1965-1970 Pentax Spotmatic

[andys93integra]

Hello everyone i have a question about my old Pentax. I think it would work it i put film in it as the shutter works fine and everything, But the battery cover on the bottom looks like a dinosaur ate it (ok not really but someone before me used a screw driver instead of a coin and now it is stripped). So my question is will the camera work with out a battery if i just put film in it? Or do i really need a battery?

I also read that this camera would take a mercury battery and i am assuming those have been discontinued for many reasons. I took off the entire bottom piece but the battery is not reachable like that. And when i took the bottom cover off i can see wires running in there so the battery must do something.

Pics, andysphotos.zenfolio.com/p622103781/e28b7248a

Thanks, Andy

[PeterW]

Try drilling two small opposing holes in the battery compartment cover and undoing it with a peg spanner. It's worked for me in similar circustances.

The metering should work with a silver oxide battery but this won't hold a steady voltage for as long as a mercury cell.

If you find the battery compartment corroded inside, clean it with some vinegar on a Q-tip followed with a wipe with Ronsonol or similar lighter fluel - these fluids are naptha BTW, not petrol.

I haven't got a Spotmatic any more but as far as I remember they should work OK as a manual camera with no metering. But don't take this as Gospel. Try it and see.

The name Spotmatic as a bit of a misnomer. It didn't have centre spot metering it had centre-weighted averaging metering. The Pentax spot exposure meter was an enirely different piece of equipment and, if memory serves me correctly, cost nearly as much as the camera.

Hope this helps

PeterW

[mickeyobe]

Andy,

I just took the battery out of my Spotmatic to see what would happen.

It works well at all shutter speeds. The battery must be for the meter only.

Mickey

[photax]

Hi Andy !

As Mickey said: The battery is for the meter. Mine also works well without battery.

MIK

[Randy]

That's pretty common on those, sometimes a jackhammer won't even get them loose.

[andys93integra]

Ok thanks guys. I put a roll of film in it and i am just about to go out and use it up and then see how they turn out!

[Just Plain Curt]

For seized battery caps I usually set the camera upside down and apply a few drops of lighter fluid to the cap area overnight. Usually works OK by morning but sometimes either drilling two holes for a spanner or recutting a slot with a Dremel is the only answer.

[andys93integra]

I don't know if i have any lighter fluid, but i do have some JB80 (basically thing same as wd40), i might try that tonight and see what happens.

Andy

[mickeyobe]

Andy,

Lighter Fluid is a solvent.
WD40 is a lubricant and solvent combined.
Perhaps you have hit on a cure all.
But it is possible the WD40's lubricant might insulate the camera's battery terminals so be sure to clean them thoroughly.

Mickey

[PeterW]

Mickey is quite correct, WD40 is a solvent and lubricant combined. It's wonderful stuff for helping to free seized bits of machinery. It's also a water repellant and will penetrate under a layer of water so it's very useful for spraying on to damp ignition leads and sparking plug terminals to get a damp engine started.

Useful stuff. But for me it's got one big drawback for use on cameras.

That is that the lubricant doesn't disolve in the solvent, it's carried by it without mixing. This means, according to the maker, that when the solvent evaporates it leaves a film of the lubricant behind. It's a very tenacious film and not easy to clean off because it doesn't disolve in any of the usual solvent cleaners which are alcohol based.

The film is also an insulator and, as Mickey said, it might insulate the battery terminals. The only cheap readily available substance I know of that will clean it off is cheap vinegar, the cheapest you can find in a supermarket, made from dilute acetic acid and colouring. It's sometmes labelled "non-brewed vinegar" or sometimes "chip-shop vinegar". This will also effectively disolve and remove and corrosion from leaked batteries.

I once cleaned a Compur shutter into which someone had sprayed WD40 to try to get the slow speeds to work. I had to strip it out and wash the parts several times in cheap vinegar to get rid of the film of lubricant which was gumming up the shutter blades and the slow speed escapement.

Sorry to be the bearer of possibly bad news, but I thought I'd mention it in case you get everything together again and find that the meter doesn't work because the battery isn't making good contact.

Good luck.

PeterW

[andys93integra]

I just got the prints from target and they are actually pretty dang good!

Andy

[mickeyobe]

"The only cheap readily available substance I know of that will clean it off is cheap vinegar, the cheapest you can find in a supermarket, made from dilute acetic acid and colouring. It's sometmes labelled "non-brewed vinegar" or sometimes "chip-shop vinegar".

PeterW,

You have just spoiled my appreciation for fish and chips forever.
Please don't ruin my cucumber sandwiches.

Mickey

[Randy]

I would recommend before tackling that errant battery cover, the bottom plate should be removed to prevent damage to the camera.

[PeterW]

Mickey,

You have just spoiled my appreciation for fish and chips forever.
Please don't ruin my cucumber sandwiches.

Sorry, Mickey. I wouldn't knowingly ruin anyone's appreciation of good food.

To my mind "non-brewed" ersatz vinegar can spoil anyone's appreciation of any food. It's called "chip-shop vinegar" because its about a quarter of the price of malt vinegar and often used by fish and chip shops in the UK. It usually consists of dilute naturally-formed acetic acid and caramel colouring, or it may be diluted preserving or pickling malt vinegar in which the fermentation is allowed to go on long enough to give a higher concentration of naturally-formed acetic acid. Buying this in bulk diluted with distilled water is cheaper than buying malt table vinegar, but it lacks the same flavour.

Stay with pure malt table vinegar which enhances the flavour without detracting from it.

I've tried wine vinegar (the word is derived from old Anglo-French vin aigre, or sour wine), and I've tried cider vinegar (apple vinegar), rice vinegar, expensive balsamic vinegar (also made from grapes) and a few others, but IMHO malt table vinegar, an age-old UK vinegar, is the tops.

My favourite way of making cucumber sandwiches, or having cucumber on the table as part of a salad is to peel the cucumber before cutting it into thin slices. These slices should be marinaded for about an hour in malt vinegar with a light sprinkling of ground white pepper. Serve from the marinade.

Delicious!

You can also use a marinade of malt vinegar mixed with a small amount of olive oil to tenderise tough meat like scrag end of neck steaks usually used in steak pies, to make them tender enough for grilling. Marinade for about two hours before grilling. If you want to you can pound the steaks with a steak mallet before marinading for about an hour.

Versatile stuff, malt vinegar. It also kills bacteria on work surfaces and is an excellent glass cleaner.

My Victorian mother, and her mother, never used shop-bought marinade, curry mix, pickle, chutney cooking sauce and the like. They made their own using old age-tested recipes handed down from mother to daughter.

I shall always remember the smell inside my grandmother's spice cupboard. On one side were shelves of jars containing spices and various mustard seeds all too numerous to remember. Hanging on the opposite side were bundles of fresh or dried herbs such as tarragon, thyme, sage, oregano, rosemary, marjorum, parsley, mint and so on and, at the back, hung strings of garlic, onions, shallots, dried apple rings, dried pear rings and other things I can't remember.

My Dad was also very careful about choosing the wine to go with a particular meal. He said that the wrong choice of wine, even if a good wine, could ruin a meal.

Growing up with this completely spoiled my taste for today's ready-made frozen "convenience" foods which to me often taste like flavoured cardboard.

PeterW

[mickeyobe]

PeterW,

You have restored my faith in food.

I agree with you that malt vinegar is the best. I have never tried cleaning my windows with it as plain white vinegar is cheaper.

Your mother and grandmother must have spent a great deal of time and effort in the kitchen and their offspring are obviously gourmets.

I live by myself now and prepare all my meals from scratch except for hot dogs of a particular brand and the ultimate in BBQ'd chicken which I get from, of all places, Costco. I used to make my own but brown sugar was an important ingredient and now, being diabetic, it sadly no longer has a place in my house.

My family were never big on alcoholic beverages but my father's father made a cloyingly sweet, cherry wine called vishnic that was used for ceremonial purposes. He would occasionally give the kids a few of the fermented cherries which tended to cool our boisterous spirits. It put us to sleep.

I am currently attempting to make a dish that my mother made called tzimmis. Sweet potatoes, carrots, inexpensive stewing meat, a few other ingredients and brown sugar all cooked for hours. I am copying her hand written recipe but substituting artificial sweetener and crossed fingers for the brown sugar and am adding pumpkin to the mélange.

Back to the real world.

Mickey