter accurate in the camera. Currently I am shooting with a Ricoh camera with a dead meter, so I use the hand held meter anyway.

steve

 

[ricksplace]

I have an old spottie that is exactly 1 stop out. So I set the meter at 50 when I shoot 100 iso film and all is good.

 

[Anscojohn]

Make sure the battery contact in the battery chamber is clean, and that the battery cover is clean; the threads in both the body and on the battery cover are clean; and the cover is back on tight.

 

[TheDreadPirateRobins]

The light meter on my Spotmatic seems a bit erratic. I have been gauging the lighting conditions myself and using the two together to see if I trust the meter. It works okay, but sometimes the needle will suddenly shoot way high or low without any change in anything else. The battery is new. I may send in for a new photocell, too.

Adam

 

[Mike Kennedy]

I have a nice little Gossen Pilot light meter that I'm using.Works fine.I think a repair job would cost more than a replacement.Kind of fun actually to guess the correct exposure then double check it against the meter.

Mike

 

[TheDreadPirateRobins]

I ebayed a Pilot and it should be showing up any day now. I got it primarily for pinhole photography, but I may use it to check this thing, too. Also, I have been using my own senses a lot more and I think I am getting some better exposures. I can make judgments that a photocell cannot.