[Hayob]

Hey everyone,Im thinking of getting a spotmatic or an ME Super,however i cant decide!
Does anyone know the good or bad points about either one and also any good accesories.

[aurele]

depend on the lense you got yet.

Spotmatic is M42 mount, where the ME is K mount.

Except that, AFAIK, both are great camera !

[Hayob]

i have an ME at the moment with a takumar 28-80 zoom and a sirius 70-210 zoom.
the only m42 mount lens i have is an helios 44m f.2.

[boriscleto]

The main difference between the ME & ME Super is that the ME Super has a manual exposere mode. The Super also has a slightly higher sync speed (1/125 instead of 1/100).

The biggest problem with the Spottie is finding batteries for it. Mercury cells are illegal now so you have to find an alternative.

[Sluggo]

All depends on how you shoot (do you prefer automatic or manual exposure?), and maybe what lenses you already have.

The mercury battery difference is not a big deal. Most Spotties will actually do fine with a 1.5 volt battery if you get the right physical size.

Still, if you already have K-mount lenses, and want something designed for manual exposure, my recommendations would be either a KM, KX or MX. The KM in particular is almost exactly like a Spotmatic except for the lens mount type. An ME Super also has a manual exposure mode, but it's like an add-on feature and (to me) doesn't feel quite as natural to use.

[stevebrot]

All depends on how you shoot (do you prefer automatic or manual exposure?), and maybe what lenses you already have.

The mercury battery difference is not a big deal. Most Spotties will actually do fine with a 1.5 volt battery if you get the right physical size.

Still, if you already have K-mount lenses, and want something designed for manual exposure, my recommendations would be either a KM, KX or MX. The KM in particular is almost exactly like a Spotmatic except for the lens mount type. An ME Super also has a manual exposure mode, but it's like an add-on feature and (to me) doesn't feel quite as natural to use.

What he said...particularly the part about the KM. That model is often available for less money that a K1000 and has a better feature set.


Steve

[Rense]

Yes! Get it, and you know why I told you.

[Banjo]

Hey everyone,Im thinking of getting a spotmatic or an ME Super,however i cant decide!
Does anyone know the good or bad points about either one and also any good accesories.

I have (among many others) two Asahi Pentax Spotmatics F (SP-F). They are simply great, and I would recommend them.

However, they do use M42 mount (screwmount) lenses which -by the way- are simply brilliant.

Both mine work very well using the currently available silver oxide button batteries.

[RioRico]

Every Pentaxian should have a Spotty.
And a set of Takumars to mount on it.
Get them. You'll be glad you did. Really.

[usn ret]

If you decide on the Spotmatic, get a Spotmatic II or later as the original did not have a hot shoe for the flash. SP II and later do. I have the Spotty as well many K mounts both auto and manual. Which one do I want to give up??? None of them!!! I even have an Auto 110...Cliff

[titrisol]

Just get it!
Spotmatics are a real joy to use, canbe found cheap, can use Silver batteries easily and produce awesome pictures
There are zillions of accesories in the M42/Universal mount as it was called.

[vladimiroltean]

Hey everyone,Im thinking of getting a spotmatic or an ME Super,however i cant decide!
Does anyone know the good or bad points about either one and also any good accesories.

My post will be pro-Spotmatic. I own both cameras, and from what I can tell, the Spottie has a FAR better build quality, metal top cover vs plastic, some plastic parts inside too for the ME-s. 100% mechanical camera - so it can fire without a battery at any speed from 1 second to 1/1000, while the ME-s can only fire at 1/125. Obviously no aperture priority for the Spottie, or any kind of auto-exposure for that matter. The Spotmatic is bigger and heavier and is my absolute favourite film camera. Now its downsides: the exposure needle is hard to see in dark light, if you're trying to get a reading, and the viewfinder is overall brighter in the ME-s. The battery may be harder to find for the SP, but not impossible (hint: look for AG9 type, Renata/Varta/Camelion/whatever 394 1.55v silver oxide battery). But no biggie - at least for me.

[noblepa]

Its true that the Spotmatic has no automatic metering modes, such as Av or Tv. However, it is easy to simulate either one.

To simulate Av, simply set the aperture where you want it. Then, flip the meter switch to "On" and turn the shutter speed dial until the needle is centered. Couldn't be simpler. Once you're used to it, it becomes completely natural.

I find the Spotmatics to have the best ergonomics of any camera I've ever held.

[mikemock]

I also own both an ME super and a number of spotmatics. I find the buttons to change the shutter speed on the ME super difficult to use and prefer the wheel on the spotmatic. However I like the size of the ME super. I use the 387S battery in the spotmatic and it works well.
Good luck with your decision. All of these camera are cheap, maybe you can buy both.

[chalion]

Get both. If you get lucky, you can get both with 50mm f2.0 lenses for $100 or less. Also, check to see if they've been serviced recently; film cameras have a tendancy to have their seals get gummy and sometimes the mirror can get stuck too. If you get cameras that need to be serviced, you can contact Eric (check ebay for his film camera repair business - or someone here can post a link on how to contact him too). For me, he's not been too expensive, but the work is top notch.

(Sorry that I don't know how to find threads for the CLA service that Eric provides, i'm not too web-savvy).