[Mark Janes]

Hi folks, new to the forum. I have a Spotmatic F with 55mm f/1.8, which works beautifully. I also have a third party lens (28mm f/2.8 Chinon) and the meter doesn't work with this lens. I'm guessing I need Pentax lenses for the meter to work? I'm looking at maybe picking up a SMC Takumar 28mm f/3.5. Can anyone advise if the meter in the Spotmatic would work with this lens?
Thanks.

[D1N0]

Yes Super-Multi-Coated and SMC Takumars have an aperture linkage for wide open metering. You should be able to use the chinon in the stop down metering mode. There is a switch to the left of the mount (as seen from behind the camera) for that.

[Mark Janes]

Brilliant! Thanks for the advice D1No.

[pathdoc]

Yes Super-Multi-Coated and SMC Takumars have an aperture linkage for wide open metering.

I don't think anyone built a third party lens with this feature. Or did they? Experts are welcome to weigh in, but I don't think the open-metering Takumars were around long enough (four years at most) before they switched to K mount.

Perhaps if Pentax had stayed with it long enough, Chinon and Ricoh might have followed (as they did with the K mount when Pentax switched), but that is one of the big ifs of photographic history.

[goatsNdonkey]

My only member of the Spottie family, my Honeywell-Pentax ESII has a broken light meter, so I just use a little external light meter with it and get great results. So all my m42 lenses have stop down metering with this camera,....just not through-the-lens metering. I realize now that if the internal meter worked, it would impose this hierarchy on my lens collection that I might not like. A funny situation.

[pathdoc]

my Honeywell-Pentax ESII has a broken light meter, so I just use a little external light meter with it and get great results

Sounds like you need an S1a or Sv!

[goatsNdonkey]

Sounds like you need an S1a or Sv!

I guess an slr built without a light meter circuit in it might be lighter weight. I have a meterless Zenit, maybe I should weigh it?

The ESII works perfectly in every other respect, unlike my two other m42 bodies, one of which has a working light meter but has developed a shutter problem. The ESII is beautiful, and was found in a bin of five-dollar "Broken" cameras, so it was also a wonder bargain. It also loves my non-SMC Super-Takumar f/1.8 55mm, which it would have problems with if it had a working internal light meter.

It used to be possible to get those meters repaired, but one of the people best known for doing it, stopped when the supply of replacement circuit boards dried up. Of course, it might not be the board; a simple shorted or broken connection elsewhere in the circuit or bad ground could be at fault. But I really wouldn't think of messing with it unless something else stopped working right. And if I don't need the slightly later lenses, there are more of them available for the original poster!

[Xmas]

Sounds like you need an S1a or Sv!

I've got one of each: so you need the or replaced by an and.

[goatsNdonkey]

I've got one of each: so you need the or replaced by an and.

Some people go meatless periodically.
I go internal-meterless periodically.

[pentaxus]

Tamron made an adaptall mount that meter coupled with SPF and ES/ESII cameras, so any Tamron adaptall2 lens will work if you can find the adapter.

[Xmas]

Some people go meatless periodically.
I go internal-meterless periodically.

/16 person but carry Weston and invecone

[Mark Janes]

"Sunny 16" rule is a good fall back, especially with the latitude of HP5, which I tend to shoot mostly. I have a Zenit E also. Haven't weighed the two, but I suspect the Zenit is heavier. Might be wrong though.

[tonezime]

Tamron made an adaptall mount that meter coupled with SPF and ES/ESII cameras, so any Tamron adaptall2 lens will work if you can find the adapter.

Hmm, that's good to know. I'd been assuming that only SMC lenses would allow open aperture metering with my SPFs -- being able to use some of the Adaptall zooms would be pretty nice.