[mlynn]

Hi all!

I'm pretty new to film cameras, but have a bit of experience with a digital SLR. I decided I wanted to go back learn the art of photography from the ground up this fall and am enrolled in a photography class (and loving it!!) I just bought a Spotmatic F through ebay to use in the class. My camera arrived yesterday and is in very nice condition and seems to be functioning properly. Except the light meter now that I loaded film in the camera. Yesterday when I was checking it out sans film, the light meter seemed to be functioning correctly. I added film today and the meter is reading overexposed. It fluctuated a bit at first if I set the flim speed really high and closed the aperture way down, but now it just indicates over exposure.

My initial thought was worn out battery since it seemed to be working fine last night when I was checking it out. Does that sound like it could be the case? Or not?

Thanks!

[gofour3]

Hi all!

I'm pretty new to film cameras, but have a bit of experience with a digital SLR. I decided I wanted to go back learn the art of photography from the ground up this fall and am enrolled in a photography class (and loving it!!) I just bought a Spotmatic F through ebay to use in the class. My camera arrived yesterday and is in very nice condition and seems to be functioning properly. Except the light meter now that I loaded film in the camera. Yesterday when I was checking it out sans film, the light meter seemed to be functioning correctly. I added film today and the meter is reading overexposed. It fluctuated a bit at first if I set the flim speed really high and closed the aperture way down, but now it just indicates over exposure.

My initial thought was worn out battery since it seemed to be working fine last night when I was checking it out. Does that sound like it could be the case? Or not?

Thanks!

Welcome to the Pentax Forum!

Do you have the ASA speed set to match the film speed?

Here is a copy of the camera manual for reference.

http://www.cameramanuals.org/pentax_pdf/pentax_spotmatic_f.pdf

Phil.

[vladimiroltean]

Hi, first of all you've made a great choice of camera. I'd recommend a thorough reading of the manual, so you don't miss things that you thought you knew.
What type of lens do you have? If it does not have a diaphragm coupling lever, you will have to do stop-down metering (using the switch on the left of the lens). In this case, the camera typically shows overexposure until the switch is pressed.

[mlynn]

Thanks for the link to the manual and the recommendation to read through it!! I just did that and realized that I had the stop-down lever in the up position. Moved it down and the meter is working again

[stevebrot]

Thanks for the link to the manual and the recommendation to read through it!! I just did that and realized that I had the stop-down lever in the up position. Moved it down and the meter is working again

...and that is why PF is such a great place. There is a huge depth of knowledge here and most members are ready and willing to help.


Steve