[Cameron030293]

Ok my parents got this Asahi Pentax SPII awile back. When I got into photography classes at school they gave me it, and I tried It out but the light meter stays Right above the (-). I took the battery out that was in it thinking, that surely if I replaced the battery it would work. I got a battery tried it out and it hasn't changed.

Can anyone help me as to what is wrong with my camera?

[wasser]

Apologies if you've tried this or already know any of the following:

Battery:

Check you have a working, appropriate battery and that it's oriented correctly. I use a "Renata 394" in my SP. The + is the top while the blank - side faces the cover.

Camera:

The meter switch is located on the left side of the camera behind the camera mount. Push it up to meter. Always be sure to push it down and deactivate the meter when finished metering, otherwise you drain the battery. If you take a picture it should automatically deactivate the meter, but mine doesn't do this so well anymore.

Leave the camera wide open (smallest f number/widest aperture), and try different ASA settings. If you're inside the house, point it at a light when you meter.

The contacts on the meter switch can become corroded. Work the switch a bit and see if it helps.

[Cameron030293]

Holy crap
Thank You So Much.
This is my first camera and the ones I use to use at school use the meter with the shutter release button., So I had no idea that there even was a switch.
Thank you.

[Cameron030293]

Ok now that that workes when I aim the camera at the light the needle in the meter goes down as if its being uder exposed, and vise versa.

and also when i push the advance lever somtimes the view finder gos black and I have no clue how to fix it.

[wasser]

Ok now that that workes when I aim the camera at the light the needle in the meter goes down as if its being uder exposed, and vise versa.

By vice versa do you mean:

you point it at the light and the needle goes down
you point it away from the light and the needle goes up

If so, it sounds like your battery may need to be flipped over.

and also when i push the advance lever somtimes the view finder gos black and I have no clue how to fix it.

It goes completely black by just advancing?

This I've no idea. The only time your view finder should ever go black is when the mirror pops up for the exposure. The advance lever should have no impact on this.

You might try removing the lens and then look inside the camera as you advance. The mirror should stay at it's 45 degree angle the whole time. Release the shutter and you should see it quickly pop up and then back at its 45 degree position. You can also do this with the back plate opened (as if you were loading film).

[Cameron030293]

ok thank you for the light thing that worked.


and i took my lens off and when I pull the advance lever my mirror gos up as I advance the lever
then it pops back down after hit the shutter release.

[wasser]

Beyond pure speculation, I'm not familiar enough with how the mechanism works to explain why it's behaving this way. Oddly though, you said it only does this sometimes. The advance lever accomplishes two things. It advances the film and it "charges" the shutter for the exposure. I would have guessed the mechanism that "charges" is broken and is allowing the mirror to come up, but I don't understand why it works sometimes and fails at others.

You may have to get it serviced.

Is this your only camera for your class?

[titrisol]

Replace the mirror foam
it maybe gunked up and act like adhesive preventing the mirror to come down
get a kit from interslice in eBay, Jon is a great guy