[srpickel]

I'm not sure if this goes here or not, but if it needs to be moved, please move it for me.


hello all. I am currently a photography student and the camera I am using is a Pentax Spotmatic that belongs to my grandfather. I am having problems with the light meter (as is doesnt move reguardless of where I am aiming at light wise and the F-stops doesnt make a difference.)

I cant provide a picture of where my light meter is setting at but I can describe what my light meter is.

the light meter is a pin needle with the plus sign (+) on the top and the negative sign (-) on the bottom. the needle itself is directly below the middle gap and it moves so slightly when I aim it somewhere.

any help with this would be appreciated.

thank you ~ Srpickel

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Last edited by srpickel; 02-11-2010 at 05:03 PM. Reason: Forgot to add something

[flyer]

Did you check the battery?

If the battery is good, then the galvanometer is gone.

[srpickel]

What is the Galvanometer? o.O

[JeffJS]

What is the Galvanometer? o.O

For your purposes, that's the light meter.

Grab a nickle, turn the camera over and unscrew the plug on the bottom of the camera. There is likely an expired battery in there. Replace it. Note that you will not find a mercury replacement. Get a generic like an LR44. It isn't perfectly ideal and may introduce a slight metering error, but, it will drive the meter. Make sure you get the orientation right or your meter still won't work. If none of that works, then the meter is likely in fact, dead.

Manuals can be found here

Good luck,

[stevebrot]

For completeness sake, I have to ask the obvious...

Did you turn the meter switch on? Most Spotmatic models have a black slider switch on the side by the lens mount. When pushed up, it turns on the meter and stops down the lens. Here is a link to the camera's manual:

Pentax Spotmatic, Pentax SL, user manual, instruction manual

Steve

[dnaseigel]

For your Spotmatic meter to be activated, do you need to push that little switch, located next to the lens mount and above the "x" and "FP", up on the camera? Try that if you haven't. You didn't indicate if your grandfather had given you a lesson on the camera when he gave it to you, so perhaps it's just been overlooked???

Best of luck.

[srpickel]

For your Spotmatic meter to be activated, do you need to push that little switch, located next to the lens mount and above the "x" and "FP", up on the camera? Try that if you haven't. You didn't indicate if your grandfather had given you a lesson on the camera when he gave it to you, so perhaps it's just been overlooked???

Best of luck.

My grandfather died when I was only 3, so I never knew him I went to this place called Welcome to see if anything could be done and they told me that it would be at least a month before I can get it back

If its that hard to fix a light meter, i'd rather buy me a new body or just use the camera without working >.>

Thanks everyone for your help