The Pentax Spotmatic SP was introduced by Asahi Pentax at the beginning of the 1960's, as one of the first cameras to offer through the lens (TTL) metering. It achieved its meter reading by stopping down the aperture in the lens and providing a light reading. This process requires the photographer to first compose the image, focus, and then flip a switch near the lens mount, that would stop down the lens and activate the meter. The camera has a mechanical shutter with speeds ranging from one second to 1/1,000th, as well as bulb mode. One 387s 1.55 volt battery powers the light meter, which uses a simple plus and minus scale with a black needle that moves up or down to indicate over or under exposure. The Spotmatic uses the somewhat universal M42 thread mount lenses, meaning you can choose from the incredible line of Pentax Takumar lenses, as well as many other lenses made by other manufacturers from all corners of the world.
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The beauty of the Pentax Spotmatic
We could spend the rest of this week debating about the most beautiful camera ever made. But for today we are going to pretend that we all agree it is the Pentax Spotmatic. It is so easy to look past this camera because it is so familiar to many of us. But the Spotmatic has an understated elegance to its design. The body is full of clean and simple lines. There is barely anything to clutter its face or top plate up. And when you get the uncommon black version in, the camera is even more pleasing to hold, and behold. This one recently came through our inventory and it got us, if just for a few minutes, with its beauty. Enough so that we wanted to share it with you as well.