[magkelly]

Hi, I'm new though I've been lurking for a week or so now since I got my Honeywell SP reading. I believe I have inherited an SP1000, no hot shoe, not an SP2, and I was wondering if and how to put a hot shoe on this camera. Other than that this camera suits me utterly, but I prefer a hot shoe mounted flash unit and have several, 2 vintage and that came with the camera. (I also inherited a Canon AE-1 camera as well.)

I have seen a shoe mount listed in several places, but no one seems to be able to tell me what's required beyond clipping it onto the camera. Do I have to wire anything or plug in the flash the old style way anyhow?

Dumb newbie question, but I have literally looked all over the past week for instructions on how to do it properly and nada. Anybody know? The camera is in near perfect condition otherwise, but it definitely needs a minor upgrade on that score if possible.

Thanks!

[stevebrot]

Welcome to the forum! If the camera does not have a hot shoe from the factory, you have to use the PC cable to synch the flash. The slide-on flash accessory shoes are always cold shoes. Just a note regarding the slide on shoes. I would suggest that you not waste your money on one unless you are a collector. They don't hold the flash very securely. If you are wanting to use flash with your Spotmatic, a better solution is a flash bracket that screws into the tripod mount.


Steve

[Nesster]

There are PC to hot shoe adapters out there, and they do work well. However like Steve says, these also introduce another layer to teeter the flash on. I have one (Hama?) that locks in pretty well, and is better than nothing. Getting a flash bracket is a good idea... though the Pentax part is a standard one, it slides into the grooves on both sides of the viewfinder, and sits on top of the prism. The fit is pretty solid... but unless you have a flash that can use a PC cord, you'll need one of those adapters also.

The adpter will be something like this:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/89982-REG/Hama_HA_6952_Hot_Shoe_Adapter_2.html

You slide the bottom into the cold shoe, the flash into the adapter, and plug the wire into the PC terminal on the camera.

The most basic type of flash bracket looks like this: you screw the bottom bar into the tripod socket, and put the flash on the handle. This gets the flash out to the side, which can be a good thing. More elaborate ones can be had also. I've used these since the 70s, with cameras lacking a flash mount.

http://www.adorama.com/FABL.html

This is what the Spotmatic flash shoe looks like:
http://www.marketworks.com/StoreFrontProfiles/DeluxeSFItemDetail.aspx?sid=1&...548&i=12698990

[titrisol]

Unfortunately you'll only ave a cold shoe in the SP
Unless you buy a PC-cable to hot shoe adapter that can be found in BH freestyle and a few others.

[magkelly]

Thanks for all the info. I'm looking at the part plus the cable and between the cost two of them I could almost buy another Pentax SP body for almost the same $$$. For $5-10 more I think maybe I am better off just selling this one, the two flashes and some other stuff I don't want that came with it and getting me an SP2 instead.