My Pentax Spotmatic F also calls for a mercury cell, but since the meter is a bridge circuit it is "happy" with a silver oxide cell.
The manual index has the heading Mercury Battery then on page calls for 625, which was the size for the Mercury Battery. I have 2 Spotmatics and both work fine on newer 1.5V alkaline batteries. I think the K line was designed for alkaline batteries, not sure about the ES.
Not sure. I have never been interested in them but was under the impression that they used LR44 cells.
Good point about CdS deterioration. I'll have to compare my Spotmatic F with my Gossen and see if they track reasonably closely. With the latitude of BW film it can be hard to estimate visually from the negatives.Ah, indeed you and GRHzelton are correct. When I had an Spotmatic F, I always used the newer, same form and fit, alkaline 625G. It worked perfectly. I guess I just assumed that since they changed the battery compartment to fit a different battery than all the prior Spotmatics, they did it to accommodate the non-mercury battery.
I currently have more than ten Spotmatics (and many more have come and gone over the years) and like I said previously, if the CdS photocells have not degraded, the meters all work well enough to be useful with a modern 1.5v battery but many Spotmatics, especially the older ones, need / needed to have the CdS photocells replaced.
The K and later bodies all use alkaline or the equivalent silver oxide.
Cheers everyone for your help! I'll pop into London Drugs after school and see what I can find.
Absolutely, the meter isn't voltage dependant.The spotmatics all work fine with silver or lithium cells, don’t they? My SP does.
My first SLR was a SP 500, years later I found out that there was a 1/1000th second speed, it just isn't marked on the dial. That's what's referred to these days as a module variant. If you wanted 1/1000th on the dial it cost an extra 100 bucks. And it looked cooler too.
Take a 800 dollar refrigerator, slap some cheap stainless steel doors on it, add a dairy module put a Viking or Kitchen aid badge on it and sell it for 3000 bucks. Gravy from discriminating consumers. The badges are really nice and the units still work well, every one is happy.
Actually the example stands, both are of identical quality and function. Except the 800 dollar refrigerator has powder coated or pre-painted galvanized steel which is WAY LESS susceptible to corrosion than 400 series SS.Actually, the Spotmatic example is the inverse of your refrigerator example. Take a $400 SP1000, remove the 1/1000 marking (and the detent too I believe), and sell it as a $300 SP500. As I recall, Honeywell did that with some thermostats too; the functionality was the same but just missing the button to access it.
Actually, the Spotmatic example is the inverse of your refrigerator example. Take a $400 SP1000, remove the 1/1000 marking (and the detent too I believe), and sell it as a $300 SP500.
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