I bought my Spotmatic from a photo enthusiast in Canada. It is in perfect condition and appears to have been barely used.

The Spotmatic was one of the first SLRs with TTL metering and certainly the first to achieve mainstream success. The meter is powered by a battery and is always on unless the light is below -2 EV. It uses the M42 lens mount which was common to many 35mm cameras of the period. The F model had an improved lightmeter that allowed accurate metering even when the aperture was wide open for focusing, although this feature only worked with the Super Multi-Coated Takumar lenses which had an aperture position linkage on the back. Other lenses are metered at their actual aperture.

I’ve used this camera a fair bit since I acquired it, it’s beautifully made and feels very well put together compared to my Soviet cameras, it’s also deceptively light for its size. I recently went to Prague and brought the Spotmatic along as my only 35mm camera. I shot more than 20 rolls of film over a weekend and it handled everything from tourist photos on the streets of Prague to underground caverns and pet portraits without breaking a sweat.

I have a bunch of Takumar and Soligor lenses for it and it can also mount any of my collection of Soviet m42 glass. Most commonly I have a 35mm f/2.8 Soligor lens attached, this is a lovely lens that is very easy to shoot with, I can leave it focussed at infinity and just shoot. I also have Takumar 55mm f/1.8, 50mm f/4 macro and 105mm f/2.8 lenses to round things out.

Sample Images