Pentax Spotmatic

Self portrait with new hat.

My first single lens reflex was a Pentax Spotmatic. In all honesty, I wasn't keen on screw mount lenses and the camera was definitely on the heavy and bulky side. But there's no denying they were stout! Mine fell off the back of a motorcycle and bounced down the road. It worked just fine afterward, greatly helped by the so-called never ready case.



This one was part of a lot I purchased a month or two ago. It came with a 50mm f2.0 lens. Everything seems to work except for the meter. I tried to remove the battery cover but it's corroded firmly in place. I'll have to remove the bottom plate.



I didn't want to start working on this until I had the one part that the camera obviously needs, and that's a frame counter assembly that goes atop the wind lever. At a flea market today, I found this dirt-encrusted Spotmatic ES. Trust me, the photo doesn't show the crud. It seems to work, but the shutter sticks while it's cocking. As it's probably beyond my mechanical ability at the moment, I'll use it as a donor camera. Hey, I don't expect much for ten bucks, anyway, and I'll likely use it to learn about SLR shutters.

I picked up a very nice Vivitar 35mm f2.8 lens with an M42 screw mount too, and my plan is to use it on this camera. Pictures will follow, probably in a couple of weeks.