New to Pentax (and film cameras!) - help with picking out a flash to purchase?

crankybird · 01-19-2009, 01:04 PM

Hello, everyone!

I'm pretty new to the film/manual camera world and was wondering if anyone could help me out. I just inherited two Pentax cameras, a Spotmatic (great condition) and Spotmatic II (needs a little love--I plan to fix it up). Neither came with a flash, but the older Spotmatic came with a detachable flash shoe. I've been trying to figure out what kind of flashes would do within a modest price range. Since the flash shoes look different, I'm not sure if one flash would fit both? I'm mainly concerned about getting something that works with the older Spotmatic as that's the one I'm learning on/using at the moment...

Hope no one minds the amateur's questions!

Crazy88s · 01-21-2009, 08:42 AM

Can you still buy regular old film I thought I heard that as of January 1 of this year that no one would make the 35mm film?

Mike Cash · 01-21-2009, 11:10 AM

Take a close look at the detachable hotshoe and you'll probably discover it is in fact a detachable accessory shoe (no electrical contacts). You can't directly mount a flash to it in most cases. You'll need a pc-hotshoe adapter to slide into it and plug into the pc port on the camera in order to use flash with it. The newer Spotmatic II comes with a regular hotshoe to which you can directly attach a flash.

I'd love to know where the bogus rumor about film no longer being produced after January 1st came from.

kansas_parker · 01-24-2009, 07:42 PM

I know they stopped making VHS on 1 Jan. I don't think film will go away for a VERY VERY long time.

01-19-2009, 01:04 PM	#1
crankybird New Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: San Jose Posts: 1	New to Pentax (and film cameras!) - help with picking out a flash to purchase? Hello, everyone! I'm pretty new to the film/manual camera world and was wondering if anyone could help me out. I just inherited two Pentax cameras, a Spotmatic (great condition) and Spotmatic II (needs a little love--I plan to fix it up). Neither came with a flash, but the older Spotmatic came with a detachable flash shoe. I've been trying to figure out what kind of flashes would do within a modest price range. Since the flash shoes look different, I'm not sure if one flash would fit both? I'm mainly concerned about getting something that works with the older Spotmatic as that's the one I'm learning on/using at the moment... Hope no one minds the amateur's questions!

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01-21-2009, 08:42 AM	#2
Crazy88s New Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Denver Posts: 6	Can you still buy regular old film I thought I heard that as of January 1 of this year that no one would make the 35mm film?

01-21-2009, 11:10 AM	#3
Mike Cash Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Japan Photos: Gallery Posts: 6,950	Take a close look at the detachable hotshoe and you'll probably discover it is in fact a detachable accessory shoe (no electrical contacts). You can't directly mount a flash to it in most cases. You'll need a pc-hotshoe adapter to slide into it and plug into the pc port on the camera in order to use flash with it. The newer Spotmatic II comes with a regular hotshoe to which you can directly attach a flash. I'd love to know where the bogus rumor about film no longer being produced after January 1st came from.

01-24-2009, 07:42 PM	#4
kansas_parker New Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Yokota AB, Japan Photos: Gallery Posts: 5	I know they stopped making VHS on 1 Jan. I don't think film will go away for a VERY VERY long time.