A one owner Spotmatic and its story
I'm very excited, honored and humbled about this one. While discussing photo gear, a fellow photographer told me he still had his Spotmatic, purchased new in the late 60's, but unused in about 4 decades. You know where this is going. He was generous enough to decide I was worthy of been the next custodian. As I have mentioned before, I consider myself the custodian of historic artifacts, not just a mere "owner".
The story: (names and some specific details withhold for privacy purposes)
This camera was purchased new in late 1967 or early 1968 to replace a stolen H1a. At the time, he was a graduate science student in New York. He took it around on trips all over from New England to New Jersey. In 1969 he got married to another scientist and they traveled a lot with it, including an assignment in Montana, for which they took the long way trip: Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona(Grand Canyon), California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and eventually to Montana. While in Montana, they went all over the state, Wyoming and South Dakota, where they watched the Moon landing on July 20, 1969. After the assignment in Montana, they went back east to New England. They eventually traveled all over from Florida to Canada. The Spotmatic also went with them on a trip to Europe: England, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
The Spotmatic was a workhorse for taking pictures of specimens for science publications. The 50mm f1.4 was sometimes fitted with a Pentax close-up filter, which he still has and uses to this day. Other lenses that saw service in the Spotmatic were a Vivitar Series 1 90mm macro, a 28mm f3.5, a 135mm f3.5 SuperTak, a 300mm f6.3 preset, and bellows with 100mm f4 bellows Takumar preset. But more than a workhorse, it also took countless family memories.
He fondly remembers the Spotmatic as the best in controls layout / overall ergonomics as it feels so right in your hands.
In March of 1978 it was serviced by Pentax as evidenced in a service sticker. He doesn't recall why so it was not a major failure. Most likely a CLA.
After more than a decade of service, it was then retired and replaced with an ME Super in the early '80s mostly due to advancements in metering.
Now happily retired, he is still active with a current Pentax DSLR.
The camera model:
The Spotmatic was presented at the 1960 Photokina, but it was not released until 1964. This revolutionary camera had an internal TTL (Thru The Lens) metering system. The prototype had a spot meter, hence the name, but it was decided to change to a center weighted meter as the spot meter would have been very hard to use by the general public. But the name was retained. While not exactly the first camera with built in TTL metering, it was the first successful TTL metering camera body. The "early" version was produced from 1964 until '65, when it was revised with what is now known as the "later" version. The differences between early and later versions are mostly cosmetics but some minor internals may have been revised as well.
The original Spotmatic became the most successful camera of its time with a production run until 1973. But other Spotmatic variations were made until 1976. Between all the variants, there were over 4 million made!
The Specimen:
This is what was received:
Like a time capsule, the package included the camera, its original Super Takumar 50mm f1.4 kit lens, its original user manual, original case, a remote cable release (love those) and a third party flash unit.
For a camera that wasn't used in decades, it was in great shape! It was a little bit dusty, had plenty of signs of use but no signs of abuse or dents. It has definitely been well taken care of. Some of the letters have lost their paint and there is some contact cement residue suggesting the leatherette may have been peeling and was reattached at some point. A service sticker from Pentax Corp has the date of March 25, 1978.
It is a "later" version of the original Spotmatic. While it is almost impossible to correlate serial numbers to a manufacturing date, the serial number puts it well over the change in '65 but early in the lifespan of the Spotmatic. Most likely 1966-1967. The fact that it was purchased in '67 or '68 helps to confirm that.
Minor dust in the viewfinder was not enough to justify a full prism teardown. I tested the shutter and it seems the higher speeds may be suffering from a little capping. All shutter speeds complete the cycle which is great. I don't have (yet) the proper battery to test the meter, but I was able to apply voltage to the battery terminals and saw movement in the meter needle. That's encouraging that the meter is probably alive. Accuracy will be another topic. Self timer, film advance, both flash ports (FP and X) and meter switch all seem to be working properly. The lens (which is the 7 element / 6 blades variant of the Super Takumar 50mmf1.4), has minor dust inside but not worth of a teardown. It is in great shape. Aperture and focus rings are smooth as well as the AM switch. However it has a considerable yellow cast most likely due to the radioactive Thorium glass. Yes, these lenses are radioactive but that is a whole other discussion. There are documented processes to clear the yellow. I'll look into that later.
The Restoration:
To me, it is CRITICAL when restoring these items NOT to make them new, but to retain their patina and heritage while getting the best out of them.
To that extent, the camera was cleaned to its best but most scratches, brassing and paint rubs were left alone. However, missing paint inside the engraved letters was addressed. The mirror return gear and related mechanics were lightly cleaned and lubed. After that, the capping issue in the higher speeds seems to improve. I don't think it was directly related but it helped exercising it back to life. You see? cameras need exercise, not me! 🙂
Here the left side is been worked while the right side is still untouched.
Disassembly was limited only for cleaning purposes. Since I've never claimed to be normal, even the slots on the screws were cleaned. Emphasis was made in the engraved characters like shutter speeds, rewind and film type ring.
Similarly, the lens was deep cleaned without disassembly. In this case I went bonkers and each and every groove on the rings was carefully cleaned with a dental pick. All the markings were carefully cleaned as well. No paint touch up was required on the lens.
So here it is! As soon as I get the proper battery I'll do a final test before running a roll of film thru it!
Stay tuned! This story is far from over...
What do you think?
Thanks,
Ismael
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