The Pentax Spotmatic was one of the most advanced and most iconic cameras of its time, and even now holds something of a cult status for many people.
Originally released in 1964 it was one of the first cameras ever to offer integrated TTL (Through The Lens) metering. The original concept was for the camera to offer spot metering, hence the name, but after been shown at a few trade shows prior to been fully launched, Pentax had a rethink and decided that this would be to difficult for people to use well and switched the metering to a more conventional average metering pattern.
This change was allegedly made so close to production that Pentax did not have time to change the manufacturing set ups and re brand the camera in the press, so the name stuck...
Shortly after launch the camera was redesigned and a second model was released , this second model (pictured above) had a few minor changes to the shape and size of some of the buttons and levers and again the metering pattern was changed from average metering to centre weighted average metering to improve exposure accuracy.
There was a huge range of accessories available for the Pentax system, the back bone of which were the incredible Super Takumar lenses.
These lenses were, and still are, regarded as more than a match for some of the prestigious "brand name" lens produced by some of the world famous German makers of the day.
As well as producing lenses suitable for the amateur and hobbyist, they produced fast high quality lenses for professional use also, the Super Takumar 135mm f2.5 is a lens that was met with critical acclaim in the day, and is still hard to match with any modern optic.
As the Pentax lenses developed, they introduced their now world recognised Super Multi Coating Process (SMC Takumar) and the principles developed for these lenses are still used in production and lens coating today.
We use only original single coated Super Takumar lenses in our kit as these are the lenses that where available upon release of the camera originally, and they produce a unique rendering on colour film that is immediately reminiscent of photo's from the 60's.
As well as an ever expanding range of lenses, we also have many other original and period accessories to enable enhanced use of the camera.
From original camera and lens accessories to flash guns, studio lights and even ring flash units we can match this kit to any shoot it is required for.
Especially suited to location fashion shoots, the Spotmatic quickly earned a reputation amongst professional for use on magazine shoots, and indeed it replicates images of this style incredibly well.
If you have always fancied yourself as a bit of a "Chelsea Girl" and fancied seeing your 60's outfits in country life, vogue or any other fashion magazine spreads, then this is the camera to use to capture your inner Jackie O!