Pentax Spotmatic

Well, there's a lot to say about this small but mighty camera as this was the first official self-owned 35mm camera that I got as this was something that sparked my interest, something so inexpensive started this whole career and my interest into film and photography understanding itself. 

This camera is one mighty trooper being made from 1964 until 1978 with very minor changes done to help the photographer. Many people will straight off the bat say the Pentax k1000 is the best 35mm to get to learn photography and sadly I disagree as I used that camera in my university and it felt clunky and not as smooth and as in sync as the SP is which has a sleek and clean finish for its time. 

I must say for the Pentax Sp for it being well over 60years old it has aged very well with its metal casing and in general quality as all the numbers, textures, writing and smaller details have 0 damage or wear and tear. This camera is in excellent used condition. The only thing with my one is there is a small dent on top of the viewfinder which has affected nothing whatsoever. 

The thing with the Sp from 1964 is that you do need to have a cover for the lense as usually for some reason on its own the lightmeter goes of killing the battery very regularly, this was fixed after 1968 models and my battery within my camera has easily gone past 100 rolls of film and to this time I still haven't needed to change the battery, this also does depend on how heavily you do use it. 

What I like about this camera is how simple it is to load, there is almost no faf putting the film on, over time you only end up losing 1 frame, usually, you do lose about 5-6 frames loading for the 1st time so don't be upset about this, as you still have either 18/30 frames left so don't worry. A camera like this does what it should do. It teaches you the understanding of film, exposure, aperture and isa/iso meaning your technique within photography becomes much more refined. In my lectures, the words 'film slows you down' which maybe with 35mm I say really is a no as you have 36 shots at a cost of £3-6 depending on which film you use. But it teaches you the expenses of film within photography and it's more than just skill and luck it's an art within itself to be able to use film in the correct way. 

With a strong and well-built 35mm such as this with a good lens, you can go a long way and it will last a long time, just this camera like I say teaches you all the basics of photography and teaches you how everything works technically within photography and how easy technology has made it to take a photograph without any support, but learning to understand an image creates much more expression for the creation of that image. What else you learn is the final costs as yes the roll cost on average costs say £4 but then if you have it developed it cost about another £6 to get it scanned too to make a digital image is another £4 so for 1 roll you have about spent £12 just to get 30-32 images. Many things made me think and I decided to invest in my own scanner, and developing tank which has significantly brought down the costs.

If you have been interested in photography and you want to learn about film photography the sp camera is a safe purchase as it's not too expensive and you are sure to be able to resale it roughly back at the same price if the quality of it is just as good when you purchased it.

A good trick when shooting on the sp is use the lighting meter then when its correct exposure, turn it off - that right off then focus the image as you will be surprised how much you are off with the lightmeter on as it sets the lens how the film will be exposed so you see what the film will see. 

Overall I would say this is a solid and good camera that I still use to this moment for easy small compact photography as this is a very enjoyable camera to use. Just to keep in mind this is made out of metal so this camera weighs about 600g compared to a standard one to this day and age, but with that weight comes amazing ageing without any issues.

Features: 
M42 screw lens - very standard able to adapt to any lens.
Shutter speeds up to 1/1000sec - flash sync 1/60sec
Make 1964
ISA/ISO - 16000
Needle Metering for images - very simple to understand.
Battery - Energizer 394/380 0%Hg

Price:
Purchasing cost - £130 with a 55mm lens
Current Value (2020) - £75.00 (body only - Etsy/eBay) 
£165 - Full camera with a 55mm (Etsy/eBay)