Pentax Spotmatic
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We bought a Pentax Spotmatic, slightly used, in 1970 shortly after arriving in San Francisco; I think we paid $100 for it. At the time, I was harboring the delusion that I might make a living as a free-lance photojournalist. It actually wasn't very hard to get pictures published in the local papers, and I also sold a few photos to the wire services. The classic Chevie sandwiched between the two J-Church streetcars appeared in quite a few papers and magazines, including one of the last issues of the old Life Magazine. I think I made about a hundred dollars with that shot; most of the wire service and newspaper stuff brought about $25 - not much of a living.
Margaret made somewhat more productive use of the camera in Idaho as a reporter for the Glenns Ferry Pilot. (I'll post some of those photos when I've tracked them down.)
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The Spotmatic was one of the last great classics of Photography's mechanical age; it was all metal, yet compact and light-weight. It had a coupled, match-needle meter that operated through the lens, and a 1/1000 top shutter speed. The Takumar lenses produced images of astounding quality.
The camera above-left is the same one purchased in SF thirty-eight years ago. It has had one tune-up in that time and works pretty much like new. The other is a slightly newer SP II model that came as a gift not long ago; it is wearing the incomparable Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 1:1.8/55 lens.
I have acquired a few other lenses for the Pentax over the years. Probably the most useful has been the 135mm Mamiya-Sekor, which seems just as sharp as the Takumars; it is very handy for shooting public events where you often can't get quite as close to the action as you would like. When I need to get even closer, I can attach the 2X teleconverter. I bought the Super-Takumar 1:3.5/24mm about a year ago, mostly for architectural work; it is very nice for working close-up in tight spaces.
Here are a few more recent photos from the Pentax:
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