jack_leaf

Hi Dave, Thanks for the tips - have tried various combinations of ASA/shutter speed/aperture and can't work out a pattern. One trend seems to be that if either ASA is very high and shutter speed is long the needle moves to central point but does not fluctuate when bright light shone/lens covered. So frustrating?! Maybe it's time to take it in for repair? Thanks, Jack

Hi all, The PX625 battery works a dream but about 30mins after using my Spotmatic F the light meter started going crazy and then staying glued to the bottom intermittently. I've filmed a short video in the hope you guys might be able to highlight what's wrong with it. If you get chance to have a look please could you let me know? Thank you, Jack

Thanks very much for the info, chaps. Have ordered some PX625 batteries so fingers crossed at least one of my 2 spotmatic Fs will work with them! Out of interest, on a working Spotmatic F with no battery, where should the meter needle sit? Top/middle/bottom? Thanks, Jack

Hi Dave, Thanks for the info. Sounds like I've bought the wrong battery then! Would these do the trick? 4 x GP LR9 PX625A V625 PX625 PX13 M20 1.5v Batteries | eBay If the correct battery doesn't do the trick then I'll look into whether it could be a broken meter switch. Is this quite obvious after removing the bottom plate? Cheers, Jack

Hi all, Been a fair while since my first post but essentially I ended up buying another Spotmatic F online. It worked fine for a couple of months but then out of the blue the meter needle became stuck in central position. I figured this would be because battery ran flat so bought a replacement (Wein cell MRB400 1.35V - Wein Cell Mercury Replacement PX400 Battery 1.35V(Pentax Spotmatic SP500 SP1000) 750062011123 | eBay) which hasn't had any impact - needle stays central regardless of exposure to light. From what I've read online this battery should work but am I wrong? As advised on forums, I've left it for several hours with plastic cover off and still no luck. Could there be another reason that I'm having no luck? Thanks in advance, Jack

Just encountered an issue... The exposure needle is twitching up and down as if the battery contact isn't constant - might that make sense? Just my luck for this to happen the day I leave for holiday!

Hi John, Thanks very much for this. I'm embarrassed to say that my technical knowledge is very poor so I can't make sense of the manual. Please could you explain how to go about taking photos with this lens? Thanks, Jack

Hi guys, Thanks very much for your speedy responses. Hopefully this link will work: https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/leaf17/30814257901/ Thank you, Jack

<p>Hi all,</p> <p>My Grandpa kindly passed me down his Pentax Spotmatic F which I love. Have only used my SMC Takumar 50mm 1.4 on it so far as I think it's brilliant. However, he also gave me a Makinon 28mm f2.8 but told me that it's doesn't work, but he can't remember why... I've used it on my DSLR with an adapter and the images look great, but I appreciate that doesn't mean all will be well on my Spotmatic.<br> Please can somebody let me know if there's a way to test the lens without shooting a roll of film and developing? I am going to Vietnam on Saturday so don't have time for that but would love to take a 28mm lens with me. Sorry for the tight 'deadline'!</p> <p>Thanks very much,<br> Jack</p>

Thanks very much for the advice. Gutted to hear it might not be a simple fix :( Would you recommend I have it fixed? If so, can somebody please put me in touch with a repairer? Alternatively it looks like they go for £80 on eBay but I'd lose the sentimental value of course. Thanks again, Jack

<p>Hi all,</p> <p>I'm hoping you'll be able to shed some light (pun intended) on a problem I am having with my Grandpa's beautiful Spotmatic F.<br> I idiotically dropped it a couple of weeks ago and now the exposure needle remains constantly in the up position, even when I block out all light. It was working perfectly before this so I was wondering if anybody has any idea why it might be doing this? The only lens I have for it is my 50mm 1.4 SMC Takumar which I don't believe made contact with the ground but obviously the impact might have damaged it.<br> Please let me know if you have any idea what's going on as I love this camera very dearly!</p> <p>Thank you,<br> Jack</p>