light meter battery for a Pentax Spotmatic II

[granathg]

Thanks for the tip! I'll try it. CLA? Clean? Lubricate? A?

 

[Rol_Lei Nut]

=> Adjust...

 

[Mike Wilde]

Or when the little parts get lost as you are servicing the camera, I think of it as Curse Lube and Assemble.

 

[granathg]

I used an ohmmeter in the battery receptacle and found continuity. I had the meter set to too low a range to get a reading, so I upped the range to R x 1K I got a reading of about 2,500K. I get that reading only with the meter switch in the On position so it appears that both the switch and internal circuitry are good. Don't know where to go from here except to hand it to a repair shop and see if I can afford getting it fixed. I'm completely puzzled.

 

[jochen]

Hello Gary,
I tested my 4 Spotmatics II's: Speed 100 Asa, lens cap on, ligthtmeter switch on, between the little steel spring in the battery compartment and the body = ground, measuring range 200 kilo-Ohm. At 1/60 sec. 3 cameras gave a resistance between26.5 and 27.7 kilo-Ohm. In position B they had 18.8 to 22 k-Ohm. One body had 41.4 at 1/60 sec. and 37.2 at B (this is the oldest from 1971). An older Spotmatic SP (from 1966) gave 35.6 at 1/60 and 18.5 at B. When you switch off the lightmeter there is no contact. The reason for the different readings could be that Pentax used CdS-cells of different sensitivities and different galvanometers and the SP II has an ASA range to 3200, the SP only to 1600. You could have a look under the base-plate. The battery compartment is part of the plate and is contacted by a little steel-spring on the inner side. Maybe a wire is off or there is a bad contact.

 

[granathg]

This may be a duplicate post. The first one didn't seem to work.

I purchased my Spot in the mid-to-late 1960s. Under the same conditions you used, at shutter speed 1/60 sec I get a reading of ~40K. At speed set to B, I get a reading of ~25.5K. So the resistances are reasonably close to your oldest camera. I've tried several silver oxide 1.5v batteries and the meter needle refuses to deflect. This camera has been in my closet for about 8 years so maybe the circuitry is fine but the needle movement is corroded. I'll see if a camera shop can fix it for a reasonable price. Thanks very much for your help.

 

[fog_photo]

I have a Spotmatic SP500 and I put a SR936 battery on it

There's an issue, though. The needle of the lightmeter moves up when I put a slower shutter speed, but it doesn't move if I open the lens.
So the lightmeter only seems to be sensitive to the shutter speed - but even so, it has a weird behaviour - at 1/8s, the needle is at the center, but if I move to 1/4th, the needle immediately jumps down to the bottom

What is the issue here?

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I gave up on sourcing batteries for a couple of cameras that used a mercury cell. Instead I use a tiny, handheld reflective metre.

 

[fog_photo]

I gave up on sourcing batteries for a couple of cameras that used a mercury cell. Instead I use a tiny, handheld reflective metre.

What model do you use? I'm thinking about buying one for long exposures at night?
(and also, why reflective instead of incident?)

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

What model do you use? I'm thinking about buying one for long exposures at night?
(and also, why reflective instead of incident?)

A Sekonic. Reflective is a personal preference. As far as long exposures go at night, I've never used a meter.

 

[fog_photo]

A Sekonic. Reflective is a personal preference. As far as long exposures go at night, I've never used a meter.

So you just guess long exposures at night? That's very skillful

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

So you just guess long exposures at night? That's very skillful

No skill really. I arrive just before sunset and set up. I use a large format camera. Once it's dark enough, I open the shutter and wait. The longest I exposed for was about seven hours. Take a look at my Stars Over Manda in my gallery. That was about a four hour exposure.

 

[fog_photo]

No skill really. I arrive just before sunset and set up. I use a large format camera. Once it's dark enough, I open the shutter and wait. The longest I exposed for was about seven hours. Take a look at my Stars Over Manda in my gallery. That was about a four hour exposure.

Oh okay. I was assuming you were using a 35mm camera.

 

[Disappointed_Horse]

The meter in my Spotmatic doesn't work and I haven't been able to get the battery cover off to change the battery. Face it, no matter how wonderfully reliable Pentax cameras are, we're still dealing with 50+ year old electronics and circuit boards. Instead, I've been using a light meter app on my phone, usually taking a reading off the palm of my hand as a substitute for a grey card. I find this works so well that I don't miss having an internal meter. Once you get used to thinking about the exposure and setting the aperture and shutter speed before you bring the camera to your eye, you don't miss the internal meter.

I even took the no-electronics approach to its logical conclusion and bought a Pentax SL (basically, a Spotmatic with no internal meter). Looking forward to putting a test roll through it.

 

[fog_photo]

The meter in my Spotmatic doesn't work and I haven't been able to get the battery cover off to change the battery.

With "battery cover", you mean the rounded shape cover that you remove with a coin? Or the plastic container/cover that's underneath that?

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Oh okay. I was assuming you were using a 35mm camera.

No. 8x10. But that shouldn't matter. I've wandered around without battery's in 35mm cameras, and a handheld metre.

 

[Disappointed_Horse]

With "battery cover", you mean the rounded shape cover that you remove with a coin? Or the plastic container/cover that's underneath that?

Yes, the coin slot thing. It was bunged up when I got the camera. (But for $20 including a very nice 50mm f/1.4 Super Takumar, I am not about to complain.)