[shutterpuppy]

I mentioned in another post that the Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic F was the first SLR I ever owned, Was this the last Pentax that branded the name "Honeywell" in the U.S.? I just can't remember even seeing an early model K mount Pentax from the 70's with "Honeywell" branded on it.

[gofour3]

I mentioned in another post that the Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic F was the first SLR I ever owned, Was this the last Pentax that branded the name "Honeywell" in the U.S.? I just can't remember even seeing an early model K mount Pentax from the 70's with "Honeywell" branded on it.

Honeywell’s involvement with Pentax ended in the mid 1970’s, just around the same time the K Series line was introduced in June 1975. No K Series products ever had “Honeywell” marked on them, they were all marked “Ashai”.

Phil.

[Nesster]

F, SP-II and SP1000 were all introduced in '73 per our own camera review database - thus these were the last models with Honeywell.

[boriscleto]

I mentioned in another post that the Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic F was the first SLR I ever owned, Was this the last Pentax that branded the name "Honeywell" in the U.S.? I just can't remember even seeing an early model K mount Pentax from the 70's with "Honeywell" branded on it.

The ES II and the Spotmatic F were the last Honeywell Pentax cameras. All K mount Pentax cameras were branded Asahi.

[ChrisPlatt]

The Pentax Timeline at pentaximaging.com shows the Spotmatic II and SP1000 introduced after the Spotmatic F.
Although I suspect the former is a mistake, I do remember the SP1000 for sale concurrently with the Spotmatic F.
All of the above models were sold in USA badged Honeywell Pentax.

With the introduction of the K-series bayonet-mount models Pentax camera bodies no longer bore the Honeywell name.

Chris

[Nesster]

Proof, from a February 1976 camera mag (I don't note whether Popular or Modern...)



You can see the Honeywell ES-II, F, and SP1000, and the Asahi K cameras

I believe the SP1000 was in fact the last screw mount Pentax - and the last one with the classic original Spotmatic prism housing.

[wombat2go]

Herbert Keppler's 9 th edition published Dec 1975, reprint Oct 1976 shows the SP500 & SP1000 as #16 in the pedigree line and Spotmatic F as the last entry, #21.
Page 27 says SP F is called Honeywell in USA.
He listed SP, SL, 11, 11a, SP500 , 11 motor drive , ES, ES11, & F as "current models"
There is a clip in section after page 64 in pale green describing the new K series, K2, KX & KM
Another green clip in section after the index describes the ME and MX saying they were announced in 1976

[séamuis]

I believe the SP1000 was in fact the last screw mount Pentax - and the last one with the classic original Spotmatic prism housing.

both last designed and last in production. the end of the screwmounts is a bit of a grey area. the SP1000 was manufactured until 1977, but never available in Japan. also, the last of (or possibly all) SP1000’s were assembled in Hong Kong, like a lot of the K1000’s. it was apparently introduced in 1974 not 1973 as stated above. or rather as listed as being ‘introduced one year after the ESII'. 74 was the same year the spotmatic II was released in Japan. it was released in 1971 outside japan. the spotmatic F was introduced in 1973 and production ended in 1976. the kmounts were introduced in 1975, except the K1000 which was introduced in 1976, alongside the ME and MX.

October seems to be a popular month for Asahi Optical to release models, so going by that, the above add is possibly 8 months before the release of the K1000 and the new M series with the ME and MX, and 11 months before the end of production of the last screwmount bodies.

its amazing to think that Asahi Optical manufactured screwmount bodies for two years after the introduction of the Kmount.

if the SP1000 was the last of the Spotmatics, and was being manufactured well after the introduction of the K series and the supposed end of the partnership with Honeywell, were all the SP1000’s still branded honeywell? did their partnership not officially end until January of 1977? or did Asahi Optical just give Honeywell Corp. free advertising until then? were the SP1000’s available from Honeywell or just from Asahi Optical, despite being branded Honeywell? like I said, a grey area.

[ChrisPlatt]

The ad is "proof" only what Pentax models remained on the warehouse shelves.
Keppler is dead, and Pentax' own website can't seem to get it straight.
My SP1000 body was made in Hong Kong. I too vote for the SP1000!

Chris

[shutterpuppy]

The ad is "proof" only what Pentax models remained on the warehouse shelves.
Keppler is dead, and Pentax' own website can't seem to get it straight.
My SP1000 body was made in Hong Kong. I too vote for the SP1000!

Chris

Chris,are you saying the SP1000 was a Spotmatic F without the self-timer and built-in hot shoe or closer to being a screw mount K1000?

Barry

[ChrisPlatt]

Chris,are you saying the SP1000 was a Spotmatic F without the self-timer and built-in hot shoe or closer to being a screw mount K1000?

Yes.

Chris

[wombat2go]

Being deceased does not change the history.
If Keppler was correct, and he goes into it in detail:
The Sp F was similar to the SP II "but provides exposure meter readings at full aperture with SMC Multi Coated Takumar lenses instead of at stop down aperture. Older lenses can be used for readings at shooting aperture as in Spotmatic and Spotmatic II"

Of the SP1000 he said "The SP500 and SP1000 are precisely the same as the Spotmatic 1 except they do not have self timers.....As you can see thay are economy models of the Spotmatic 1."

Reading further, he goes into detail and I concluded the Sp F was the only pre- K which had a metering method like the K series, provided that the new SMC multicoated lens was used.

I concluded that the F was the last screw mount design, but as we know, that has no relation to the last screw mount model sold in various world markets.

[titrisol]

Great discussion... I would have thought that the ES line was the last screwmount made.

[séamuis]

Being deceased does not change the history.
If Keppler was correct, and he goes into it in detail:
The Sp F was similar to the SP II "but provides exposure meter readings at full aperture with SMC Multi Coated Takumar lenses instead of at stop down aperture. Older lenses can be used for readings at shooting aperture as in Spotmatic and Spotmatic II"

Of the SP1000 he said "The SP500 and SP1000 are precisely the same as the Spotmatic 1 except they do not have self timers.....As you can see thay are economy models of the Spotmatic 1."

Reading further, he goes into detail and I concluded the Sp F was the only pre- K which had a metering method like the K series, provided that the new SMC multicoated lens was used.

I concluded that the F was the last screw mount design, but as we know, that has no relation to the last screw mount model sold in various world markets.

you could look at the F as being the last truly individual design of the screwmount bodies, and it is stated in “The Ultimate Asahi Pentax Screwmount Guide" that its very likely, though not officially confirmed by Asahi Opt. that the 1974 release of the SP1000 and the japanese SPII, was in fact an attempt to simply clear remaining inventory. but be that as it may, the SP1000 was indeed the last of the spotmatics, and thus the last Honeywell Pentax.

[noblepa]

Chris,are you saying the SP1000 was a Spotmatic F without the self-timer and built-in hot shoe or closer to being a screw mount K1000?

Barry

Actually, the SP1000 was neither. Both the SP500 and SP1000 were basically marketing gimmicks to offer a low-cost entry level SLR. Both were simply original Spotmatics, with some features left off. The SP500 did the same thing that they did with the H1/H3 models; the shutter speed dial was only marked to 500, but there was an extra stop that was, in fact, 1/1000.

Both the SP500 and SP1000 lacked the self-time. Other than that, both were identical to the Spotmatic. They even lacked the hotshoe of the SPII.

Neither was capable of wide-open metering, as used in the Spotmatic F.

Both were sold with the 55mm, f/2 Super-Takumar lens, rather than either the 55mm, f/1.8 or the 50mm, f/1.4.

I don't know if the SP500/1000 meter could be set to ASA 3200, as the SPII, or was limited to 1600, as the original Spotmatic.

According to the chart from the Asahi Optical Historical Society, the SPII and SP500 were both introduced in 1971, while the SP1000 came along in 1973.