The primary flaw in the Spotmatic is how the battery connects to the light meter system. It's extremely prone to corrosion under the bottom plate. The quick fix is to remove the bottom plate and clean the contact, which will most likely be green with corrosion, and 90% of the time that will revive the light meter. Since the battery tray is part of the bottom plate, most people only check that part, which usually doesn't have any corrosion unless somebody left the battery in too long. I've had a couple Spotmatics with non-working meters that were easily fixed this way.
Im new to the analog community, and i find these repair videos very interesting (as someone that likes to attempt to fix some mechanical stuff). Good vid.
Use a 387s battery. It works fine. You can adjust the resistance on the resistance adjustment dial on the film rewind side. I have a dozen (maybe two dozen) Spotmatics. Never had an issue unless it was severely dropped. I have had more problems with the mirror return and shutter timing then anything else.
Hi there, I have a spotmatic spii which was fixed by a professional technician and I can tell it works perfectly, included the light meter which seems to be pretty accurate. As you said, mercury batteries aren't made anymore and what I use is an adapter to px312 batteries, which give the same voltage that the camera should be receiving. I think lr44 is too much. Thanks, Carlos
Hey carlos I appreciate the comment, this is one of my older videos and I consider deleting it because it still gets a lot of traction and I mostly just sound like a moron but I appreciate your response and hope you enjoy your spotmatic!
@@RompingBronco Hi there! At first I considered not replying to your video due to the date of it, but then I thought my point about using p312 batteries might be helpful for somebody, this adapter can be easily found the internet. I am of the opinion that you should keep your video, we all had our origins and it is not something to be ashamed of, more the kind of the opposite. On top of that, there aren't many videos in relation to this topic so it's quite interesting if you ask me, at least people can debate in the comments. In case you want to add some new information or correct anything in the video, you can just upload a message with the explanation and you can pin it so that everybody can see it easily. Keep your hard work and best wishes! Carlos
Pentax Tips has a break down on how the light meter works electronically on the spotmatic. It is quite interesting. You don't need a 1.35v, you can use a 1.55v just fine.
Hello sir, your video helped me a lot to find the source of the problem, the cell of my pentax sp1000 (the two CD cells are defective, I think). What is the résistance of it? To redeem the one that matches... THANKS
Hi, at 2:56 will the + side of the battery be facing up and touching the end of black cable once you put eventing back together? Also, my SP does not have a plastic battery holder like yours. It metal and soldered onto the bottom plate. What is the best way to remove if I use an LR 44 battery? Thank you!
I have a Spotmatic that works fine, however whenever activating the light meter the mirror will lockup. Whenever I deactivate the light meter, and press the shutter the mirror will reset. Has anyone run into this?
Hi, Recently I got interrested in rstoring cameras and it is fascinating. I got a spotmatic II . It works fine but it is missing the film winder crank and hence I cannot open the camera. Any suggestion where I can get this knob/crank .??
Hi there, thank you for this video. I have a similar camera and the film roll pin has somehow popped out and I am unable to put it back because of a locking pin where it goes through. Not sure if this makes sense, please let me know if you can help
Thank you for watching haha yeah that was a little earlier in my youtube video creation career so was still working through the "explanation" process, if you want to shoot me an email or reply to this comment with what issues you are having I'm more than happy to help. I also have a lot more recent and more instructive videos going over Spotmatics and the very similar K1000 I'm just working through my backlog of edits. Thank you for the view but apologies for misleading you haha
@@RompingBronco Hi! I bought a Spotmatic where the rewind button on the bottom is not toggled when I push it. This makes it so that I can’t rewind my film. Also the shot counter on the top doesn’t change after loading the shutter. Are these two issues easy to fix? I might just consider selling it & get another camera :/
My needle moves from the bottom to the top but pretty much only when I switch it to bulb. That’s the e only thing that really makes a difference. It doesn’t go to the middle. Any ideas?
Need advice! My spotmatic have light meter issue; where the needle stays up when turn on (goes to the middle when off which is normal), but it stays up even as i cover the lens. Seems like it didnt measure the light. Changed the shutter speeds but its still remains up except at Bulb mode which goes to the bottom. Ive cleaned the battery contacts and still presists. What do you think the problem is?
It sounds like the meter is getting power and the galvanometer (needle) is moving so unfortunately it's neither of the "easier" fixes. Taking the top off the camera would likely help so you could see the quality of the wire contacts. It sounds like there is an issue either with the CdS cells, the variable resistor or the ground wire.
Also my issue,@@RompingBronco . I think i found one example where it was a cds cell issue. i will take the top off but my camera is pristine so it is unlikely corrosion.
I have an Spotmatic SP too, it works well except the light meter, it only reads well at the bulb position, i can adjust the needle with the aperture ring, but when i change the speeds it goes down, any idea or sugestion? Thanks in advance.
hey, so from what i can gather you’ve replaced most of the light meter system, what did you replace? where did you get the parts? i’m currently troubleshooting my spotmatic f light meter not working at all, if you could get in touch that’d be great, thanks
I found some on Ali Express, I need to revisit this project because I had some more work to do with it to get it working so stay tuned for that and thanks for watching!
Hola ,i yo pase un mes para arreglar una Spotmatic SP II ,que se guardo en un lugar muy umedo i lo limpie de oxido todos los componentes ,passion de passion .
I've spent the better part of two years taken them apart and putting them back together so I have a strong bias towards them but their inner mechanics just make a whole lot of sense to me.
@@figjoy That's very accurate, the K1000 was a better power management system because it doesn't have the on/off switch like a spotmatic but the basic design, galvanometer and CdS cells are the same. There is even a manual floating around out there detailing how to retrofit a Spotmatic with a K1000 meter hahaha
This video promises much but delivers little. Not much of real practical value here - lots of hand waving and soothing music. The meter battery replacement is useful but that won't solve any number of different problems with Spotmatic metering. For example my SP500 will only meter accurately if I set film speed to 4 times the actual ISO rating. Disappointing video.
I hope you enjoyed the music at least, I do appreciate the feedback but the entire repair process was worked on and off for a few months so I don't have the full repair documented, However there was a lot that I learned in the process and that's what I was hoping to deliver. If you'd like some more applicable advice for the issue you are having I'd be happy to help.
Sounds more like the typical problem that appears when you put in a 1.5v battery into a circuit that was built for 1.35v mercury cell batteries. There are videos on youtube how to potentially solve that kind of issue.
The primary flaw in the Spotmatic is how the battery connects to the light meter system. It's extremely prone to corrosion under the bottom plate.
The quick fix is to remove the bottom plate and clean the contact, which will most likely be green with corrosion, and 90% of the time that will revive the light meter.
Since the battery tray is part of the bottom plate, most people only check that part, which usually doesn't have any corrosion unless somebody left the battery in too long. I've had a couple Spotmatics with non-working meters that were easily fixed this way.
Im new to the analog community, and i find these repair videos very interesting (as someone that likes to attempt to fix some mechanical stuff). Good vid.
Use a 387s battery. It works fine. You can adjust the resistance on the resistance adjustment dial on the film rewind side. I have a dozen (maybe two dozen) Spotmatics. Never had an issue unless it was severely dropped. I have had more problems with the mirror return and shutter timing then anything else.
Hi there, I have a spotmatic spii which was fixed by a professional technician and I can tell it works perfectly, included the light meter which seems to be pretty accurate.
As you said, mercury batteries aren't made anymore and what I use is an adapter to px312 batteries, which give the same voltage that the camera should be receiving. I think lr44 is too much.
Thanks,
Carlos
Hey carlos I appreciate the comment, this is one of my older videos and I consider deleting it because it still gets a lot of traction and I mostly just sound like a moron but I appreciate your response and hope you enjoy your spotmatic!
@@RompingBronco Hi there!
At first I considered not replying to your video due to the date of it, but then I thought my point about using p312 batteries might be helpful for somebody, this adapter can be easily found the internet.
I am of the opinion that you should keep your video, we all had our origins and it is not something to be ashamed of, more the kind of the opposite. On top of that, there aren't many videos in relation to this topic so it's quite interesting if you ask me, at least people can debate in the comments.
In case you want to add some new information or correct anything in the video, you can just upload a message with the explanation and you can pin it so that everybody can see it easily.
Keep your hard work and best wishes!
Carlos
Pentax Tips has a break down on how the light meter works electronically on the spotmatic. It is quite interesting. You don't need a 1.35v, you can use a 1.55v just fine.
I'm actually going to look into the light meter on a spotomatic sp I purchased recently.
Nice. Let us know if you ever come up with a repair/replacement of the cds cells.
Hello sir, your video helped me a lot to find the source of the problem, the cell of my pentax sp1000 (the two CD cells are defective, I think). What is the résistance of it? To redeem the one that matches...
THANKS
Hi, at 2:56 will the + side of the battery be facing up and touching the end of black cable once you put eventing back together? Also, my SP does not have a plastic battery holder like yours. It metal and soldered onto the bottom plate. What is the best way to remove if I use an LR 44 battery? Thank you!
I have a Spotmatic that works fine, however whenever activating the light meter the mirror will lockup.
Whenever I deactivate the light meter, and press the shutter the mirror will reset. Has anyone run into this?
Hi, Recently I got interrested in rstoring cameras and it is fascinating. I got a spotmatic II . It works fine but it is missing the film winder crank and hence I cannot open the camera. Any suggestion where I can get this knob/crank .??
Hi there, thank you for this video. I have a similar camera and the film roll pin has somehow popped out and I am unable to put it back because of a locking pin where it goes through. Not sure if this makes sense, please let me know if you can help
Well congrats on learning how to fix them lol.. So I watched this almost 13 minute video of you NOT telling us what was wrong with it lol..
Thank you for watching haha yeah that was a little earlier in my youtube video creation career so was still working through the "explanation" process, if you want to shoot me an email or reply to this comment with what issues you are having I'm more than happy to help. I also have a lot more recent and more instructive videos going over Spotmatics and the very similar K1000 I'm just working through my backlog of edits. Thank you for the view but apologies for misleading you haha
@@RompingBronco Hi! I bought a Spotmatic where the rewind button on the bottom is not toggled when I push it. This makes it so that I can’t rewind my film. Also the shot counter on the top doesn’t change after loading the shutter.
Are these two issues easy to fix? I might just consider selling it & get another camera :/
My needle moves from the bottom to the top but pretty much only when I switch it to bulb. That’s the e only thing that really makes a difference. It doesn’t go to the middle. Any ideas?
@@caseymcdonagh5259 hey did you figured it out? i have the same exact problem.
Need advice! My spotmatic have light meter issue; where the needle stays up when turn on (goes to the middle when off which is normal), but it stays up even as i cover the lens. Seems like it didnt measure the light. Changed the shutter speeds but its still remains up except at Bulb mode which goes to the bottom. Ive cleaned the battery contacts and still presists. What do you think the problem is?
It sounds like the meter is getting power and the galvanometer (needle) is moving so unfortunately it's neither of the "easier" fixes. Taking the top off the camera would likely help so you could see the quality of the wire contacts. It sounds like there is an issue either with the CdS cells, the variable resistor or the ground wire.
Also my issue,@@RompingBronco . I think i found one example where it was a cds cell issue. i will take the top off but my camera is pristine so it is unlikely corrosion.
I have an Spotmatic SP too, it works well except the light meter, it only reads well at the bulb position, i can adjust the needle with the aperture ring, but when i change the speeds it goes down, any idea or sugestion? Thanks in advance.
hey, so from what i can gather you’ve replaced most of the light meter system, what did you replace? where did you get the parts? i’m currently troubleshooting my spotmatic f light meter not working at all, if you could get in touch that’d be great, thanks
Great vid, where did you pick up the Cds cells?
I found some on Ali Express, I need to revisit this project because I had some more work to do with it to get it working so stay tuned for that and thanks for watching!
Excellent video.i have one question.can you move the mirror up manually.because on my spotmatic you cant move the mirror up manually.
I'm not sure about all models of spotmatic but this one in particular doesn't have that ability.
No information here wanted to see it stripped and repaired just got to see you waving your hands about......
Hola ,i yo pase un mes para arreglar una Spotmatic SP II ,que se guardo en un lugar muy umedo i lo limpie de oxido todos los componentes ,passion de passion .
Can't you hold still ?
My older videos are not the best I admit haha but I do drink a LOT of coffee so I got them caffeine trembles
Very interesting. I have been unlucky with Pentax cameras, even after costly professional repairs.
I've spent the better part of two years taken them apart and putting them back together so I have a strong bias towards them but their inner mechanics just make a whole lot of sense to me.
So what the solution Adam?
Which Spotmatic is that? Is it the SP-F by any chance?
It's the SP-F
@@RompingBronco Thanks! I heard the meter has the same design, but an earlier implementation of the K1000 meter. Does that sound right?
@@figjoy That's very accurate, the K1000 was a better power management system because it doesn't have the on/off switch like a spotmatic but the basic design, galvanometer and CdS cells are the same. There is even a manual floating around out there detailing how to retrofit a Spotmatic with a K1000 meter hahaha
@@RompingBronco I see, thanks!
You spent months and don’t show us how to strip it down. .?
Not my best video by a long shot, I have a couple other videos planned for some spotmatic tear downs!
This video promises much but delivers little. Not much of real practical value here - lots of hand waving and soothing music. The meter battery replacement is useful but that won't solve any number of different problems with Spotmatic metering. For example my SP500 will only meter accurately if I set film speed to 4 times the actual ISO rating. Disappointing video.
I hope you enjoyed the music at least, I do appreciate the feedback but the entire repair process was worked on and off for a few months so I don't have the full repair documented, However there was a lot that I learned in the process and that's what I was hoping to deliver. If you'd like some more applicable advice for the issue you are having I'd be happy to help.
Sounds more like the typical problem that appears when you put in a 1.5v battery into a circuit that was built for 1.35v mercury cell batteries. There are videos on youtube how to potentially solve that kind of issue.
@peterbarth1479 actually not an issue with these cameras because of the bridge it has. It can take 1.5 or 1.3s no problem.