Pentax Spotmatic SPII

A few images from my Pentax Spotmatic II and a variety of screw mount lenses. The Spotmatic line of cameras ran from 1964 to 1976 with what we would now think of as only minor upgrades. After that it essentially became the K-mount series of cameras that ran until 1997 with the K1000. The biggest drawback of this camera today is the fact that it takes a mercury battery (Px-400) however as I often do with these manual cameras I use an external light meter and set the exposure without the built in metering.

So why might you want to choose a Spotmatic camera today? The ability to use the multitude of inexpensicve M42 screwmount lenses that are available make this a great film camera to use. The top shutter speed of 1/1000 of a second may be a bit limiting with faster film and bright sunlight but is faster than most older rangefinders that top out at 1/500 sec