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11-25-2017, 10:49 PM   #1
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Spotmatic Battery Question.

Hi all,

I recently acquired a Spotmatic as my first film camera. I noticed that while the camera has a light meter, there seems to not be a battery compartment on the bottom plate. I opened up the bottom plate and the wiring seems to be all in place and there is a battery terminal. Any ideas or recommendations would be greatly appreciated

11-25-2017, 11:29 PM   #2
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QuoteOriginally posted by daytonchen Quote
Hi all,

I recently acquired a Spotmatic as my first film camera. I noticed that while the camera has a light meter, there seems to not be a battery compartment on the bottom plate. I opened up the bottom plate and the wiring seems to be all in place and there is a battery terminal. Any ideas or recommendations would be greatly appreciated
Welcome to the Pentax Forums!

Unless you have a Spotmatic ES or Electro Spotmatic, there should be a battery cover on the bottom plate. What model camera do you have? (The model designation should be engraved on the top plate to the left of the prism housing and on the front.)


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11-25-2017, 11:51 PM   #3
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Could be the plate got replaced with the wrong one?

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11-26-2017, 04:19 AM   #4
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Welcome to the forum!!! Most Spotmatics have a battery compartment, but as @stevebrot posted, not all were on the bottom plate.

Sometimes what appears to be a battery compartment on the bottom plate is for an autowinder or motor drive. If you could post a photo, it would help.


Last edited by Alex645; 11-26-2017 at 04:31 AM.
12-02-2017, 12:40 AM - 2 Likes   #5
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Sorry for the late response. I've gotten some more pictures to help clarify what I'm talking about.
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12-02-2017, 04:45 AM   #6
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Those pictures help a lot. I believe you have a Spotmatic IIa (?) and the battery is under that round plate on the bottom of your second shot with the red/black wires leading to it. It was a 1.3V mercury battery which typically needed replacing about every 10 years. Most folks have found 1.5V batteries of the correct size work just fine. Here's a previous thread that discussed this:

Asahi spotmatic sp battery recommendation - PentaxForums.com

Correction: Not a Spotmatic IIa. Agree with others that it is a modified Spotmatic. Also agree with others that the round plate on the bottom does not conceal a battery.

Last edited by Alex645; 12-04-2017 at 03:23 PM. Reason: Correction based on subsequent posts.
12-03-2017, 02:50 AM - 1 Like   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by Alex645 Quote
the battery is under that round plate on the bottom of your second shot with the red/black wires leading to it

Incorrect. There should be a battery compartment in the bottom plate. For some reason the bottom plate has been switched out. In order to test (and maybe use) the light meter you need to get an original bottom plate with the battery compartment intact.
It should look like this.

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12-03-2017, 04:38 AM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by Bengan Quote
Incorrect. There should be a battery compartment in the bottom plate. For some reason the bottom plate has been switched out. In order to test (and maybe use) the light meter you need to get an original bottom plate with the battery compartment intact.
It should look like this.
If "for some reason" @daytonchen's Spotmatic has been modified, the question is why? The negative contact is still visible in the photo with bottom plate removed. What is under the black round plate at the bottom of post #5 with positive and negative solid red and red with black stripe wires coming from it?
12-03-2017, 06:39 AM - 1 Like   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by Alex645 Quote
The negative contact is still visible in the photo with bottom plate removed
That is the (+) contact. Battery should be inserted (+) down. (-) is the housing.


QuoteOriginally posted by Alex645 Quote
What is under the black round plate at the bottom of post #5 with positive and negative solid red and red with black stripe wires coming from it?
The wires are not connected under the round plate.
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12-03-2017, 08:10 AM   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by Bengan Quote
That is the (+) contact. Battery should be inserted (+) down. (-) is the housing.



The wires are not connected under the round plate.
I don't think the round plate is relevant. This appears to be the bottom mount for the take up spool part of the film transport.

In the first of your two most recent photos there is, immediately to the right of the central tripod mount, a sprung contact with a black wire connected to the bent up solder tag. This would appear to be the inner contact of the battery compartment. The baseplate appears to be missing the relevant hole, and the screw cap to hold the battery in place. I am not aware of the details of the construction, as others will be, but I'm not sure you are looking at the correct component. If you look back through the photos, the battery compartment in the baseplate is close to the tripod mount - the black plate is not.

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12-03-2017, 08:34 AM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by nicolpa47 Quote
I don't think the round plate is relevant. This appears to be the bottom mount for the take up spool part of the film transport.

No it's not relevant to any wiring as shown by the photos.




QuoteOriginally posted by nicolpa47 Quote
In the first of your two most recent photos there is, immediately to the right of the central tripod mount, a sprung contact with a black wire connected to the bent up solder tag. This would appear to be the inner contact of the battery compartment. The baseplate appears to be missing the relevant hole, and the screw cap to hold the battery in place

Yes, as stated in earlier posts. The base plate has been changed and needs to be replaced if the light meter is to be tested and used. There is no guarantee that the light meter is working. Maybe it would better to use a handheld meter.
12-03-2017, 10:22 AM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by Alex645 Quote
If "for some reason" @daytonchen's Spotmatic has been modified, the question is why?
Original bottom plate damaged? Original battery compartment corroded? So someone has replaced the bottom plate with another salvaged from a non-battery model (an S-series ?) to sell it and hoped for the best? This would not be the first time here that someone has shown a camera they bought that turns out to have been repaired with parts from other partly incompatible models.
12-04-2017, 01:49 PM - 1 Like   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by Alex645 Quote
Those pictures help a lot. I believe you have a Spotmatic IIa (?) and the battery is under that round plate on the bottom of your second shot with the red/black wires leading to it. It was a 1.3V mercury battery which typically needed replacing about every 10 years. Most folks have found 1.5V batteries of the correct size work just fine. Here's a previous thread that discussed this:

Asahi spotmatic sp battery recommendation - PentaxForums.com
Its not a SP IIa. That camera had a flash sensor built into the left side (as you hold it) of the front of the camera, below and a little to the right of the rewind knob. It also had a hotshoe.

It was also clearly marked with "SP IIa" engraved on top between the prism and the rewind crank. His is clearly an ordinary Spotmatic.

My guess is that the base plate was replaced, for some reason, with one from a non-metered camera. The base plate from a Pentax SL would be a direct replacement. That camera was a Spotmatic with no meter. The base from an H or S series camera may also fit, but I'm not sure.
12-04-2017, 05:19 PM   #14
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This is incredibly strange. A Spotmatic with no model designation on the top left is highly unusual (edit: ...actually not that unusual. I found plenty of pictures of such ) not to mention one with spotless black finish and like-new interior. I am not willing to write this off as some sort of Frankencamera quite yet.


Steve

Last edited by stevebrot; 12-04-2017 at 05:49 PM.
12-04-2017, 06:13 PM - 1 Like   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by stevebrot Quote
I am not willing to write this off as some sort of Frankencamera quite yet.
Perhaps now, I am. As noted above, the bottom plate is probably not original to the camera. I hate to say it, but the same is probably also true of the black paint. A bottom plate with the battery compartment should not be too hard to find. Much harder is one with a good battery compartment cover. A good alternative is the H-B battery adapter. The H-B is a replacement cover with a built-in voltage reduction diode to provide 1.35V from a 377 silver cell.

H-B Mercury Battery Adapter ? CRISCAM Webstore

-- or --

http://www.kantocamera.com/english/adapter/adapter_en.html (I have done business with Kanto for MR-9 adapters...good people.)

Alternatively, Lezot's Camera Center sometimes have the cover...

Asahi Pentax Spotmatic Battery Cover - LeZot Camera Repair


Steve

Last edited by stevebrot; 12-04-2017 at 06:58 PM.
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