Newbie Pentax Spotmatic F Question!

[Miles.]

Hi all,

I recently purchased a Spotmatic F for the purpose of shooting the divine 50/1.4 on film, AND I think I've read one too many articles on which batteries to use in the meter.

If going the silver oxide route, which one do I get and do I need an adapter/o-ring?

Thanks for your time and happy shooting!

 

[nickthetasmaniac]

625 1.5v button cell, just chuck it straight in 🙂

Out of interest, which 50/f1.4 version do you have? Only the SMC/S-M-C will support open aperture metering on the F.

 

[Miles.]

625 1.5v button cell, just chuck it straight in 🙂

Out of interest, which 50/f1.4 version do you have? Only the SMC/S-M-C will support open aperture metering on the F.

I do have the SMC variant!

Are there available 625 batteries that aren't alkaline?

 

[ruby.monkey]

Some options here: http://www.smallbattery.company.org.uk/sbc_px625.htm

 

[Doddle]

When it comes to full mechanical cameras I just use a handheld meter. Not only is it more accurate, I find it quicker to work out in my head where I want to place (for example) the skin tone.


It seems like a hassle because you carry an extra bit of kit, but actually it makes your life so much easier that its worth it.

 

[Uncle Fester]

I was going to suggest the S625PX silver oxide battery, but, they don't seem to be available any more. This is unfortunate because it would have been a direct fit. The Spotmatic F meter is not picky about the voltage difference, due to the circuit design. That said, I personally prefer to use a hand held incident meter. My exposures with the camera's built in meter used to be all over the place because the reading would change depending on what the meter was seeing. Once I started using the incident meter, my results became more consistent. The only film camera I actually use a battery in is my Minolta XE-7, because I need it to operate the shutter. With my DSLR, I also set the focus and exposure modes to fully manual and use the handheld meter.

 

[Miles.]

Thanks for the link and thoughts, y'all.

The camera will be serviced, along with meter calibration, so I'm looking to use it as opposed to using a handheld.