Testing Out New (to me) Pentax Spotmatic

[jessenator]

Recently CLA'd Spotmatic (there was a url link here which no longer exists). I've got the SMC 1.8 55mm Takumar on it and I have to say…I love it.

A few choice shots from the roll of Ilford HP5 @800


Timed shutter with a high-speed camera as best could tell for the slower speeds, and metered all my shots, and seems to be shooting well. I want to take it outdoors and get some nice fall shots—I've got some Superia loaded in it now just in time for autumn.

It's leaps and bounds above my previous 35mm, and it's all mechanical, which I prefer. I had an OM-1n but it's been in the shop for literally 2 years with no update (probably an obscure part), so this one goes with me almost everywhere.

I saw a few Spotmatic posts dated 2014, so I figured I'd not necro those and start a new one. Anyone have experience with a nice wide or portrait length lens?

:munch:

 

[cuthbert]

Congratulations, I'm a great fan of spotmatics.. for portraits there are the excellent (and expensive) Takumar 85mm f1.8 and 1.9, while as wide the 35mm f2 is great and also the 28mm f3.5 has a good reputation.

You can't go wrong with Takumars IMO.

 

[Paul Howell]

Recently CLA'd Spotmatic (there was a url link here which no longer exists). I've got the SMC 1.8 55mm Takumar on it and I have to say…I love it.

A few choice shots from the roll of Ilford HP5 @800


Timed shutter with a high-speed camera as best could tell for the slower speeds, and metered all my shots, and seems to be shooting well. I want to take it outdoors and get some nice fall shots—I've got some Superia loaded in it now just in time for autumn.

It's leaps and bounds above my previous 35mm, and it's all mechanical, which I prefer. I had an OM-1n but it's been in the shop for literally 2 years with no update (probably an obscure part), so this one goes with me almost everywhere.

I saw a few Spotmatic posts dated 2014, so I figured I'd not necro those and start a new one. Anyone have experience with a nice wide or portrait length lens?

I bought my first spotmatic in 1967, still have it, meter is accurate, shutter spot on, last had it serviced in the 90s. Once or twice a year I take it for walk. If like it and plan to keep it for the long haul buy a second body for parts.

I have the 85 .18 and 105 2.8, I prefer the 105, the 120 is somewhat rare one of the only Pentax M42 I don't have. For wide the 28 3.5 is very sharp, need the lens hood for it. The 35mm is also very sharp, while the 24mm is good, my example has never really impressed me. There are many excellent M42 lens to chose from hard to know where to start. Yashica, Mamyia, Zeiss, Fuji, Roich, and Cosina all made good to excellent lens. The Pentax forum has a nice listing and user reviews of various M42 lens.

 

[tom43]

Congratulations, I'm a great fan of spotmatics.. for portraits there are the excellent (and expensive) Takumar 85mm f1.8 and 1.9, while as wide the 35mm f2 is great and also the 28mm f3.5 has a good reputation.

You can't go wrong with Takumars IMO.

I have the SP2 with the SMC Super Takumar 28mm 3.5 lens. Unfortunately the viewfinders of the Spotmatics are very dark and together with this lens it´s very difficult to focus even at daylight. If I would again buy a M42 wide angel lens I would look for a f2 lens. Not sure if something is available in the M42 world below 30mm with good quality...

 

[Peltigera]

I've got a couple of Spotmatics and a SV - delightful cameras. One Spotmatic has a broken meter but the other is spot-on.

 

[jessenator]

Thanks for the replies!

Forgot to mention that a couple of those shots had an old Prinz close-up #4 filter on it.

I'll have to look into at least one more lens for now. Gotta CLA my tlr first, because right now I can't shoot a thing with it. My old 35mm was a Rollei SL35e, and though I had a collection of lenses for it, it just wasn't performing like I wanted.

The guy who gifted this to me also gave me a mercury battery he saved, but I've read that there's a Li battery out there that's equivalent, or there's a meter wiring mod—an extra resistor, I'm guessing, to bring it down to the required meter voltage.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

A Spotmatic was my camera of choice for several years until I loamed it to a friend and it was stolen.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

The SMC 135/3.5 is pretty nice.

Lenses of this vintage are about 40 years old, so test them. The first 135/3.5 I tried wouldn't close down all the way at the highest speeds; the second one I got was perfect.

 

[tony lockerbie]

I,m also a great fan of the Spotmatic, they are very common and cheap as chips, but are one of the sweetest handling SLR's ever made. Look for a good 50mm 1.4 seeing that you like available light work,lovely lens...even wide open.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Great camera. Enjoy!!

 

[shutterfinger]

A little over a year ago someone put an ad up on craigslist for a pair of Spotmatics for FREE! Being the location was only 12 miles round trip on the freeway I got them. About a month ago I decided to check them out. The lens were horrible, beginning fungus and spots all over the insides. Bodies are Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic and a Honeywell Spotmatic SP1000. The Lens are 50mm f1.4 Takumar, 55mm f2 SMC Takumar, and a Tou/Five Star 28mm f2.8.

After reading up on line about all the adaptations for batteries I bought a pair of Evereday 394/380 batteries. They are a direct fit. The body with the f1.4 lens meters exact to sunny 16 in bright light, the body with the f2 lens meters exact to sunny 16 in bright light and 1/2 stop more than the f1.4 in low light. Both cameras have a roll of Agfapan 100 in them at the moment then will get a roll of Agfapan 400 as the final test before being offered for cheap. Both will need light seal foam replacement as it is going bad, dried and hard. I scratched the rear element of the f1.4 during disassembly but it cleaned up nice to the eye. There are some superficial scratches from removing the front retaining rings that were stuck.

 

[mgb74]

I have the SP2 with the SMC Super Takumar 28mm 3.5 lens. Unfortunately the viewfinders of the Spotmatics are very dark and together with this lens it´s very difficult to focus even at daylight. If I would again buy a M42 wide angel lens I would look for a f2 lens. Not sure if something is available in the M42 world below 30mm with good quality...

Even my 65 yo eyes don't find the viewfinder dim (even with an f3.5 lens) when wide open. Are you sure you're not viewing in stop down mode?

 

[shutterfinger]

All 3 of my lens for the Spotmatic have an Auto-Manual selector. In Auto the viewfinder is bright and the lens is stopped down by the camera when the shutter button is pressed. In Manual position the viewfinder is dimmer. The switch/selector is at the rear of the lens next to the aperture ring. On one lens it is very easy to move the selector from Auto to Manual when changing the aperture.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

Maybe everyone knows this, but I didn't: on an unmounted SMC Takumar, to move the Auto/Man lever, you need to depress the very small pin on the rear of the mount.

When the lens is on the camera, there is no issue.

 

[Bill Burk]

Try the 35mm f/2 Super Takumar, the one with 67mm filter ring.

And the 105 f/2.8 SMCT is a nice portrait lens.

 

[darinwc]

Expanding on the above post, there were two different 35mm f2 lenses. The one with the 67mm thread is easy to identify due to its large front. The smaller one is a straight barrel and really stinks.

But really, the 35mm f3.5 is freaking awesome.

 

[Ricardo Miranda]

Maybe everyone knows this, but I didn't: on an unmounted SMC Takumar, to move the Auto/Man lever, you need to depress the very small pin on the rear of the mount.

When the lens is on the camera, there is no issue.

As you might expect, there is a reason for it and it is on purpose.

The SMC Takumars were made for open aperture for the ES range and then the Spotmatic F.
When mounted on such bodies you can't switch the lever on the lens as that would foul the open aperture meter. Instead you use the switch on the body for the purpose of DOF check.
The switch on the body is no longer a meter switch and stop-down lever as in the early Spotmatics, but it acts as switch-over between open aperture and stop-down metering to be used with earlier Takumars that lack the internal lever for the open-aperture system.

 

[Steve Roberts]

Last night I finished refurbishing a Spotmatic that I bought at auction several weeks ago. I bought it and a heap of other kit (reported elsewhere on APUG) purely for the excellent f1.4 Takumar on the camera, which was otherwise a bit of a heap. Refurb consisted of clean and re-lubrication, replacement of all foam seals, cure mirror not rising fully, attend to dent in prism housing, cure faulty meter (dead cell), replace broken diaphragm actuator return spring, and modify meter for 1.5v silver cell. The meter mod has been discussed at length and is not actually necessary subject to a replacement cell physically fitting the battery compartment. However, the higher voltage (1.5v compared to 1.35v) does leave the meter needle a little more lively and so I opted to fit the two resistors to the meter circuit that reduce the current flowing through the meter coil at any given light level and restore its response to something pretty close to the original. A tweak of the meter was needed due to the replacement cells. With a good clean of the removable parts in soap and water and a good polish of the chrome parts, it now looks very smart and I'm itching to try it out. Even the tatty looking leather case and strap scrubbed up well and responded to some black boot polish. I'd probably scare myself if I calculated the time all of this took, but console myself with the though that I'd otherwise have only wasted that time paying bills, mending the house or something equally tedious!
However elaborate other 35mm SLRs might be and whatever other automated facilities they offer, the old Spot takes a lot of beating and fifty years after its introduction is still a very capable and useful camera IMHO.
Steve

 

[Trask]

I have a Spotmatic or two, but rarely use them because I really dislike microprism focusing spots -- they are never, to me, as clear as a split-image focusing device. Spotmatics feel very good in the hand, and I like the lenses. I just wish they had made a body with a split-image device (and yes, I know I can use my M42 lenses on a K-mount Pentax, but I've never warmed to them).

 

[Chan Tran]

Even my 65 yo eyes don't find the viewfinder dim (even with an f3.5 lens) when wide open. Are you sure you're not viewing in stop down mode?

That's right! Even my S3 viewfinder is much better than a typical DSLR.

 

[cuthbert]

I have a Spotmatic or two, but rarely use them because I really dislike microprism focusing spots -- they are never, to me, as clear as a split-image focusing device. Spotmatics feel very good in the hand, and I like the lenses. I just wish they had made a body with a split-image device (and yes, I know I can use my M42 lenses on a K-mount Pentax, but I've never warmed to them).

I heard you can install the split image screen of the K1000SE on the Spotmatic, but never tried the conversion myself.

 

[nrparsons]

The guy who gifted this to me also gave me a mercury battery he saved, but I've read that there's a Li battery out there that's equivalent, or there's a meter wiring mod—an extra resistor, I'm guessing, to bring it down to the required meter voltage.

The Spotmatics (except the F) are not sensitive to voltage, so a wiring mod or resistor isn't necessary. You can spend more for a CRIS adapter or Wein cell, but a watch battery of the 392 type will work and is much less expensive. I use a 392 in my SP 1000; the meter works perfectly, and I haven't had a problem.

 

[Hatchetman]

I have three of 'em and the shutter lagged on all of them in cold weather. Had two of them CLA'd and that fixed the shutter capping. BUT in very cold weather (like 20 or colder) the mirror gets stuck up. SOOO, instead of sending back for more work and $$ I am going to try one of those little 6-hour disposable glove warming things on the bottom of the camera. That should work I think.

I just counted I have 11 different Takumar lenses. Missing the 17mm, 24mm, 85mm, 105, 150, and 1000 (LOL). The only one that is truly subpar IMO is the 20mm.

 

[jessenator]

Try the 35mm f/2 Super Takumar, the one with 67mm filter ring.

And the 105 f/2.8 SMCT is a nice portrait lens.

Awesome. Thanks!

 

[Steve Roberts]

I have a Spotmatic or two, but rarely use them because I really dislike microprism focusing spots -- they are never, to me, as clear as a split-image focusing device. Spotmatics feel very good in the hand, and I like the lenses. I just wish they had made a body with a split-image device (and yes, I know I can use my M42 lenses on a K-mount Pentax, but I've never warmed to them).

Yes, the split-image focussing is far more positive (as long as you have a straight line to focus on). My ideal would be a 45 degree split image surrounded by a microprism collar, which I'm sure I've seen somewhere - possibly on Prakticas? I wonder whether a split image screen from a KX would fit into a Spotmatic? The Spotmatic and K-series bodies are so similar in many ways that I'd be surprised if it couldn't be done.
Steve