| Author: | | Forum Member Registered: April, 2018 Location: Upstate, NY Posts: 50 | | Review Date: May 12, 2021 | Recommended | Price: $40.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Simple and sweet. | | Cons: | None | |
When you buy a Spotmatic, you will likely find that the meter is either non-functional, or needs a serious adjustment (probably a replacement). If a meter is not particularly important to you, why fill your viewfinder with superfluous stuff? The SL is a fine camera... good as an spare body or an everyday shooter. Perhaps due to the relative scarcity, the SL is often significantly more pricy... however, they can be found at reasonable prices, if you have patience and are willing to do a little searching. The cost listed is for the body only.
| | | | | | | Forum Member Registered: December, 2012 Posts: 67 | | Review Date: April 30, 2021 | Recommended | Price: $20.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Fully mechanical, no battery, no light meter | | Cons: | no light meter | |
I love the SL. The simplicity of it. The "everything I need - nothing I don't", aspect works well for me. I bought the first one on a whim. I was looking for a camera that didn't need a battery but could take a variety of lenses, with the idea in mind of taking it on a trip where batteries would not be easily available. I ran across my first SL in an auction for $19. The lenses available (takumar screw mount) were great and reasonably priced, the price for the camera was great. I bought it.
I started off shooting with my sekonic light meter. But, because I'm almost always shooting 100 iso outdoors with it, sunny 16 is just natural and easy. I ended up buying two more of them.
I guess they aren't the right camera for everyone. The camera doesn't tell you anything. You have to KNOW what you're doing. But, if you do, then it's a real joy to use.
| | | | | New Member Registered: February, 2019 Posts: 15
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 6, 2019 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | It does what it was designed to do and it works | | Cons: | Often far too expensive | |
It's very sad to see such a magnificent camera trashed just because it does not have what others in it's range has. Why people buy old cameras and expect them to do (1) what they are not designed to do and (2) are expected to work 100% like a new camera are factors of the online photography review world that make me scream with annoyance sometimes. This is a perfect film camera if you don't want to rely upon old and often worn-out - or non-functioning - lens metering. Just use it with a handheld meter, don't be vain, and enjoy perfect photos that are as good as any other fully mechanical Pentax film SLR cameras. Yep, it's just a Spotmatic without the restrictions of a 50 year-old outdated metering system.
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: January, 2016 Posts: 55
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 14, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $30.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Tough & Rudged | | Cons: | none | |
I bought my fist SL way back in 1978 - a black Honeywell model. . At one point I had 12 Pentax Spotmactic bodies including two motor drive models. I sold all of them off in 1988 except for my SL body an a 50mm f/1.4 lens. My black Pentax SL is heavily modified. It has a Nikon P screen, a Leica screw-over cable release, heavy grip covering, Pentax LX bottom strap lugs, and the film gate is notched. I was on active duty at the time with the Army and 3 SLR cameras had died on me in the field including a Nikon F2. The SL was my field camera and it survived everything I threw at it. At Ft. Benning GA in Jan of 1981 it survived a 200 foot fall when my rucksack broke free during a parachute jump in Pathfinder school. The camera is tough.
I now have three Pentax SL bodies and will never part with them. They fit right in with my Hasselblad 500C & Rolleiflex 2.8C. The lack of a built in light meter is no issue as I carry a Sekonic L-508 meter anyway. Since the metered Spotmatics used a 1.35v mercury battery that is no longer available I prefer not to have a built in meter (the Pentax ES & ES II use 1.5v silver oxide cells and are fine).
If you buy one plan on having it serviced as it's likely going to need it. Mine have been serviced by Eric Hendrickson, highly reccomended.
| | | | | | | Site Supporter Registered: February, 2017 Posts: 2,030
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 18, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $65.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Build quality, handling and overall feel, simplicity and style | | Cons: | in need of a service! | |
I went into my local camera shop yesterday for something completely different than this camera (a new tripod head) but they were selling an array of old M42 Pentax's on behalf of someone. I could not resist and after handling every thing from SV's through SP1000 and SPf's I chose this one. I had been after an M42 Pentax for a while to go with my Voightlander 40mm f2 lens. It needs a service as the mirror is reluctant to return and the light seals have gone, but the shutter speeds all sound fine and the body work is in wonderful condition with just a slight scratch to the to of the prism. I would rather buy one with something I know needs to be fixed than one which seems ok but packs up after a few films.
Like all Pentax Spotmatics and K its got a great feeling body. The wind on lever is nicer than that on the K series being all metal and stands off proud from the body when in use so that your thumb can rest comfortably behind it. The viewfinder is bright enough, focusing at f4 is not a problem. It does lack a meter but this is what swayed me over its metered siblings:-
1. Its refreshing to have absolutely no distractions in the viewfinder
2. No meter to get fixed or recalibrated or source hard to get batteries - whats not there can't go wrong!
3. I actually like guessing the exposure then checking with a separate light meter in tricky light.
Oh and although it does not help me take better pictures it has in my opinion the most attractively designed pentaprism housing ever manufactured (which it obviously shares with the other Spotmatics).
If you like mechanical film cameras and can live without a built in meter there is no reason not to have one of these.
| | | | | New Member Registered: April, 2016 Posts: 2 | | Review Date: April 12, 2016 | Not Recommended | Price: $35.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | completely manual, fun to use, great camera to learn photography, comes with a lovely lense | | Cons: | heavy, no light meter | |
I got this as my first film camera sometime in early 2015 and have been using it ever since. It was extremely hard starting out film photography without a light meter and for the first few rolls, I had terrible exposure and could only save a couple of shots. It's a great artistic camera and i got a hang of it, but considering it's completely manual, it takes some time to set to the right settings before you get your shot.
i now struggle using anything else but manual, but it is an amazing camera if you want to fully understand film photography and study the basic aspects of it. this camera has literally nothing more than aperture, shutter speed and focus ring. it does have a self timer as well (that i only used once or twice). It's harder to focus compared to other camera because of the lack of split circle or other focusing features especially in poorer lighting, but you get the hang of it.
it's extremely cheap, tho it's harder to come around compared to the more popular ME or Spotmatics. It's extremely heavy for it's features, tho i do love the sturdy nature of it. It comes with a really decent starter lens that's sharp and takes really nice shots. the M42 mount also gives you a lot of russian made lens options that i heard that i should definitely try out.
over all, i recommend this camera for people who wants the full taste of film photography. But it's not a camera i think most people would appreciate on a regular long run basis.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: October, 2012 Location: Colorado Posts: 1,437
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 25, 2014 | Not Recommended | Price: $13.25
| Rating: 6 |
| Pros: | Solid build, standard Spotmatic mostly, pretty inexpensive, great viewfinder, no light meter | | Cons: | No light meter, much larger than needed | |
Basically, this camera is an SP 1000 with no light meter. It was marketed, I've read, as a budget or entry-level camera that was subsequently replaced by the SP 1000 and SP 500 (the latter being even more budget.) And, yeah, I can see how a meterless camera would seem to be a budget camera, but at the same time I don't think that's a totally fair comparison.
As I used this to do ISO tests on a few new motion picture film stocks, I was wondering who would buy this meterless Spotmatic when an SP 500 is basically the same but with a meter. And so is an SP 1000, for that matter. I think this would actually be a decent professional camera, too.
Why professional? Because if someone is metering with an incident light meter or spot meter, who needs one in the camera? And the build quality on this is simply extraordinary. And there's none of that split-circle focusing nonsense either. So I've decided that this must be a good professional camera pretending to be a budget model. That's all very confusing and seems problematic from a marketing perspective. That said, Pentax does not have a storied history of brilliant marketing. (The magazine advert for the original AP gave me nightmares for two weeks.)
So as I was organizing my S and Spotmatic cameras the other night, I noticed that this is larger than the S bodies. And if this had a light meter, that would make sense. But there is no light meter. So it's basically an H3V with a larger and heavier body. That brings me to my no recommendation and rating of 6.
No: I do not recommend this camera. Buy an H3V or other S/H series camera body. The H3V has the self timer if that's a critical functionality.
Six: Really, the same reason as above. I just cannot figure out what niche this camera really meets. I can't imagine that it was a big seller. Why would it be? Who would truly need this? It's not a great studio camera (because it's 35mm) unless you're doing 35mm studio work. I really just don't know why this camera existed, and I'd love to know why. I like it and it's fun to use, but it's louder and heavier than my H3V. So, really, I suppose it's just a bit redundant.
| | | | | | | | Review Date: July 30, 2011 | Not Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 5 |
| Pros: | simple design. | | Cons: | no meter, necessity to overhaul. | |
Pentax SL, which was identical to the Spotmatic except that it did not have the built-in light meter.
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: January, 2011 Location: Edmonton/Vancouver, Canada Posts: 301
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 11, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $20.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Build quality, ergonomics, fully manual, no batteries, no meter. Kit-lens optics (super-Tak f1.8/55mm). | | Cons: | no meter, necessity to overhaul. | |
This is the Spotmatic reduced to its basics. There are no batteries, no light meter, no ISO setting (just a reminder dial). You load the film, remember the rules of exposure, eyeball the light, set the shutter, focus, set the aperture, stop down, check depth of field, adjust if necessary -- and press the button. As a camera to do all that and no more than that, with TTL composition, this is unsurpassed, for ergonomics, and for ease of layout and smoothness of controls.
Extras: There are plugs for X and FP flash, but no hotshoe. A tripod screw hole. A self-timer. That's about all. Lighter than a Spottie or a K1000, but same size -- ultra-simple to grip, after being used to MX a little big but can still be operated with the fingertips.
I got mine as-is, with a f1.8/55mm Super-Takumar lens that had a broken focussing ring but was optically clean. This particular camera was quite dirty and with lots and lots of minor scuffs and scratches -- but no dents, no gashes, and no unaligned seams. All the mechanical controls functioned smoothly. Only the mirror locked up a little at first, but exercising the shutter at all speeds for about twenty minutes -- in two rounds of ten minutes a day apart -- seemed to relieve that problem. It has not come back. The winding, diaphragm, and shutter seemed to function without hangup. The sound of the release is a little different for someone used to the MX action: it is deeper, a little quieter (at least on my example) and somehow more "conclusive" when it goes.
I shot a roll of B&W before I put the camera in for an overhaul. I was blown away by the sharpness of focus and the look of the background blur. Hard to say if I was just plain lucky in judging or systematically misjudging exposures, but all seventeen exposed shots were usable and more or less correctly exposed. The conclusion is that the mechanics of my SL have apparently survived their four and a half decades well. (I will still send the camera in for overhaul.)
It's hard to imagine anyone using this for serious or even hobbyist work in 2011, but if you want to remind yourself what photography is about, shoot a roll with one of these. Just don't cheat. Figure out the exposure youself. It'll be worth it.
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