Pentax Spotmatic

Quite often, I get an extra film camera or two thrown in on an auction or flea-market sale. The seller tries to sweeten the pot and it always works with me. Something for nothing. I think nothing of it at the time. I do now.

The Spotmatic offered ground-breaking technology in 1964

That's how I came to have a very nice Pentax Spotmatic with an equally nice Super Multi-Coated Takumar 50mm f/1.4 lens. It came with a camera that I was really after. The seller reached down and offered the Spotmatic as a deal-maker. It worked. The Asahi offered was without a case, caps or battery. In fact, the battery door is dinged so badly that the electrical contacts for the meter are severed. No matter, this old guy will work without a battery. I had to have it only because it was "free" to me.

The Spotmatic is one of the legendary "first" type cameras for some very familiar technology. The lens is stellar and always proved to be sharper than the film that was available, then or now.

But I turns out I don't need to own two Spotmatics. I have another, purchased on its own, that is in slightly better shape and has the same exact lens. Clones so to speak, of each other. So I decided to sell one on a major online free bulletin board. Has a guy's first name listed in the domain name. No big deal, done this many times before.