Pentax Spotmatic II Repair

I was given a Pentax Spotmatic II sans because the meter was inoperative. The

repair on the camera runs approx. $125-165. Other than the meter it is

mechanically in excellent shape. Does anyone have any opinions on whether it

is worth repairing? It will need a lens.

If you can live with carrying a hand-held meter, or guesstimating the exposure, then no, it's not worth repairing. For that much you could get a halfway decent light meter that would still be useful if you decided to get rid of it and get something else. Something like the Polaris maybe, that will handle flash as well as ambient?

 

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On the other hand, if you don't like the idea of having to carry a meter as well, maybe it would be worth it to you. Personally I would recommend against trying to find another Spotmatic that still has a working meter; dead meters are very common on them, and they are getting old enough that even if you found one that did work, who knows how long it will keep working.

That sounds like a lot for repair of an SP2 body that is not worth nearly that much even if fully operative. I suspect that if you shop around, you can have it repaired at lesser cost.

If you shop around, you can find a SPII with a functioning meter for less. I would buy a good hand-held meter as it's generally useful anyway.

Why try to fix a meter that needs an unobtainable battery? Get an external meter, you can use it with any camera and it will be MUCH more accurate. I'd sooner spend the money on a CLA of the camera - which it probably needs. A Spotmatic can malfunction without warning unless its kept lubricated and adjusted.

I agree with David. Too many of my favourite cameras have no build in meter at all and according to what I read, the Mercury-substitute cells might not be what I'd call pure pleasure. - They might do the job if you shoot a lot, but AFAIK they have a working lifespan of less than a year. Which would make them quite cost pohibitive in a camera I'd use only once in a while. You can operate a Gossen or whatever with inexpensive 9V or other supermarket batteries.

 

Nothing against Spotmatics. They are nice and well made cameras, there are decent lenses around too. I just have a lot of k-mount stuff and like rangefinders too much to become seriously useing screw mount SLRs. - YMMV and if you picked the Spotmatic for any irrational reason keep it going.

Pentax Spotmatic II will work perectly with silver batteries. Basically any modern battery that fits the battery chamber will do. I have 3 of these cameras and use all of them with silver batteries. I get perfectly exposed slides. You know why? Because there is a bridge circuit built into the spotmatic meter, and the voltage of the battery will only affect how much the meter needle deflects when you are under-or-over-exposing. Any battery with anything over 1,2V will show the correct exposure. Enough of that mercury-battery argument against spotmatics!

 

Spotmatic F is a different beast and I do not know whether the above applies there.

 

Spotmarics are fine cameras with fine meters in anything over EV3-4. Below that the meter is not of much use.

 

The amount you have been quoted for camera repair is two to three times what I pay to get my spotmatics serviced. You may want to to try Eric Hendrickson for camera service.(http://www.pentaxs.com/) He is in TN, USA and has quick turnaround times. He charges about $60 for servicing apotmatics. I am just a satisfied customer of his, nothing else.

I'm also well satisfied by the Spotmatic repair work done by Eric Hendrickson. He can replace the meter movement, if needed for $29 in addition to the $60 basic repair charge.

 

The Spotmatic F used the larger PX625 mercury cell rather than the smaller cell of the earlier Spotmatic. The CRIS adapter (adapts a common SR44 silver oxide cell) works properly in a Spotmatic F and provides a good alternative to the unavailable mercury cells.

I too have used Eric for an SPII. Since I acquired the camera free plus shipping (about $6), a full repair was well worth it.

 

-Paul