Shabby Pentax Spotmatic SPII in black

This is a short pictorial review of my Pentax Spotmatic SPII in black. It’s only a short review because I’ve already covered the silver version of the camera in another article, so this is just to describe this particular camera and provide some pictures.

Pentax Spotmatic SPII in black Images

My Spotmatic SPII Camera

This Pentax Spotmatic SPII was one of the cameras I received in a job lot buy of 4 cameras for a bit under £10 last week. Although I already have a Spotmatic SPII I was still pleased to acquire this one because it’s in the less common black colour.

Cosmetically, this camera is in average condition, with a fair amount of the black colour missing from the top & bottom plates. However, since this shows the brass used to make the plates it gives a ‘heavily used’ look which many people, myself included, actually thinks adds to the look.

The shabby cosmetic condition actually belies the mechanical condition of the camera because as far as I can tell without running a film through it, everything seems to work correctly, including the TTL metering. In fact, although I now have a half dozen Spotmatics in my collection, this is the first I’ve found where the meter works and seems to be accurate. I had to use a modern battery with a slightly different voltage to replace the old mercury cell which would have been originally fitted, and I had to add some silver foil under the battery to make up for a difference in height, but in comparison with a modern camera the readings seem to be correct.

I now have a film in this camera to try to relive the ‘spotmatic experience’, so I’ll be posting the sample pictures in a few weeks when I develop the film.

Full Spotmatic SPII review – please see my other article